Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra Petrenko - Eine Alpensinfonie 64 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Prokofiev described his Fifth Symphony as Inch... The culmination of an entire period in my work. I conceived it as a symphony on the grandeur of the human spirit.Inch He regarded this symphony, composed in the summer of 1944, as his finest work. The first movement opens quietly and lyrically with a rising theme for flute and bassoon, but with the introduction of brass and percussion the hard-edged side of Prokofiev's language becomes more evident. Prokofiev may be considered by many to be among the major symphonists of his time, though his contribution to this genre is uneven. Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881-1950) was certainly one of the most prolific symphonic composers of the twentieth century. Myaskovsky's twenty-seven symphonies are diverse in style, character and form, ranging from a single movement to five movements, but generally he was a traditionalist, especially in terms of tonality and structure. Myaskovsky composed his Twenty-first Symphony, sub-titled Symphony-Fantasy in F-sharp minor, in response to a commission from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to celebrate it's fiftieth anniversary. (Other composers who were commissioned for this occasion included Stravinsky, Kodály, Milhaud, Roy Harris and Walton.) Frederick Stock, the orchestra's conductor at that time and an admirer of Myaskovsky's music, performed this work many times. Alexander Gauk conducted the USSR State Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere in November 1940. The first performance in America was given by Frederick Stock with the Chicago Symphony just a few weeks later.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) composed his Symphony No 6 in E flat minor, Opus 111 between 1945 and February 1947, though his sketches date from 1944 - before his completion of the Fifth Symphony. The scoring is for large orchestra including piccolo, cor anglais, E flat clarinet, contrabassoon, harp, piano, celesta and an array of percussion. Although the key of E flat minor is extremely rare in the symphonic literature, Myaskovsky also wrote a sixth symphony in that key. On this , Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6 is paired with Myaskovsky's Symphony No. 27 in C minor. The works are performed by the Oslo Philharmonic.

The Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko present the first of a new series of recordings of Richard Strauss' orchestral music. This first features the great tone poems InchAlso Sprach ZarathustraInch and InchEin Heldenleben,Inch both works the Oslo Philharmonic has a long history of performing at home and abroad. Vasily Petrenko, chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic since 2013, exploits the special intensity of the orchestra's string sound and it's magnificent wind and brass sections to full effect in this thrillingly virtuosic music. Vasily Petrenko is one of the most significant and galvanizing musicians alive, and has won numerous accolades for his recordings of Russian repertoire, including two Gramophone awards. With the Oslo Philharmonic, he has recorded works by Shostakovich, Szymanowski, Strauss and Prokofiev, as well as a major cycle of orchestral works by Alexander Scriabin. The Oslo Philharmonic was born in 1919 and over the next half-century, the orchestra's reputation grew steadily. In 1979, it changed forever with the arrival of a young Latvian arriving in Norway, Mariss Jansons, who transformed it to rival the great Philharmonics of Vienna, Berlin and New York.