arr. 1920 for Chamber Ensemble by Stein, reconstructed by Platt
Heather Shipp (mezzo-soprano)
Orchestra of the Swan, David Curtis
CD
$18.25
Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.
These two live recordings were recorded during the orchestra’s concert season at Birmingham Town Hall and the result is another unusual and innovative recording in SOMM’s catalogue. The orchestra perform with infectious enthusiasm and the Berlioz is a premiere recording of this version.
April 2011
“How ingeniously [Stein] reduced Mahler's Fourth Symphony for chamber forces, and how well he retained essential colours...it is rather pleasing to hear Stein's alternative, especially in a buoyant performance such as this one, which finds the players of Orchestra of the Swan relishing their task and responding bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to David Curtis's quick and effective tempos.”
Glasgow Herald
13th March 2011
“[the Mahler reduction] works stunningly well, as exemplified in this enthralling live performance by David Curtis and his Orchestra Of The Swan, with mezzo Heather Shipp...The detail of Mahler’s already chamber-like orchestration gleams with a pure light, enhanced further by the coupling: David Matthews’s arrangement for small group of Berlioz’s Nuits d’ete.”
“Just another Mahler Four? Far from it...Woodwind obbligatos and string glissandos bring out the symphony’s gypsy soul in this spirited performance under David Curtis, but the CD’s value lies just as much in the chance to hear the lovely Heather Shipp singing Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Eté, in a chamber version by David Matthews.”
BBC Radio 3
Norman Lebrecht
“Scaled back to a dozen instruments for one of Arnold Schoenberg’s private concerts, this skeletal version is played with great razzle-dazzle by musicians from the Orchestra of the Swan...A disc almost overstuffed with good things.”
June 2011
****
“with so many full-orchestral recordings of each work available, do we need to hear these reduced ones? Two good reasons are top-flight instrumental playing (you won't hear much better anywhere), and the spelllbinding vividness of Heather Shipp's darkly gorgeous mezzo-soprano voice”
July 2011
“Various members of the Orchestra of the Swan sound like they're having fun - the cellist with some liberal portamento, the clarinettist with a Brahmsian introduction to the finale”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
