Scriabin: Le Poème de l'extase, Op. 54 (Symphony No. 4 'The Poem of Ecstasy')

The main feature of this new CD is the world premiere recording of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s new violin concerto with chorus entitled “The Singing Rooms”. Also receiving its debut on disc is Alvin Singleton’s “PraiseMaker” for chorus and orchestra, and the album concludes with Scriabin’s exotic and powerful “Poem of Ecstasy”. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Robert Spano.

American composer Jennifer Higdon was born in 1962, and since the 2002 premiere of her Concerto for Orchestra has been much in demand. The piece was recorded on Telarc, (CD80620), by Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. “The Singing Rooms”, a violin concerto with an equally important part for chorus, was sparked by a request from violinist Jennifer Koh, for whom Higdon had previously composed a sonata with piano called String Poetic in 2006. The piece is part of a commissioning consortium with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra. For the poems Higdon turned to a colleague, Jeanne Minahan, who teaches creative writing and literature at the Curtis Institute.

American composer Alvin Singleton has resided in Atlanta since 1985, when at Robert Shaw’s request he became Composer-in-Residence of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for three years [1985-88]. “PraiseMaker” was commissioned by the Cincinnati May Festival in celebration of its 125th anniversary. James Conlon conducted the first performance on May 22, 1998, with the Festival Chorus and Orchestra. Writing for this important choral festival, the composer requested an original text from Susan Kouguell, with whom he previously collaborated on The World Is Here with Me for Spelman College.

Alexander Scriabin’s symphonic work “The Poem of Ecstasy” began about 1903 as a long prose poem that Scriabin felt would interpret his philosophy to a world hungry for enlightenment. The work is in one long movement, reflecting a succession of emotions from yearning, to striving, and finally fulfilment.

Two thrilling 20th Century orchestral works, ideally realised in the hands of Zubin Mehta, and released for the first time on CD. The volley of timpani as they hurl challenges at each other in the Nielsen is one of the most exciting moments of orchestral music. And Scriabin's Poeme de l'extase (Poem of Ecstasy) is one of his most intoxicating orchestral works.

The Beethoven Orchester Bonn under the baton of Stefan Blunier invite us to join them on their exciting tour through Russian orchestral music around 1900. Thanks to the outstanding 3D audio technique in 2+2+2 sound the live recording of these phenomenally instrumented works in sonorous harmony guarantees a thrill of joy.

"With unprecedented energy which also contains needful tonal subtlety, [Ahronovitch] succeeds in bringing together the very divergent parts of the work and sometimes also in pressing them together. Utter commitment is demanded, not least in the second movement.” (jö, Frankfurter Neue Presse, December 5, 1983)

"In the finale with its drawn-out choral vocalises, Ahronovitch whipped up the orchestra to such a hot-blooded climax that one expected the walls of the hall to give way any moment, the ceiling to lift and the blazing sound to rise unhampered into the air as music of the cosmos." (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 12, 1989)

This unique record brings together two of the greatest musicians of their day in a complete Carnegie Hall New York concert from April 1953. We hear the great pianist Arthur Rubinstein (whose performing career lasted an incredible 82 years) in two concertos - the Saint-Saëns Second Concerto in G minor and Cesar Franck’s Symphonic Variations. What makes this particularly valuable is that Rubinstein’s performance of Saint-Saëns’ Concerto elicited high praise from the composer himself when he heard the young Rubinstein perform the work in Paris in 1905. At the time of this 1953 concert, Dmitri Mitropoulos was the chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and this equally great musician’s qualities are heard to their best advantage in profoundly sympathetic and penetrating accounts of two colourful Russian scores, especial interest being placed on Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy, first heard in New York in 1908. This is a fascinating and very important single CD of great historical interest.