Nicholas McGegan - Dettinger Te Deum - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

W.a. Mozart - Organ Works [COMPACT DISCS] date 09/30/2003

Valery Polyansky - Symphony 1 / Snowflakes [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/17/1995

Music Director Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra bring to life the depth and brilliance of Brahms' two orchestral Serenades on this disc, recorded live at First Congregational Church, Berkeley, California. In the late 1850s, Brahms took on the post of choral director at the court of Lippe-Detmold. The position provided him access to an orchestra, and Brahms took full advantage of his good fortune. The two orchestral Serenades were the great composer's first efforts in the genre, and in the tradition of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, they are light-hearted, lyrical and sunny. The second is notable for scoring that excludes violins. In both works, color, charm, wit (and a nod to Classical formal traditions) are present in abundance.