State Academic Symphony/GASO Archives - NativeDSD Music

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake

Sjoerd Staal — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Swan Lake is the first of the three great ballets that Tchaikovsky wrote, and the most famous. The piece is known in the shape it obtained in 1895, when it became a classic in the choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. That “imperial” version strayed from Tchaikovsky’s world premiere score, with several cuts, abridgements, and displacements. This DSD recording presents the work as it was heard during the 1877 world premiere performance, highlighting the extraordinary symphonic qualities of Tchaikovsky’s original conception.

“To me, it is one of Tchaikovsky’s greatest achievements that he brought this symphonic dimension to the ballet, without compromising the lightness of texture and the greatness of the melodic invention. It is still great ballet music, but also a great symphonic score, and I hope this recording will fully lift out this symphonic quality of the music.” – Vladimir Jurowski

Swan Lake is performed by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov” led by its Artistic Director Vladimir Jurowski. Jurowski has recorded extensively for Pentatone and has received enthusiastic critical acclaim.

State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia
Vladimir Jurowski, Conductor & Artistic Director

The post Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Prokofiev – Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3

Sjoerd Staal — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

As Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov” since 2011, I have the honour of leading one of Russia’s oldest and most traditional ensembles. When we discussed the first recordings with Pentatone, it was immediately clear to one and all that we wanted to record works by Russian composers. I quickly came up with the idea of a complete recording of symphonies by Sergei Prokofiev – of which this recording is the first release. It was very important to me to begin the cycle not with works that are popular in the West, such as the Symphonies No. 1 or No. 5, but rather to deliberately first tackle the obscure and, one might even say, impenetrable works.

For me personally, Prokofiev’s second and third symphonies rank among the most interesting and significant symphonic works in general – not just in Prokofiev’s oeuvre – dating from the period before World War II. Both works are still unfairly neglected, appearing only rarely on the concert programmes of the great orchestras. Of course, there is a reason for this: these pieces are enormously difficult to interpret. This is especially true for the second symphony. It is incredibly challenging, requiring extreme physical effort from the musicians.

The post Prokofiev – Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 appeared first on NativeDSD Music.