Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major - CD

Rarely mentioned in the same breath as his illustrious colleagues Talich, Kubelík and Ančerl, Karel Šejna (1896-1982) was perennially second-in-command, yet despite failing to receive the credit he deserves he too played a crucial role in shaping the history of the Czech Philharmonic. Initially solo double-bass of the orchestra, he began conducting upon Václav Talich’s request and in 1939 was officially named its second conductor. And he also remained deputy after the departure of Talich, who was replaced by Rafael Kubelík, as well as after Kubelík’s emigration, when Karel Ančerl was appointed (originally against the orchestra members’ will) to the vacant post of chief conductor. Consequently, still playing “second fiddle”, Šejna went on to conduct dozens of concerts and make numerous recordings, which today rank among the finest in the Supraphon archives. Period critics branded him a flexible and vivid conductor who always required an understanding of the style and consistently worked with detail. In 1972, Šejna rounded off a half-century of work for the Czech Philharmonic with Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Šejna’s sensitively remastered recordings from 1950-1962, from the bracing Mozart played “with a light hand” to Mahler’s fourth, are now released by Supraphon for the first time on CD.

Following recordings of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet, LSO Live returns to Valery Gergiev’s acclaimed Mahler cycle with the release of the Fourth Symphony. Using a reduced orchestra, unusually without any lower brass, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 was influenced by the trend to revive the classical style of Haydn and Mozart, as a reaction against the monumental ‘Wagnerian’ Romanticism of its predecessors. The work is based around the final movement, written some years earlier – its childish and naïve text giving shape to the other movements.

CONCERT REVIEWS:

“Those who think of Mahler’s Fourth as the gentlest of his symphonies would have found their ideas challenged by Valery Gergiev’s probing interpretation of it. Far from being a sunny, carefree idyll, this was something more prone to anxiety and tension than to tranquil nostalgia. It was perhaps this tussle between serenity and apprehension that made the performance so fascinating and the music so disquieting ... the overall impression was of a Mahler Fourth that was freshly conceived and deeply compelling” Daily Telegraph

“In the slow movement, Gergiev achieved something transcendent and genuinely mysterious by propelling the music forward without losing sight of its inherent numinosity. The performance was worth it just for that” The Guardian

Conductor Iván Fischer, a nominee for the 2008 Classic FM Gramophone Award for Artist of the Year, co-founder and Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, has been responsible for creating a vibrant orchestra with an enviable international touring profile which appears at all the major venues and festivals of the world.

As a guest conductor Fischer works with the finest symphony orchestras of the world. He has been invited to the Berlin Philharmonic more than ten times, every year he leads two weeks of programs with the Royal Concert-Gebouw Orchestra. Besides his contract with the NSO of Washington, he works regularly with leading US symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra.

“There is a unique purity and transparency in Mahler’s 4th Symphony. The enchanting sleigh bells take us to his inner child, to his dreams of angels, fairy tales, angst and pure, divine love. This child-like symphony needed a different orchestra: no dark tuba, no heavy trombones, no large arsenal of massive brass. A chamber orchestra in fact, where the clarinets act as mock trumpets, the solo violin tunes his strings sharper in order to scare us and the lightness of the whole orchestra lifts us up to his lovely, childish vision of paradise.” Iván Fischer

Following the excellent reviews of the 3rd and 5th symphonies we are pleased to present this recording of Mahler’s 4th Symphony played by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted once again by Zdenek Macal. The stunning final movement is sung on this performance by soprano Michaela Kaune who gives a heart rending account of the child’s view of heaven. This is an eagerly awaited release that is sure to please. (Also available Symphony No. 3 OVCL00300 & Symphony No. 5 OVCL00294)

Historical performance pioneer, Trevor Pinnock, conducts the Royal Academy of Music Ensemble in revealing chamber arrangements of Mahler’s most frequently performed symphony and Debussy’s Prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune, on its debut recording for Linn.

Arranged for Schoenberg’s 1918 Society for Private Musical Performances, these reductions were designed to highlight the fresh perspective a stripped-back orchestration could offer the listener.

With this recording, Trevor and the Academy launch a series of performances and recordings which are retrospectively reigniting Schoenberg’s vision of performing chamber reductions of symphonic repertoire, including newly commissioned arrangements for this series.

Erwin Stein’s visionary transformation of Mahler’s neo-classicist symphony is for fifteen players and soprano (Sonia Grane). A Mahler symphony of more modest proportions, it lends itself perfectly to a chamber arrangement.

Benno Sachs’ re-orchestration of Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune retains many of the sounds of Debussy’s original, using the span of the piano to fill out gaps in the texture, and the harmonium to sustain missing parts in the winds, additions which add much interest and afford a new coherence and sensuality to the melodic line.

Trevor Pinnock is known worldwide as a harpsichordist and conductor who pioneered performance on historical instruments with his own orchestra, The English Concert.

In the 2012/13 season, Pinnock conducts the Kioi Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg (where he is Principal Guest Conductor), Rotterdam Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, and tours with the Kammerorchester Basel and Maria João Pires.

In opera he conducts Mozart's Don Giovanni with Houston Opera and Haydn's La Vera Constanza with the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Pinnock gives solo recitals throughout the UK and trio recitals in the UK and Europe with Jonathan Manson and Matthew Truscott.

The recording is produced by Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, whose producing career has won him several awards including Diapasons d’Ors, eight Gramophone Awards and many further nominations.

Melodiya presents another rare recording of David Oistrakh as a conductor. The outstanding violinist realized his old dream of conducting for the first time in 1962. Oistrakh’s in-depth comprehension of the music text and indisputable authority among fellow musicians scored him firm successes in this area of performing activities. He conducted some of the well-known orchestras of Moscow, Leningrad and European cities to enthusiastic reviews of the public and music critics.