Description

The new double CD album by the Sinfonieorchester Basel features the 2^nd of Igor Stravinsky’s great ballets. After Le Sacre du printemps, the orchestra recorded L’Oiseau de feu.

All of the three ballets will be presented in the version for orchestra as well as in the version for piano four hands. Unlike for Sacre and Pétrouchka, for L’Oiseau de feu there is no piano arrangement for four hands by Stravinsky himself. Dennis Russell Davies, Principal Conductor of the Sinfonieorchester Basel and pianist has therefore arranged a version for piano four hands – exclusively for this production. The new arrangement is based on the original piano arrangement for two hands by Stravinsky, which is kept in the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel. Dennis Russell Davies has recorded the arrangement together with his wife Maki Namekawa.

The piano version opens up new perspectives on the orchestra version of L’Oiseau de feu and underlines the compositional value of Stravinsky’s creation.

Description

This CD isafter theSymphonies No. 3, 5 and 8, the third release of theBasel Symphony Orchestra’s Schubert series of  all of its symphonies.
Schubert’s symphonies were designed for a ‘big audience’, but during his lifetime they were, at best, only performed in the semi-public rooms of the Seminary and those of the amateur orchestra. It was not until barely a month after his death that the first truly representative performance took place through the Society of Friends of Music (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde) in Vienna. Leopold von Sonnleithner, a friend of Schubert’s, had some input into the programming and suggested the sixth symphony for the occasion. The “Great” C major could not be considered owing to practical constraints, but why was it number six in particular that was chosen out of his early symphonies? Were the reasons purely mundane – or was there a deeper rationale behind this decision? It would be good to know the answer, but today one can merely speculate.

The Sinfonieorchester Basel is one of the oldest and most important orchestras in Switzerland. It is strongly rooted in the north-west of Switzerland and at the same time enjoys a more than regional as well as international radiance. The Sinfonieorchester Basel is always again demonstrating anew its excellent quality, whether it be in its own concert tiers, in the Theater Basel or in guest concerts at home or abroad. Since 2009, the principal conductor has been the renowned American conductor and pianist, Dennis Russell Davies.

Description

Version for Orchestra with Sinfonieorchester Basel
Version for Piano Four Hands performed by Dennis Russell Davies & Maki Namekawa
As early as spring 1910 Igor Stravinsky had a vision of a “great pagan festival” the climax of which would be the death of a young girl who dies of exhaustion after a frenzied dance, surrounded by the elders of her tribe. A further eighteen months would elapse however, during which Stravinsky consulted with the archaeologist and painter Nikolai Roerich to produce several versions of a libretto, before the composer set about realizing his vision by writing the score for this, his most famous ballet. Initially, the score bore the working title The great sacrifice, but was then renamed The Rite of Spring, and marked the international career breakthrough for the composer, not yet 32 years old, following his two earlier ballets for Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes, Firebird and Petrushka. And it has to be said that that breakthrough came with a mighty drumroll: when Le Sacre was premiered on May 29, 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, choreographed by the young Vaslav Nijinsky and under the musical direction of Pierre Monteux, the ballet caused one of the greatest scandals in the history of music and theatre ever – though it has to be said that Nijinsky’s choreography, with its stamping, twitching body movements that seem to truly mock the ideal of weightless grace normally expected in dance, was at least as much to blame as Stravinsky’s music. That said, this was not a performance suited to those of a nervous disposition, since the composer had transformed the orchestra to a great extent into a gasping, snorting, and above all hammering monster producing a sound that bore no resemblance whatsoever to the elegance of traditional ballet music.

Description

This is the fourth production on the in 2012 established in-house label of the Sinfonieorchester Basel. The label is maintained worldwide by Solo Musica.

The Sinfonieorchester Basel is one of the oldest and most important orchestras in Switzerland. It is strongly rooted in the north-west of Switzerland and at the same time enjoys a more than regional as well as international radiance. The Sinfonieorchester Basel is always again demonstrating anew its excellent quality, whether it be in its own concert tiers, in the Theater Basel or in guest concerts at home or abroad. Since 2009, the principal conductor has been the renowned American conductor and pianist, Dennis Russell Davies.

Honegger finally completed his Second Symphony in December 1941
and sent it to Sacher. Sacher then performed it for the first time on May 18, 1942, nowwith his second orchestra, the Collegium Musicum in Zurich.

.„Deliciae Basilienses“ – „I have written this fourth, and probably last, symphony for my friend Paul Sacher for the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Basle Chamber Orchestra. Although this ‘Symphonie liturgique’ follows the tradition of Beethoven, in that its content is as much dramatic as emotional, it has greater claims, so far as its form and spirit are concerned, to the style of Haydn or Mozart.

Description

This is the third production on the in 2012 established in-house label of the Sinfonieorchester Basel. The label is maintained worldwide by Solo Musica.

The Sinfonieorchester Basel is one of the oldest and most important orchestras in Switzerland. It is strongly rooted in the north-west of Switzerland and at the same time enjoys a more than regional as well as international radiance. The Sinfonieorchester Basel is always again demonstrating anew its excellent quality, whether it be in its own concert tiers, in the Theater Basel or in guest concerts at home or abroad. Since 2009, the principal conductor has been the renowned American conductor and pianist, Dennis Russell Davies.
Numerous CD productions, some of which received international acclaim and awards, give record of the orchestra’s work. Since a few years ago the Sinfonieorchester Basel has been demonstrating an increasing international presence. In 2010, for example, the orchestra toured around China. It has also played two much accredited for concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow in fall 2012 and will tour around England in spring 2014.

Description

This is the second of two productions on the just established in-house label of the Sinfonieorchester Basel. The label is maintained worldwide by Solo Musica.

The Basel Symphony Orchestra (Sinfonieorchester Basel) is one of Switzerland’s major orchestras and appears both in concert and at the opera house. For decades it has produced a wide array of highlights under the batons of such conductors as Felix Weingartner, Hans Münch, Moshe Atzmon, Matthias Bamert, Gary Bertini, Pierre Boulez, Armin Jordan, Nello Santi, Mario Venzago and Walter Weller. Its CD recordings of the music of Robert Schumann, Maurice Ravel, Klaus Huber, Luigi Nono and Othmar Schoeck have received great international acclaim and many awards. ‘A Different Schumann’, for example, was awarded the Golden Tuning Fork from the German music industry.

Today the Basel Symphony Orchestra numbers among Switzerland’s
leading musical ensembles, with some 100 highly qualified and highly
motivated musicians. Its broad repertoire ranges effortlessly from the
Viennese classics and to contemporary music. Whether in the concert hall or the opera house, at home or on its domestic and foreign tours, this internationally varied group of musicians constantly demonstrates ist unique flexibility and artistic prowess.

One of the orchestra’s wishes came true in the 2009-10 season when ist leadership was taken over by the renowned American conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies.

Description

This is the first of two productions on the just established in-house label of the Sinfonieorchester Basel. The label is maintained worldwide by Solo Musica.

The Basel Symphony Orchestra (Sinfonieorchester Basel) is one of Switzerland’s major orchestras and appears both in concert and at the opera house. For decades it has produced a wide array of highlights under the batons of such conductors as Felix Weingartner, Hans Münch, Moshe Atzmon, Matthias Bamert, Gary Bertini, Pierre Boulez, Armin Jordan, Nello Santi, Mario Venzago and Walter Weller. Its CD recordings of the music of Robert Schumann, Maurice Ravel, Klaus Huber, Luigi Nono and Othmar Schoeck have received great international acclaim and many awards. ‘A Different Schumann’, for example, was awarded the Golden Tuning Fork from the German music industry.

Today the Basel Symphony Orchestra numbers among Switzerland’s
leading musical ensembles, with some 100 highly qualified and highly
motivated musicians. Its broad repertoire ranges effortlessly from the
Viennese classics and to contemporary music. Whether in the concert hall or the opera house, at home or on its domestic and foreign tours, this internationally varied group of musicians constantly demonstrates ist unique flexibility and artistic prowess.

One of the orchestra’s wishes came true in the 2009-10 season when ist leadership was taken over by the renowned American conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies.