Dresdner Philharmonie & Dennis Russell Davies
Release Date: 09 March 2009
Label: ECM New Series
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 028947669944
Genres: Classical
Description
World premiere recording of Schnittke's posthumous last work, the large-scale, expressive Symphony No 9 reconstructed at his widow's behest by fellow Russian composer Alexander Raskatov.
Composed shortly before his death in 1998, Schnittke's ultimate symphony - his very last work - is a most unusual "Ninth": put down with a shaky left hand by an artist who had survived four strokes and was laterally debilitated, it is an impressive triumph of spiritual energy over physical constraints. It's lively, vital, varied and transparent music defying ordinary clichés of "late style".
The composer's widow Irina treated the barely-legible manuscript as a testament and eventually entrusted the difficult task of deciphering and reconstructing the three movements for large orchestra (38 minutes' music) to Moscow-born Alexander Raskatov who, convinced that Schnittke had intended a fourth movement, also developed the idea to add an independent epilogue, Nunc dimittis for mezzo-soprano, men's vocal quartet and orchestra. It is based on the famous text by orthodox monk Starets Siluan and on verses by Joseph Brodsky, Schnittke's favourite poet.
Both pieces were premiered in Dresden in 2007 by the musicians on this recording - mezzo-soprano Elena Vassilieva, The Hilliard Ensemble, and the Dresdner Philharmonie conducted by long-time ECM artist Dennis Russell Davies. It is released simultaneously with Arvo Pärt's In Principio to herald ECM New Series' first 25 years - Schnittke was a performer on the very first New Series album, Pärt's Tabula Rasa.
Personnel: Elena Vassilieva (mezzo-soprano), The Hilliard Ensemble, Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies (conductor)
Tracklisting
Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica & Vida Mikneviciute
Arvo Part
Thomas Larcher
John Holloway Ensemble
Heinz Holliger & Anton Kernjak
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra & Tonu Kaljuste
Karlheinz Stockhausen Michaels Reise
Andras Schiff
Soloists; Les Traversees Baroques; Meyer
Richard Casey, Annabelle Lawson, Joanna Lam, Peter Lawson, Stephen Plews, Jean Hasse, David Owen Norris, John McCabe, Aleksander Szram
Duncan Honeybourne, Helen Cawthorne
Maria Callas
Mayke Rademakers
Katharina Konradi, Catriona Morison, Ammiel Bushakevitz
Lisa Illean, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, GBSR Duo, Juliet Fraser, Explore Ensemble
Narratio Quartet
