Serebrier y Casenave, los uruguayos nominados a los Grammy LatinosSe anunciaron hoy los nominados para la 17° edición de los Grammy Latinos, que se entregarán el 19 de noviembre en Las Vegas. Y a diferencia del año pasado, cuando hubo varios uruguayos en carrera —Cuarteto de Nos, No Te Va Gustar y Julieta Rada, entre otros—, esta vez hay solo dos que van por una estatuilla.
Uno es el director de orquesta y compositor José Serebrier, quien ha estado nominado en decenas de oportunidades (incluyendo el año pasado), y ya ha ganado ocho Grammys con su larga carrera.
Serebrier podría llevarse el premio por Mejor Álbum de Música Clásica por el trabajo José Serebrier Conducts Samuel Adler, que realizó con el chelista Maximilian Hornung. Compite con los discos Biber: Baroque Splendor de Jordi Savall, Danzas en todos los tiempos de Edith Peña, Durón: Lagrimas, Amor... de A Corte Musical con Rogerio Gonçalves y Eva Juárez, y El Hilo Invisible (Cantos Sefaradíes) y del Cuarteto Latinoamericano y Jaramar.
El otro es Gustavo Casenave, pianista radicado en Nueva York, quien está nominado por tercera vez en esta competencia. Va por la estatuilla en el rubro Mejor Composición Clásica Contemporánea por la pieza "Mi familia", y sus rivales son: "Beyond the silence of sorrow" de Roberto Sierra, "Cuarteto para Buenos Aires" de Claudia Montero, "Jardín del adiós" de Fernando Otero, y "Sonata de los viajeros" de Leo Bouwer.
-- from El Pais
Xiaogang Ye's "Scent of the Green Mango", and
Violin Concerto No. 1 received a 10 minutes standing ovation in Beijing.
José Serebrier and the China National Symphony
OrchestraSerebrier dirigió un concierto monográfico con obras del compositor local Ye Xiaogang, autor de la música de la inauguración de los Juegos Olímpicos de 2008, en el Beijing Concert Hall de la capital china.
Tras subir al podio de los principales auditorios del mundo a la batuta de formaciones como la Orquesta Sinfónica de Londres, la Filarmónica de Nueva York o la Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Cataluña, el maestro uruguayo regresó por tercera ocasión a China.
En el auditorio el público acogió con entusiasmo su interpretación del concierto para piano Esencia del mango verde, con Tan Xiaotang como solista, y del Concierto para violín número 1 de Ye, que tuvo como solista a Lu Wei, y premió la velada con una ovación de casi diez minutos.
La colaboración entre Serebrier y Ye no terminará en este concierto, puesto que el maestro uruguayo tiene previsto realizar otro recital en Río de Janeiro, dentro de los preparativos para los próximos Juegos Olímpicos, y planea grabar varios discos con sus obras.
"Me gusta grabar, por la razón de que si uno toca un concierto lo escuchan 2.000 personas, pero cuando yo grabo lo escuchan 100.000 personas, porque mis discos se pasan mucho en las radios de todo el mundo", dijo a EFE Serebrier poco antes de su actuación.
El director uruguayo es especialmente prolífico en lo que se refiere a las grabaciones discográficas puesto que ha registrado más de 300 álbumes en toda su trayectoria, que le han valido 45 nominaciones a los Grammy, entre otros galardones.
Su último trabajo es una integral de las nueve sinfonías y las danzas eslavas de Antonin Dvorak al frente de la Orquesta Sinfónica Bornemouth y ya prepara otro disco, en esta ocasión con la formación española de cámara Concerto Málaga, con motivo del centenario de la muerte de Enrique Granados que se conmemora en 2016.
Serebrier, quien estrenó su primera sinfonía a los 17 años, es también autor de más de un centenar de composiciones, aunque reconoce que es una faceta menos conocida de su actividad.
"La razón de que mi carrera de compositor no se vea tan bien es que yo no dirijo obras mías en conciertos para hacer lugar a obras de otros compositores", señaló el músico uruguayo.
-- from El Pais
Sunday 6 Mar 2016, 7.30pm
Royal Festival Hall, London
José Serebrier, conductor
Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending
Elgar, Cello Concerto
Powell, A Prussian Requiem (World première)
Commemorating the First World War, featuring renowned film composer John Powell’s new oratorio, A Prussian Requiem, starring tenor sensation Javier Camarena . rising-star cellist Sol Gabetta in Elgar’s masterpiece, a haunting elegy for those lost in the Great War. Vaughan Williams’s nostalgic, ever-fresh The Lark Ascending performed by award-winning Jennifer Pike.
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)Complete Ballet Music from the Operas
Otello • Macbeth • Jérusalem • Don Carlo • Aida • Il trovatore • I vespri siciliani Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra • José Serebrier
This unique programme is the first time that all the ballet music from Verdi’s operas has been brought together in a single recording. Although The Four Seasons from I vespri siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers) and the ballet scenes from Aida and Otello have survived, substantial pieces from Il trovatore and Don Carlo are more often cut, while the ballet from Jérusalem is all but unknown. José Serebrier’s recordings with the Bournemouth Symphony have resulted in some great successes with unusual repertoire. This release will be of interest both to opera enthusiasts and to those eager to explore Verdi’s neglected and relatively small body of concert music.
Volume II of Dvořák Symphony cycle on Warner Classics conducted by José Serebrier with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Warner Classics is delighted to announce that José Serebrier is continuing his cycle of the Dvořák symphonies with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Volume 2, to be released in March 2012, includes Symphony No. 7, In Nature’s Realm, Scherzo Capriccioso, and Slavonic Dance Op. 46, No. 8.
This is the first complete cycle of Dvořák symphonies released on the Warner Classics label, and follows the enormously successful complete Glazunov symphonies cycle from José Serebrier with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and complete Glazunov concertos with the Russian National Orchestra, soon to be released in a box, including several ballet suites and overtures. José Serebrier has previously recorded Dvořák symphonies Nos. 8 & 9, but it will be the first time he has recorded symphonies Nos.1–7. José Serebrier has a special affinity with Slavic music and has already recorded all the Borodin symphonies, many recordings of music by Tchaikovsky, a Janáček cycle and Rimsky-Korsakov and an outstanding live performance of Rachmaninov The Bells, as well as the complete symphonies and concertos of Glazunov. José Serebrier's 12-concert tour of China's principal cities in January was an enormous success, with sold-out houses. His upcoming international tours include a residency at the Bermuda Festival with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra in February, a tour in Italy with the Haydn Orchestra, and an extensive tour of South America in April with the Russian National Orchestra.
"Enthusiasm and sonic loveliness mark conductor José Serebrier’s latest traversal of Dvorak, a projected complete cycle of the symphonies and symphonic poems...a thrilling experience."
"It should surely rank with the finest – if not the best of all"
International Record Review
"A fresh-faced account of the ‘New World’ Symphony, a very expressive performance, subtly detailed and with a wide dynamic range "
ClassicalSource
"Serebrier shows how the essence of this symphony lies in lyrical detail."
Classical Iconoclast
"It should surely rank with the finest – if not the best of all"
International Record Review
"A fresh-faced account of the ‘New World’ Symphony, a very expressive performance, subtly detailed and with a wide dynamic range "
ClassicalSource
"Serebrier shows how the essence of this symphony lies in lyrical detail."
Classical Iconoclast
"Serebrier launches his Dvorak symphony cycle fom the top. New major CD symphony cycles are alsways good news, especially when they hail from a conductor as experienced and as imaginative as José Serebrier.
Gramophone
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 21, 2011
YOA ORCHESTRA OF THE AMERICAS
TO TOUR CHINA WITH CONDUCTOR JOSÉ SEREBRIER
In commemoration of its 10th anniversary, YOA Orchestra of the Americas will tour China from 14 December 2011 to 5 January 2012, presenting 12 concerts in major cities and concert halls.
Following 10 years’ history of extensive Latin American and European tours, this project marks YOA’s Asian debut. Presented by Armstrong Arts Limited, the tour begins with a week-long Residence at the Chongqing Academy of Arts and Sciences. Under the leadership of conductor José Serebrier and YOA Faculty Leon Spierer (former Concertmaster, Berlin Philharmonic), Mauro Maur (Principal Trumpet, Rome Opera Orchestra), and Michael Webster (Professor of Clarinet, Shepard School of Music - Rice University), the 80-musician YOA orchestra will prepare several programs to be performed in China's most prestigious theaters. YOA musicians will have the opportunity to take part in cultural exchanges and visits to a number of China's important historic sites, including the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors museumin Xi'An.
Repertoire includes works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Dvorak, Verdi, Ginastera, Strauss, Bizet, Glazunov and others. Soloists include Metropolitan Opera (MET) soprano Carole Farley and YOA musicians Nicolas Giordano (violin - Uruguay), Ivan Zerpa (violin - Venezuela), Sarah Steeves (cello - Canada), and Ignacio Gallego (cello - Spain). Participation of YOA musicians is generously underwritten by Susan E. Lehrman. YOA musicians in China represent Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Panamá, Peru, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In celebration of YOA's 10th Anniversary, partner institutions are sending their most talented musicians to perform with the YOA orchestra: Consejo Nacional de la Cultura (Chile), New England Conservatory - YOA Founding Institution (Massachusetts), Núcleos Estaduais de Orquestras Juvenis e Infantis - Neojibá (Bahia, Brasil), Orquesta Juvenil Municipal de Guatemala (Guatemala), Orquesta Sinfonica Universidad Guanajuato (México), New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (Canada), Escola de Musica Eleazar de Carvalho - ASSATEMEC (Itú, Brasil).
2011–2012 YOA CHINA TOUR PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
14–19 December Chongqing Residence: Chongqing Academy of Arts and Sciences
20 December Chongqing Chongqing Grand Theater
21 December Chongqing Chongqing Grand Theater
23 December Guangzhou Guangzhou Opera House
24 December Guangzhou Guangzhow Opera House
25 December Shenzhen Shenzhen Grand Theater
27 December Dalian People’s Cultural Center
28 December Dalian People’s Cultural Center
29 December Beijing Beijing Concert Hall
30 December Lanzhou Gansu Grand Theater
31 December Lanzhow Gansu Grand Theater
1 January Xi'An Xi’An Concet Hall
2 January Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre
JOSÉ SEREBRIER
The tour will be conducted by GRAMMY Award winning composer and conductor José Serebrier, who has had extensive experience with youth orchestras. During his early teens in his native Urugauy, he organized the first youth orchestra in Latin America, and toured with them for five years, until receiving a US State Department Fellowship to study with Aaron Copland and at the Curtis Institute of Music. One of today's most recorded artists , with more than 300 titles to his credit, his recent CDs have been with the New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar and many others. José Serebrier has received 39 GRAMMY nominations, and has won the Latin GRAMMY for "best recording of the year", and many other awards including the Grand Prix du Disque in France and Deutsche Schallplatten award in Germany.
At 21 Serebrier became Leopold Stokowski's Associate Conductor in New York's Carnegie Hall. Stokowski premiered several of his compositions, which have also been recorded by John Eliot Gardiner and others. At 22, Serebrier won the Ford Foundation American Conductors Award, sharing the prize with James Levine. George Szell, who was in the jury, invited Serebrier to be the Cleveland Orchestra's Composer in Residence for several seasons, under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. As composer, Serebrier has won most awards, including two Guggenheims (as the youngest in their history), Kousevitsky Foundation Award, commissions from the Harvard Musical Association, National Endowment for the Arts and many others. A prolific composer, his 100+ works are published by Peermusic, Kalmus, Peters Editions, Boosey & hawkes, Universal Edition Vienna, Hal Leonard Publications.
Serebrier is the regular guest conductor for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra and Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, a relationship that includes yearly concerts, recordings and international tours. In February 2012 Serebrier tours with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra to several international festivals. In April 2012 Serebrier takes the Russian National Orchestra on a tour of Latin America following concerts and recording sessions in Moscow. French music critic Michel Faure has recently written a new book about Serebrier, published in Paris by L’Harmattan.
YOA ORCHESTRA OF THE AMERICAS
Under the guidance of Artistic Advisor Plácido Domingo, YOA Orchestra of the Americas is a world-class symphony orchestra of gifted young musicians, ages 18 to 30, representing more than 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere. YOA’s mission is to bring together energetic, talented musicians to pursue excellence and celebrate cultural diversity as a catalyst for social change. In ten years, YOA has become an international brand performing with renowned artists from Yo-Yo Ma to Paquito D’Rivera, from Valery Gergiev to Philip Glass, from Joshua Bell to Plácido Domingo, from Nelson Freire to Gabriela Montero, and many others.
Free and open auditions are held annually via YouTube to ensure that any deserving and eligible musician of the Americas can apply. Following adjudication by prestigious faculty, all musicians in the new orchestra participate on full-scholarship, to achieve the greatest equality and diversity possible.
The season centerpiece is an annual July-August Residence and Concert Tour held each year in different regions of the Americas and beyond, led by Music Director Carlos Miguel Prieto. Musicians, faculty, conductors, guest artists, and staff gather for a 2-week Residence of master classes, individual instruction, sectionals and full-orchestra rehearsals to prepare diverse and challenging repertoire to take on a month-long Tour. Special invitations and educational exchange bring together YOA musicians throughout the year. Programs range from chamber recitals to full-orchestra concerts. YOA musicians also serve as teaching artists in partner programs with conservatories and orchestras around the world.
YOA has performed more than 250 concerts since its 2002 Inaugural Tour in prestigious concert halls and venues not often associated with symphonic music. YOA has reached over 8 million people through live performances, television and radio broadcasts, CD recordings, print media, and documentary films. The impact of YOA stretches far beyond its programs. Participants return to their native countries to share experiences and knowledge with their communities. YOA connects musicians to institutions of higher learning and professional job opportunities. YOA is a model for music education programs in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, Saint Lucia, the United States, and Uruguay.
PRESS INQUIRIES:
Maria Pombo, YOA Communications Officer | mpombo@yoa.org | +1 703 236 0010
Additional information on YOA Orchestra of the Americas and José Serebrier may be found at the following websites:
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Warner Classics is delighted to announce that José Serebrier has agreed to record a cycle of the complete Dvořák symphonies with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Volume 1, to be released in September 2011, includes Symphony No. 9, “From the New World", the Czech Suite and two Slavonic Dances. Volume 2, to be released early in 2012, will include Symphony No. 7, In Nature’s Realm and Scherzo Capriccioso.
This will be the first complete cycle of Dvořák symphonies released on the Warner Classics label, and follows the enormously successful complete Glazunov symphonies cycle from José Serebrier with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and complete Glazunov concertos with the Russian National Orchestra. José Serebrier has previously recorded Dvořák symphonies Nos. 8 & 9, but it will be the first time he has recorded symphonies Nos.1–7. José Serebrier has a special affinity with Slavic music and has already recorded all the Borodin symphonies, music by Tchaikovsky, Janáček and Rimsky-Korsakov and an outstanding live performance of Rachmaninov The Bells, as well as the complete symphonies and concertos of Glazunov.
"This must be one of the finest performances of The Bells ever recorded …. enthralls from start to finish… Classic FM Magazine
"The bells toll to welcome a great new live recording from Moscow …. A terrific performance…” Gramophone
“This set [complete Glazunov concertos] is a godsend” Daily Telegraph
“Surely the best Glazunov cycle yet." Classic FM Magazine
“Serebrier's is now the benchmark performance." BBC Music Magazine
José Serebrier has been working with the versatile Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for many years, and their successful partnership has produced a number of outstanding recordings, including a cycle of Stokowski transcriptions which has received several Grammy nominations.José Serebrier was taught by Pierre Monteux and Antal Dorati, and was mentored by many legendary conductors including Leopold Stokowski at the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (as his Associate Conductor) who hailed him as the “greatest master of orchestral balance” and George Szell at the Cleveland Orchestra (as Composer in Residence). Serebrier has been hailed by the New York Times for the “great intensity, precision and clarity” which he brings to his music-making. One of today’s most recorded classical artists, José Serebrier’s recordings have received 38 Grammy nominations and numerous international awards, including the Latin Grammy for "Best Recording of the Year", and the Grand Prix du Disque in France, among others.
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LIVE IN MOSCOW
Shostakovich: Festive Overture, op. 96
Glazunov: Chant du ménestrel, op. 71
Rachmaninov: The Bells, op. 35
Mussorgsky-Stokowski: Entr'acte (Act IV) from Khovanshchina
Rachmaninov-Serebrier: Vocalise
Russian National Orchestra
José Serebrier
"Made in Heaven" Fanfare
"Serebrier's intensity and precision draws attention to detail previously unsuspected of this neglected composer" The Observer
“The Symphony sounds warm and approachable with Serebrier drawing beautifully molded playing from the orchestra” Gramophone
"Serebrier's incisive approach has the orchestra responding at every point with live-wire class" BBC Music Magazine
"The performance under Serebrier is simply magnificent" International Record Review
"A mind-altering series...one quality of Serebrier’s Glazunov series is its combination of the Stokowskian and Szellian...a riveting experience." Fanfare
"Serebrier's incisive approach has the orchestra responding at every point with live-wire class" BBC Music Magazine
Warner Classics & Jazz is proud to continue its celebrated Serebrier symphonic series with the live recording of the final event of the First International Rostropovich Festival. Grammy Award-winning conductor and composer José Serebrier guides the Russian National Orchestra through a stunning concert which features the choral symphony The Bells by Rachmaninov, with the spectacular Moscow State Chamber Choir and renown soloists Lyubov Petrova, soprano; Andrei Popov, tenor and Sergei Leiferkus, baritone.
Noted cellist Wen-Sinn Yang performed the haunting Chant du ménestrel
by Glazunov. The Russian National Orchestra, recently voted by Gramophone as the "top Moscow orchestra", was obliged to perform two encores, the Stokowski orchestration of Mussorgsky's Entr'acte from the opera Khovantchina, and José Serebrier's new orchestration of Rachmaninov's unforgettable Vocalise, recorded for the first time in this version.
Regarding the enormously successful Glazunov symphonies series by Serebrier and the Royal Sccotish National Orchestra, TheObserver wrote: "Serebrier's intensity and precision draws attention to detail previously unsuspected of this neglected composer". Fanfare went further: "We'll state right away that the Serebrier CDs beat all the currently available recordings." “Quite superb, rigorously thought-out, and brilliantly executed,” wrote Gramophone, while Classics Today thought that “Serebrier's vibrant and vital rendition lifts Glazunov out of second-rate status and reveals his work to be one of the finer symphonies from 19th Century Russia. Serebrier draws highly colorful playing from the orchestra while ideally capturing the music's varied moods, from festive to bucolic.” The New Yorker: “No one has ever conducted Glazunov's music with more colour and verve.” Gramophone: "The 6th Symphony sounds warm and approachable with Serebrier drawing beautifully molded playing from the Scottish orchestra, with rubato perfectly judged and with the orchestra as fine and resonant as we have ever heard it, vividly recorded in rich sound"
José Serebrier, who worked with legendary conductors Leopold Stokowski at the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (as his Associate Conductor) and George Szell at the Cleveland Orchestra (as Composer in Residence), has been hailed by the New York Times for the “great intensity, precision and clarity” which he brings to his music-making. One of today’s most-recorded classical artists, José Serebrier’s recordings have received 37 Grammy nominations and numerous international awards, including the Latin Grammy for "Best Recording of the Year" (for the CD of the Bizet-Serebrier "Carmen Symphony" with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra).
READ INTERVIEWS WITH JOSE SEREBRIER ON MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL:
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Featured works include the world premiere recording of the Double Bass Concerto, “Nueve,”with bass soloist Gary Karr and renowned British actor Simon Callow;
the Violin Concerto, “Winter,” and the first studio recording of Symphony No. 1
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José SEREBRIER
Symphony No. 1; Double Bass Concerto (“Nueve”);
Violin Concerto (“Winter”);
Simon Callow; Gary Karr; Philippe Quint
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; José Serebrier
Naxos 8559648
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Naxos has released a new recording devoted to works by the Grammy® award-winning conductor-composer, José Serebrier. Performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus led by the composer, the recording features the world premiere recording of the 1976 Double Bass Concerto, “Nueve,” with legendary bassist Gary Karr, for whom the work was originally written, and the great British actor Simon Callow, who narrates a Shelley poem which forms the basis of the work. The Double Bass Concerto was written while Serebrier was the composer-in-residence of the Cleveland Orchestra, at the invitation of George Szell.
Also featured on this CD is the first studio recording of Serebrier’s Symphony No. 1 (1956), which was written when the composer was 17 and a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The composer provided the following note: “Leopold Stokowski called from Houston to announce that the long-awaited world premiere of Charles Ives' 4th Symphony would be replaced by the world premiere of my [José Serebrier's] 1st Symphony, written the year before. All the press had gathered in Houston to witness the much heralded Ives premiere, but Stokowski announced that the work was so difficult they could never get past the first few bars, and instead he offered to premiere this new symphony by a young unknown composer.” As a result, Serebrier continues, “I was interviewed at length [by] many publications and news services, includingTime, Newsweek, AP and UPI. Unfortunately, despite the tremendous success of the performance, the premiere coincided with the Soviet Union's launching of the Sputnik, which for weeks put a temporary end to any arts coverage.” Stokowski went on to perform other Serebrier works in New York at Carnegie Hall, including the Elegy for Strings (written at age 14) and "Poema Elegíaco", with which Stokowski opened the season of his American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
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Dedicated to the revered cellist, the First International Rostropovich Festival will illuminate Moscow from March 27th – April 2nd. This celebration will be concluded with a performance led by the internationally renowned conductorJosé Serebrier. The Grammy award-winner will conduct the Russian National Orchestra joined by the Moscow State Chamber Choir.
Maestro José Serebrier will conduct a diverse programme, which includes theFestive Overture by Shostakovich, Variations on a Rococo Theme by Tchaikovsky with virtuoso cellist Wen-Sinn Yang and The Bells by Rachmaninoff with soloists Sergei Leiferkus, Lyubov Petrova and Andrey Popov.
To capture the chemistry anticipated between José Serebrier and the RNO, the live concert will be recorded by Warner Classics & Jazz for international release later this year. Despite a life-long love of Russian music, this appearance at the International Rostropovich Festival will be José Serebrier’s first concert in Russia. Maestro Serebrier says: “I do not specialize in any particular style or period. In France they think I specialize in French music because I have often conducted music by Berlioz, Chausson, Ravel, Debussy, Bizet and others. In America I am supposed to be an expert in contemporary music ever since I recorded the Ives 4th Symphony with the LPO. I was thrilled when I received the invitation from the extraordinary Russian National Orchestra and the Rostropovich Foundation, since Russian music has always been very close to my heart”.
José Serebrier and the RNO will also come together once again after the International Rostropovich Festival to record the complete concertos by Alexander Glazunov, continuing Serebrier’s much-lauded interpretations of the Russian composer. This will also be released by Warner Classics & Jazz in 2010 and will cement his reputation as one of the world’s most acclaimed exponents of Slavic music.
José Serebrier will return the UK to conduct the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at the Lighthouse in Poole on Saturday 24th April. Works by Bach, Beethoven, Wagner and Tchaikovsky will be performed at this very special concert, to which José Serebrier was personally invited to conduct by the musicians of the BSO. All proceeds from this fund-raising concert will go to the BSO Benevolent Fund.
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Dedicado al famoso violonchelista, el Primer Festival Internacional Rostropovich se desarrollará en Moscú del 27 de marzo al 2 de abril, y su concierto de clausura estará a cargo del director José Serebrier. Este director, premiado ya con varios Grammy, dirigirá en esta ocasión ña la Orquesta Nacional Rusa y el Coro de Cámara del Estado de Moscú.
El maestro José Serebrier dirigirá un programa variado, que incluye la Obertura Festiva de Shostakovich, lasVariaciones sobre un tema rococó de Chaicovsqui con el chelista Wen-Sinn Yang y Las campanas de Rachmaninov con Sergei Leiferkus, Lyubov Petrova y Andrey Popov como solistas.
El concierto de José Serebrier y the RNO será grabado en directo por Warner Classics & Jazz y distribuido después internacionalmente en este mismo año de 2010.
A pesar de su larga dedicación a la música rusa, esta presentación en el Festival Internacional Rostropovich será el primer concierto de José Serebrier en Rusia. El maestro Srebrier ha dicho al respecto: "No estoy especializado en ningún estilo o período en particular. En Francia, los franceses creen que me especializo en la música francesa porque he dirigido muy a menudo música de Berlioz, Chausson, Ravel, Debussy, Bizet y otros. En América se supone que soy un experto en música contemporánea porque he grabado la Cuarta sinfonía de Ives con la London Philharmonic Orchestra. Me quedé encantado cuando recibí la invitación de la Orquesta Nacional Rusa y la Fundación Rostropovich, porque la música rusa ha estado siempre muy cercana a mi corazón."
José Serebrier y la Orquesta Nacional Rus se reunirán nuevamente tras el Festival Internacional Rostropovich para grabar los conciertos completos de Alexander Glazunov, continuando con la serie de grabaciones de Serebrier, que están siendo muy alabadas por la crítica. Esta grabación también será producida por Warner Classics & Jazz en 2010 y seguramente cimentará la reputación de Serebrier como uno de los más aclamados exponentes de la música eslava.
El próximo 24 de abril, José Serebrier volverá a Gran Bretaña para dirigir a la Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra -cuyos músicos solicitaron especialmente su intervención- en el 'Lighthouse in Poole'. En este concierto sonará música de Bach, Beethoven, Wagner y Chaicovsqui. Todos los beneficios de este concierto irán directamente al 'BSO Benevolent Fund', un fondo de caridad de la orquesta.
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"Serebrier's intensity and precision draws attention to detail previously unsuspected of this neglected composer" The Observer
“The 6th Symphony sounds warm and approachable with Serebrier drawing beautifully molded playing from the Scottish orchestra” Gramophone
"Serebrier's incisive approach has the orchestra responding at every point with live-wire class"BBC Music Magazine
"The performance of the Sixth Symphony is simply magnificent"
International Record Review
"A series made in Heaven" Fanfare
Grammy Award-Winning Serebrier returns with new Glazunov recordings on Warner Classics & Jazz
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Symphony No. 1 in E major, op. 5, "Slavyanskaya" / Symphony No. 2 in F sharp minor, op. 16
Symphony No. 3 in D major, op. 33 / Symphony No. 9 in D major, "Unfinished"
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
José Serebrier
Available from 7th September 2009 in Europe
Available from 25th August 2009 in USA & Canada
Warner Classics & Jazz is proud to announce the 5th and final release in its celebrated Glazunov symphonic cycle series. Grammy Award-winning conductor and composer José Serebrier once again guides the Royal Scottish National Orchestra through a spectacular Glazunov cycle, that some will argue is his best Glazunov recording to date!
Today, Glazunov’s work is on the periphery of the repertoire, but José Serebrier embraces the challenge of bringing it into the mainstream. Available from all good record stores from 7thSeptember, this eagerly awaited final instalment will complete this fantastic Glazunov Symphony collection from José Serebrier and the RSNO.
“Glazunov is a composer close to my heart,” comments Serebrier. “When my father left Russia in the late 1920's, Glazunov was at the height of his creativity. Glazunov stands as a link between Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, the turn of the century period before Stravinsky broke new grounds. Glazunov was one of the greatest scholars in Russian music, and it shows in every bar of his music”. “His music has been neglected partially because some performers have played it rather "literally", without reading what's behind the notes. If played metronomically and without emotion, the music can sound uninteresting. It requires passion and subtlety”. Serebrier adds, “It's wonderful that Warner Classics and Jazz and the great Royal Scottish National Orchestra have had the vision to pursue this series, and bring this great music to a wider audience.”
Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) was a child prodigy of sixteen when his first symphony was performed. José Serebrier was the same age when Leopold Stokowski premiered his first symphony as a last-minute replacement for the Ives Fourth Symphony, still considered unplayable at the time.
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Serebrier ha obtenido un histórico éxito con la realización de la grabación del ciclo completo de las sinfonías de Glazunov para Warner Classics, que ha sido rápidamente considerado “de referencia”. Recientemente, este ciclo sinfónico finalizaba con la edición de un doble CD que incluye las sinfonías 1, 2, 3 y 9.
Este ciclo histórico de sinfonías de Glazunov que Serebrier dirige a la Orquesta Sinfónica Real de Escocia ha obtenido ya numerosas nominaciones y premios en los Estados Unidos y Europa.
Ganador de un GRAMMY LATINO por la interpretación de su obra Sinfonía Carmen (Bizet-Serebrier) con la Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona, Serebrier, gran conocedor del repertorio eslavo, inauguró el Primer Festival Internacional Rostropovich en Moscú en 2010.
Warner Music Spain, edita a la vez el doble álbum que cierra el ciclo de las sinfonías de Glazunov junto a un triple CD de Música de Cine de Shostakovich, también premiado en todo el mundo.
Leopold Stokowski dijo acerca de Serebrier a la revista Time cuando éste tenıa 21 años: “Serebrier es el más grande maestro del balance orquestal'.
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Serebrier Conducts Stunning New Recording of Bach-Stokowski Transcriptions
Leopold Stokowski arranged nearly 40 works from Bach’s catalogue for the modern symphony orchestra, and José Serebrier’s second volume of Bach-Stokowski Transcriptions (8.572050, available in January 2009) is as colourful and wide-ranging as the first (8.557883). In response to popular and critical demand the present selection begins with the most famous Bach orchestration of all, the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D minor. This reached its widest public in Walt Disney’s Fantasia and here introduces a programme of sumptuous arrangements, including other music from the pre- and post-baroque periods.
José Serebrier is one of today's star conductor/composers and has received critical acclaim for his recordings on Naxos. Fonoforum calls him “one of the most eminent conductors of our times”, in a review of the Serebrier's own Third Symphony (8.559183). MusicWeb International greeted his recording of Shostakovich’s satirical ballet The Golden Age, Op. 22 (8.570217-18) rapturously: “Serebrier’s genius as a conductor/composer is to know his subject thoroughly so if this masterly recording doesn’t attract a stack of prizes I would be surprised.”.
See José Serebrier conduct the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in one of the tracks from Bach-Stokowski Transcriptions Volume 2 on YouTube:
Recorded on 17 April 2008 at ‘The Lighthouse’ Arts Centre, Poole, UK
Produced and engineered by Philip Rowlands assisted by Patrick Philips
Serebrier and RSNO to Continue Recordings of Glazunov Symphonic Cycle in 2009
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Serebrier and RSNO to Continue Recordings of Glazunov Symphonic Cycle in 2009
Warner Classics & Jazz and The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) will continue its Alexander Glazunov symphonic cycle with conductor José Serebrier this year. The Russian composer’s Symphonies 1, 2 and 3 and also the unfinished Symphony No 9 will be recorded in June and released on the Warner Classics and Jazz label later in 2009.
The previous recording of the series - Symphony No6, La mer and Introduction and Dance from Salome – is nominated in the category of Best Orchestral Performance for the 2009 GRAMMY. The new CD of Symphony No. 6, La Mer and Introduction and Dance from Salome areGRAMOPHONE'S "Editor's Choice" for March 2009.
The Orchestra’s Glazunov series under José Serebrier has received world-wide critical acclaim.
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NAXOS RELEASES "BACH TRANSCRIPTIONS 2"
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NAXOS RELEASES "BACH TRANSCRIPTIONS 2", THE FOURTH RECORDING IN A SERIES OF ORCHESTRAL TRANSCRIPTIONS BY LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI, FEATURING GRAMMY®AWARD-WINNING CONDUCTOR JOSÉ SEREBRIER AND THE BOURNEMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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Leopold STOKOWSKI (1882-1977)
"Bach Transcriptions · 2" Naxos 8572050
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Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750): Toccata and Fugue in D minor; Arioso; Wachet auf (Sleepers, Awake!); Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ; Adagio; Mein Jesu; Ein feste burg (A Mighty Fortress); Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring; Prelude in B minor; Siciliano Giovanni PALESTRINA (1526-1594): Adoramus te; William BYRD (1543-1623): Pavane and Gigue; Jeremiah CLARKE (1674-1707): Trumpet Prelude; Luigi BOCCHERINI (1743-1805): Minuet; Johann MATTHESON (1681-1764): Air;Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809): Andante cantabile; Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750): Fugue in C minor
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
José Serebrier
Bach Transcriptions 2 (Naxos 8572050) includes the most famous Bach orchestration of all: the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which reached its widest public in Walt Disney’s Fantasia. The recording also introduces a program of sumptuous arrangements, including other music from the pre- and post-Baroque periods. Stokowski discovered Bach during his early years as a church organist in London and New York. Serebrier notes “Stokowski attempted to emulate the sound of the gigantic organ, using every available orchestral instrument, literally pulling out all the stops, as if he was still sitting at the organ.”
Serebrier also comments: “The Bournemouth musicians and I had so much fun recording these four volumes of Stokowski orchestrations, that we are sorry that the series is now finished, but I look forward to recording other repertoire with this wonderful orchestra. The 4th CD includes some works that were all time best sellers in the early part of the Twentieth Century. The Toccata and Fugue was included after we received numerous letters from listeners and critics asking for it. That is a very challenging work, and I had avoided it before because it is so closely identified with Stokowski and his wonderful numerous versions, but now I am delighted to have included it, and given my own personal view of this masterful, brilliant orchestration. I recently gave a concert in Israel in which I included several original Bach works on Baroque instruments, followed by orchestrations by Mitropoulos, Stokowski and others. The orchestrations and the originals are not exclusive of each other. Thanks to these colorful orchestrations Bach became know to entire generations.”
Bach-Stokowski Transcriptions 1 (Naxos 8557883), was released in June of 2006. It followed the 2005 release of Stokowski’s Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky Transcriptions (Naxos 8557645), a recording universally praised by critics and receiving two Grammy® nominations. ClassicsToday.com assigned the CD its highest rating, and called it “spectacular, sensational ... this is the real deal.”
In 2007, Serebrier’s recording of Wagner: Symphonic Syntheses by Leopold Stokowski (Naxos 8570293) led Gramophone to remark: “It would be hard to imagine a more sumptuous disc. Stokowski, in these ‘symphonic syntheses,’ enhances Wagner's already opulent orchestration with shrewdly added instrumental lines and with the vocal parts usually given to the strings. José Serebrier conducts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in thrilling performances, passionate in a genuinely Stokowskian manner...” MusicWeb International chose this CD as a “Recording of the Year,” commenting:“José Serebrier invests a fragrant and voluptuous sensuality to match the unbridled passion of the celebrated Liebestod that follows where its mounting excitement is literally edge-of-the-seat stuff.”
The idea for the Naxos recordings of Stokowski’s transcriptions originated from the Leopold Stokowski Society itself, which approached Serebrier in 2003. After graduating from Curtis, while still in his teens, Serebrier enjoyed a close working association with Stokowski, serving for many years as the Associate Conductor for the American Symphony Orchestra, which Stokowski founded. Stokowski also premiered a number of Serebrier’s own compositions, including his First Symphony, when the composer was 17 years old.
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MUSSORGSKY/STOKOWSKI
José Serebrier
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Naxos 8557645
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STOKOWSKI: Bach Transcriptions
José Serebrier
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Naxos 8557883
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WAGNER: Symphonic Syntheses by Stokowski
José Serebrier
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Naxos 8570
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José Serebrier Wins Latin Grammy
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France Press Wire Services
José Serebrier Wins Latin Grammy
BERLIN, 3 Sept. (AFP) – Composer and conductor José Serebrier, winner of the Latin GRAMMY for 2004 for his recording of the “Carmen Symphony” with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra on BIS records, said in Berlin he was “extremely honored” with the new distinction. His “Carmen Symphony” received the Latin GRAMMY award for “Best Classical Recording of the Year” at the GRAMMY ceremony in Los Angeles, telecast world-wide.
José Serebrier just finished the editing of his new recording (Warner Classics) with the New York Philharmonic. This CD (an early 2005 release) is in homage to Andres Segovia on the 110th aniversary of his birth.
Serebrier told Agence France Press in Berlin: “I am truly delighted. This is my first Latin GRAMMY award; I am extremely happy for the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra”.
The new CD that Serebrier just completed in Berlin contains the “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Rodrigo, the “Concierto del Sur” by Ponce and the Guitar Concerto by Villa-Lobos.
José Serebrier Wins Latin Grammy
BERLIN, 3 Sept. (AFP) – Composer and conductor José Serebrier, winner of the Latin GRAMMY for 2004 for his recording of the “Carmen Symphony” with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra on BIS records, said in Berlin he was “extremely honored” with the new distinction. His “Carmen Symphony” received the Latin GRAMMY award for “Best Classical Recording of the Year” at the GRAMMY ceremony in Los Angeles, telecast world-wide.
José Serebrier just finished the editing of his new recording (Warner Classics) with the New York Philharmonic. This CD (an early 2005 release) is in homage to Andres Segovia on the 110th aniversary of his birth.
Serebrier told Agence France Press in Berlin: “I am truly delighted. This is my first Latin GRAMMY award; I am extremely happy for the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra”.
The new CD that Serebrier just completed in Berlin contains the “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Rodrigo, the “Concierto del Sur” by Ponce and the Guitar Concerto by Villa-Lobos.
JOSÉ SEREBRIER TO CONDUCT AT THE GRAMMYS
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JOSÉ SEREBRIER TO CONDUCT AT THE GRAMMYS
TELEVISED INTERNATIONALLY BY CBS
New York, NY – Naxos of America, Inc., the leading Independent Distributor of Classical Music in the USA, is pleased to announce that the acclaimed artist José Serebrier has been asked to conduct at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. While the CBS telecast of the Grammy Awards Ceremony is largely devoted to the popular music field, classical artists occasionally participate. As one of the two classical artists featured on the 2002 telecast, José Serebrier will perform the suite from Leonard Bernstein’s WEST SIDE STORY with violinist Joshua Bell.
A world-renowned conductor and composer, José Serebrier received two Grammy nominations in 2002 for his new Naxos CD of music by American composer William Schuman, skillfully performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, with Philip Quint, violin. Serebrier’s achievements with this recording have been quickly recognized by the classical world. Praise has come from such publications as Black Enterprise Magazine, which touted it as "one of the most enjoyable CDs of 2001", and Fanfare, which proclaims “[Jose Serebrier’s] accomplishments here, aided by the superb playing of the Bournemouth Symphony, are extraordinary. Not only does his interpretive conception of the Concerto reveal a masterful grasp of this challenging work, but he lends to the Triptych and the Variations a rhythmic elasticity and other nuances of style that add richness and flair to music that is often simply driven hard and fast.” Walter Simmons - Fanfare
Grammy Award-Winning conductor José Serebrier returns with new Glazunov recording
on Warner Classics & Jazz
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Symphony No. 6 in C Minor, Op. 58
La Mer (Fantasie), Op. 28
Introduction and Dance of Salome, Op. 90
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
José Serebrier
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"A series made in Heaven" - Fanfare
Grammy Award-Winning conductor José Serebrier returns with new Glazunov recording
on Warner Classics & Jazz
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Symphony No. 6 in C Minor, Op. 58
La Mer (Fantasie), Op. 28
Introduction and Dance of Salome, Op. 90
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
José Serebrier
Warner Classics & Jazz are proud to continue its celebrated Serebrier / Glazunov symphonic cycle with the 4th release in the series. Grammy Award-winning conductor and composer José Serebrier guides the Royal Scottish National Orchestra through a stunning Glazunov cycle – which Fanfare called “made in heaven” and which continues to draw attention to this oft-neglected composer. Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) was a child prodigy of sixteen when his first symphony was performed. José Serebrier was the same age when Leopold Stokowski premiered his first symphony as a last-minute replacement for the Ives Fourth Symphony, still considered unplayable at the time. Glazunov was once thought of as Tchaikovsky’s successor and was fostered by Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov. Today, Glazunov’s work is on the periphery of the repertoire but José Serebrierembraces the challenge of bringing it into the mainstream. The Observer wrote; "Serebrier's intensity and precision draws attention to detail previously unsuspected of this neglected composer". The reviews of the previous RSNO/Serebrier Glazunov recordings called the performances "outstanding" and "a perfect introduction to Glazunov's sweet pleasures" (BBC Music Magazine / 5 stars). Fanfare went further: "We'll state right away that the Serebrier CDs beat all the currently available recordings." Warner's release of Glazunov’s Symphony No.5 and The Seasons drew much acclaim. “Quite superb, rigorously thought-out, and brilliantly executed,” wrote Gramophone, while Classics Today thought that “Serebrier's vibrant and vital rendition lifts Glazunov out of second-rate status and reveals his work to be one of the finer symphonies from 19th Century Russia. Serebrier draws highly colorful playing from the orchestra while ideally capturing the music's varied moods, from festive to bucolic.” The recording of Glazunov’s 8th symphony and the ballet Raymonda was similarly lauded by The New Yorker; “No one has ever conducted Glazunov's music with more colour and verve.”
“Glazunov is a composer close to my heart,” comments Serebrier, “When my father left Russia in the late 1920's Glazunov was at the height of his creativity. Glazunov stands as a link between Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, the turn of the century period before Stravinsky broke new grounds. Glazunov was one of the greatest scholars in Russian music, and it shows in every bar of his music. Most of his predecessors were self-taught and had other professions. Glazunov was one of the first full-time professional composers in Russia. His music has been neglected partially because some performers have played it rather "literally", without reading what's behind the notes. If played metronomically and without emotion, the music can sound uninteresting. It requires passion and subtlety. It's wonderful that Warner Classics and Jazz and the great Royal Scottish National Orchestra have had the vision to pursue this series, and bring this great music to a wider audience.”
José Serebrier, who worked with legendary conductors Leopold Stokowski at the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (as his Associate Conductor) and George Szell at the Cleveland Orchestra (as Composer in Residence), has been hailed by the New York Times for the “great intensity, precision and clarity” which he brings to his music-making. One of today’s most-recorded classical artists, José Serebrier’s recordings have received 36 Grammy nominations and numerous international awards, including the Latin Grammy for "Best Recording of the Year" (for the CD of the Bizet-Serebrier "Carmen Symphony" with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra).
Alexander Glazunov:
Symphony No.6 in C Minor / La Mer / Introduction and Dance from Salome
Royal Scottish National Orchestra / José Serebrier
Recorded: Henry Hall Wood Hall, Glasgow 4-6 June 2008
Engineer & Producer: Phil Rowlands
CD: 2564 69627-0
Download: 2564 69626-9
Previous Glazunov releases from José Serebrier and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra:
Symphony No.5
The Seasons, complete ballet
CD: 2564 61434-2
Symphony No. 8 in E flat major
Raymonda - Suite from the ballet
CD: 2564 61939-2
Symphonies Nos 4 & 7
CD: 2564 63236-2
All three titles also available as downloads
Grammy Award-Winning conductor José Serebrier returns with new Glazunov recording
on Warner Classics & Jazz
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 55
The Seasons (ballet in one act), Op. 67
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
José Serebrier
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“Conductor José Serebrier commenced the most enthusiastic, exuberant performance.
It was a magical night of music.” – The Washington Post
PROUDLY PRESENTSALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 55
The Seasons (ballet in one act), Op. 67
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
José Serebrier, conductor
Alexander Glazunov was only 16 when his first symphony was performed. José Serebrier was also 16 when Leopold Stokowski premiered his first symphony as a last minute replacement for the Ives’ Fourth Symphony. Glazunov was once considered Tchaikovsky’s successor, fostered by Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov. Today, Glazunov’s work is on the periphery of the repertoire but José Serebrier embraces the challenge of bringing it into the mainstream.
“Glazunov is a composer close to my heart,” Serebrier observes. “When my father left Russia in the late 1920's Glazunov was at the height of his creativity. Glazunov stands as a link between Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, the turn-of-the-century period before Stravinsky broke new ground.”
The height of Glazunov’s career was 1881-1906, during which he composed his eight symphonies. While his first two symphonies were filled with Nationalist gestures like those of Balakirev and Borodin, Glazunov’s increasing technical mastery allowed him to write in a more sophisticated, cultivated idiom. The Fifth Symphony, premiered in St. Petersburg in 1895 with the composer conducting, successfully synthesises Nationalist tradition with sophisticated Western technique. A rich and imaginative work, it is filled with striking ideas presented with beautiful craftsmanship.
As heir to Tchaikovsky, Glazunov was called upon by the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg and in 1900 he composed The Seasons. Written to a scenario by the ballet master Petipa, inspiration for the work was drawn from mythology and Renaissance painting. The Seasons was an instantaneous hit and became Glazunov’s best-known concert-hall piece.
José Serebrier, winner of the 2004 Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Album (for Carmen Symphony, with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra) and a multiple Grammy nominee, leads the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in this colorful, rhapsodicrepertoire. Serebrier, who worked with legendary conductors Leopold Stokowski at the American Symphony Orchestra (as his Associate Conductor) and George Szell at the Cleveland Orchestra (as Composer in Residence), has been hailed by The New York Times for the “great intensity, precision and clarity” which he brings to his music-making. Long identified with the Russian and Slavic repertoire, Serebrier has become one of the most recorded conductors of his generation, with more than 200 releases. Serebrier will next record Glazunov’s 8th Symphony and a Suite from the ballet Raymonda for Warner Classics. He also conducts the highly-anticipated recording of guitar concertos performed by Sharon Isbin and the New York Philharmonic, for release by Warner Classics in January 2005.
Beethoven & Clement Violin Concertos
(Cedille Records CDR 90000 106)
Franz Clement: Violin Concerto in D Major (1805) (40:53)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 (1806) (44:23)
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, José Serebrier
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Cedille Records
AFTER TWO CENTURIES, A CLASSICAL
MASTERWORK IS REDISCOVERED
Beethoven & Clement Violin Concertos
(Cedille Records CDR 90000 106)
Franz Clement: Violin Concerto in D Major (1805) (40:53)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 (1806) (44:23)
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, José Serebrier
American violinist Rachel Barton Pine and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under José Serebrier perform the world-premiere recording of a fabled and long-lost masterwork of the late Classical era — Franz Clement’s Violin Concerto in D (1805) — coupled with a centerpiece of the violin repertoire on which it sheds new light — Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61 (1806) — on a new release from Cedille Records.
Beethoven & Clement Violin Concertos is a two-CD set priced as a single disc (Cedille Records 90000 106). Beethoven and Clement were contemporaries who enjoyed a close musical relationship. The pairing of the two concertos “sets Beethoven’s masterpiece in an entirely new context,” Pine says. Professor Clive Brown of the University of Leeds (UK) writes in the CD’s program notes that the work “shows a degree of imagination, seriousness of purpose, and flair that is worthy of many a better known composer” and “teems with felicitous ideas that sustain the listener’s interest.” The performance of the Clement concerto is based on the first and only modern edition of the score, edited by Brown and published in 2005. Clement’s concerto had not been publicly performed in nearly 200 years. Brown makes the case that although Clement’s concerto is harmonically anchored in the musical world of Mozart, many elements make it the direct predecessor of Beethoven’s, which, until now, appeared to exist in a mysterious, stylistic isolation from other compositions of its day. It’s the missing link in an evolutionary timeline. This argument is strengthened by new information documenting the close artistic collaboration and mutual admiration between the two composers.
Similarities between the concertos include the general character of the violin writing, the treatment of the solo instrument, instrumentation, and the unusual expansiveness in the individual movements, which was characteristic of a specific type of Viennese concerto. “There are even many individual figurations in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto that appear to allude directly to passages in Clement’s concerto,” Brown writes.
As a violinist, Clement (1780–1842) eschewed the muscular, assertive, big-toned playing in vogue at the time. In 1805, a reviewer for a Leipzig music journal called Clement’s playing “indescribably delicate, neat and elegant; it has an extremely delightful tenderness and cleanness that undoubtedly secures him a place among the most perfect violinists.”
Brown observes that these same characteristics are apparent in the solo violin part of Clement’s concerto, which had its premiere in 1805 at the same concert where Beethoven (1770–1827) conducted the first fully public performance of his “Eroica” symphony.
The following year, Clement conducted and performed as solo violinist in the premiere of Beethoven’s violin concerto, written expressly for him. Beethoven extensively revised the score prior to its publication in 1808. In his essay, Brown explains how “recently uncovered evidence suggests Clement’s role in crafting the final version of Beethoven’s concerto may have been greater than supposed.”
The recording features Ms. Pine’s own ingenious and meticulously integrated cadenzas. Beethoven, a pianist, never wrote violin cadenzas to the concerto, but he did write piano cadenzas when he transcribed the work for his own instrument. Unlike virtually every other violinist who has written solo passages for this work, Ms. Pine looked to Beethoven’s piano cadenza as her point of departure. As a result, her first-movement cadenza begins by referencing the bold motif in the orchestra following the conclusions of the exposition and recapitulation rather than starting with a variation of the solo violin’s first entrance, as is often the case. The initial impetus for the CD was a phone call Ms. Pine received in 2006 from the owner of her favorite sheet-music store, Chicago’s Performers Music. Knowing Ms. Pine’s fascination with lesser-known historic repertoire, the store’s proprietor, Lee Newcomer, alerted her to Professor Brown’s newly published edition of Clement’s concerto. Ms. Pine mentioned her idea for a Beethoven-Clement recording to Maestro Serebrier.
MUSSORGSKY / STOKOWSKI: A Night on Bare Mountain,
Pictures at and Exhibition; SEREBRIER: Symphony No. 3 ‘Symphonie Mystique’; WAGNER: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude;
BIZET: L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2: Farandole
José Serebrier; The National Youth Orchestra of Spain; Carole Farley
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José Serebrier leads the National Youth Orchestra of Spain in spectacular performances of Mussorgsky/Stokowski, Serebrier, Wagner, Bizet
MUSSORGSKY / STOKOWSKI: A Night on Bare Mountain,
Pictures at and Exhibition; SEREBRIER: Symphony No. 3 ‘Symphonie Mystique’; WAGNER: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude;
BIZET: L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2: Farandole
José Serebrier; The National Youth Orchestra of Spain; Carole Farley
FEATURED Naxos DVD 2110230
Filmed in Chester Cathedral during the extremely successful National Youth Orchestra of Spain’s 2007 European tour, this new DVD from Naxos features Grammy®-winning composer and conductor José Serebrier leading the National Youth Orchestra of Spain (JONDE) in Leopold Stokowski’s orchestral transcriptions of Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bare Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition; Serebrier’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Symphonie Mystique’ (featuring soprano Carole Farley); the Prelude fromWagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; and Bizet’s L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2: Farandole.
Leopold Stokowski was unsatisfied with Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1886 “more westernized” version of Mussorgky’s A Night on Bare Mountain. In his symphonic transcription, he returned the work to its original “wilder and bolder version”, closer to the Mussorgsky style of orchestration. In content and form, Stokowski’s transcription remains true to Rimsky-Korsakov’s version, but according to conductor-composer José Serebrier (Stokowski’s protégé), this version also remains “faithful to the original Mussorgsky score in the use of orchestra.” (Stokowski’s version of this work appears in Disney’s famous 1940 film Fantasia).
Pictures at an Exhibition had already been orchestrated several times by the time Serge Koussevitzky commissioned Maurice Ravel’s version in 1922. Stokowski loved the Ravel version, but he also felt its orchestration was not sufficiently Russian in sound and was “too subtle to do justice to Mussorgsky’s coarser idiom.” Stokowski’s version is, in fact, shorter than Ravel’s because he decided to omit two “pictures” —Tuileries and The Market-place at Limoges— possibly because he found them too French in character, or because he thought they were composed by Rimsky-Korsakov (who had revised the original piano score). Stokowski’s version of Pictures at an Exhibition was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra with Stokowski conducting on November 17, 1939.
José Serebrier composed ‘Symphonie Mystique’ in only one week, commenting that it was “as if I was just transcribing something that had always been in my memory.” Differing from his first two symphonies in every way but the traditional four-movement format, the Third Symphony is described by Serebrier as “rhapsodic,” “obsessive,” “dark,” “haunting,” “anxious,” and “morbid.” This performance features soprano Carole Farley, who also is soloist for the Naxos recording (8559183), which earned a Grammy® nomination for Best New Composition in 2004.
Composed originally by Georges Bizet in 1872 as incidental music for a play of the same name by Alphonse Daudet, L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2 was arranged and published in 1879 by Ernest Guiraud. Two orchestral suites were inspired by the incidental music from L’Arlésienne, the first arranged by Bizet himself and the second by Guiraud, who added a chorus to the full orchestra. Although Suite No. 2 was published four years after his death, both Suites are credited to Bizet, since he wrote the themes and basic orchestrations.
Also featured is Wagner’s grand Prelude from his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The 10-minute Prelude contains all of the leitmotifs from the opera. The majestic, yet sometimes frolicking piece is played masterfully by JONDE.
José Serebrier is one of the most recorded classical artists today, with 36 GRAMMY nominations, a Grand Prix du Disque, and many other international awards as both conductor and composer. After winning the Ford Foundation Conductor’s Award (together with James Levine), Serebrier was invited by George Szell as Composer-in-Residence of the Cleveland Orchestra for several seasons. Before that appointment, Serebrier was Stokowski’s Associate Conductor at Carnegie Hall’s American Symphony, a post he held for five years before joining Szell in Cleveland. He organized and directed Festival Miami for five years, commissioning Elliot Carter’s 4th String Quartet among others. When Serebrier was 20, Stokowski wrote “he is the greatest master of orchestral balance”. Serebrier records with the world’s major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others. He has toured with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, Toulouse and Scottish Chamber orchestras, and many others.
The National Youth Orchestra of Spain (JONDE) was founded by the Spain’s Ministry of Culture in 1983 to assist young musicians between the ages of 18-24 before they embark on professional careers. The orchestra meets four to five times a year for a few weeks at a time to perform chamber and orchestral works from the contemporary and traditional repertoire. The musicians convene individually with international professionals for a few days and gather for sectionals and rehearsals, followed by public performances and, usually, a tour. Auditions are held every year, drawing a pool of over 800 applicants. The 2007 tour conducted by José Serebrier took the orchestra to sold-out concerts in Spain, and included festival concerts in Berlin and several cities in England and Scotland.
SHOSTAKOVICH’S BALLET THE GOLDEN AGE—COMPLETE FOR THE FIRST TIME!—CONDUCTED BY José SEREBRIER
Dmitry SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975): The Golden Age Op. 22 (Complete Ballet)
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra / José Serebrier
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Naxos will release the first ever recording of Shostakovich’s ballet The Golden Age (1930), performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and José Serebrier, who included newly found segments from the original performances. Serebrier had a great success years ago with three CDs of the film music of Shostakovich, a New York Times best-seller.
The Golden Age revolves around the visit of a Soviet football team to a Western city at the time of an industrial exhibition, whose sporting and social endeavors are constantly undermined by hostile administrators, decadent artistes, and corrupt officials. There also exists a Golden Age Suite, prepared by Shostakovich before the première of the ballet (8553126). However, the excerpts which form the suite barely hint at the dissonant harmonies and intricate contrapuntal designs which can be found in the complete ballet available on this recording.
JOSÉ SEREBRIER'S SYMPHONY NO.3 SYMPHONIE MYSTIQUE RECEIVES WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMANCE
American Composers Orchestra to Perform Piece from GRAMMY-Nominated Naxos Recording in New York and Philadelphia
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The American Composers Orchestra will perform the world premiere live performance of José Serebrier’s Symphony No. 3 Symphonie Mystique--a work that has been released already on a CD of music by Serebrier from Naxos--at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. The performance will be repeated on November 13th at the Zellerbach Theater at the Annenberg Center for the Arts in Philadelphia.
Recorded in 2003, the GRAMMY-nominated Naxos disc of Symphony No. 3 with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra (8559183) also includes Serebrier’s Passacaglia and Perpetuum Mobile, Variations on a Theme from Childhood, Elegy for Strings, Momento psicologico, Fantasia, Dorothy and Carmine!, and George and Muriel.
Symphony No. 3 Symphonie Mystique for chamber orchestra is marked by a Slavic-sounding melody that reappears throughout the piece in several disguises, more as a memory of things past than as a leitmotiv. The work includes a rhapsodic fantasy in the second and third movements interrupted by a sad, cryptic obsessively returning waltz. Symphonie Mystique then returns to its original haunting undercurrent, with the texture of the entire work enhanced by an off-stage soprano voice; on both the Naxos recording and in the upcoming performances, this vocal part will be performed by Carole Farley.
As a conductor, Serebrier has recorded extensively for Naxos, including his recent disc of Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. His recording of Ned Rorem’s Symphonies Nos. 1-3 (8559149) was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards in 2004 and his CD of William Schuman’s Violin Concerto with Philip Quint (8559083) was nominated for two GRAMMY Awards.
GLAZUNOV
Symphonies 4 & 7
José Serebrier
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
“Serebrier and Glazunov – a Series Made in Heaven.” - Fanfare
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Warner Classics is proud to continue its celebrated Serebrier-Glazunov cycle with the release of Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7. GRAMMY winner conductor and composer José Serebrier guides the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with great precision, musicality and integrity through a stunning Glazunov cycle – which Fanfare called “made in heaven” – that continues to draw attention to this oft-neglected composer.
In 2005, Warner Classics released Glazunov’s Symphony No.5 and The Seasons to much acclaim. “Quite superb… rigorously thought-out and … brilliantly executed,” said Gramophone, while ClassicsToday said that “Serebrier's vibrant and vital rendition lifts Glazunov out of second-rate status and reveals his work to be one of the finer symphonies from 19th century Russia … José Serebrier draw[s] highly colorful playing from the orchestra while ideally capturing the music's varied moods, from festive to bucolic.” Later that year, the recording of Glazunov’s 8th symphony and the ballet Raymonda was similarly lauded by The New Yorker, which stated: “No one has ever conducted Glazunov's music with more color and verve.”
Alexander Glazunov’s early mentors, Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov, welcomed him as the heir of the nationalist Kuchka, the “mighty handful” of composers aimed to create an autonomous Russian style. However Glazunov’s style broadened to include elements from Western Europe and the Mediterranean. During his thirty-three years of composing, he produced works in many musical genres: eight symphonies, with a ninth left uncompleted, tone poems, concerti, chamber music and much ballet music, The Seasons being the most popular. Glazunov’s Symphony No. 4 was first heard in St. Petersburg, conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was dedicated to Anton Rubinstein, the best-known Russian musician in Western Europe at the time. Melancholy and Russian in flavor, it is a unique example of the 19th century symphony without an independent slow movement. The Symphony No. 7 was written in 1902 and quickly acquired the unofficial nickname “Pastoral” because of the passing resemblance of its opening to that of Beethoven’s Sixth symphony; there is the same key tempo and meter and similar rhythm in the main these and long held bass notes.
One of today’s most-recorded classical artists, José Serebrier’s recordings have received an impressive total of 24 Grammy nominations. His Carmen Symphony was awarded the Latin Grammy for Best Classical Recording of 2004. José Serebrier, who worked with legendary conductors Leopold Stokowski at the American Symphony Orchestra (as Associate Conductor) and George Szell at the Cleveland Orchestra (as Composer in Residence), has been hailed by The New York Times for the “great intensity, precision and clarity” which he brings to his music-making.
NAXOS TO RELEASE STOKOWSKI TRANSCRIPTIONS OF MUSSORGSKY, TCHAIKOVSKY
Bournemouth SO and Stokowski Protege José Serebrier Record with Support of Stokowski Society
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Naxos will release a new recording of orchestral transcriptions by legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stokowski’s one-time prot?g? José Serebrier. This CD, sponsored by the Leopold Stokowski Society, features arrangements of music by Modest Mussorgsky—including A Night on Bare Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition—and Tchaikovsky as well as traditional Slavic Christmas music.
The idea for this new Naxos disc originated from the Leopold Stokowski Society itself, which approached Serebrier in 2003 to bring the transcriptions into his repertoire and record them. Serebrier enjoyed a close relationship with Stokowski, serving as the Associate Conductor for the American Symphony Orchestra, which Stokowski founded; Stokowski also premiered a number of Serebrier’s own compositions.
According to Serebrier, Stokowski orchestrated his own rendition of A Night on Bare Mountain, featured in Fantasia, to “get closer to the original, bolder, wilder version, as opposed to Rimsky-Korsakov’s cleaner, westernized version.” Serebrier attributes a similar motivation to the arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition, noting that Stokowski found the famous orchestration by Ravel to be insufficiently “Russian.”
Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977) was one of the 20th century’s greatest conductors. In 1912 he became the Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a position that he held for over a quarter of a century. His appearance in Fantasia in 1940 garnered him widespread fame and helped turn him into one of America’s most recognizable musical figures. Stokowski founded the American Symphony Orchestra in New York City in 1962, returning to England, the country of his birth, a decade later. Stokowski made over 200 orchestral arrangements, many of which have been regularly recorded and performed.
With this recording, Serebrier and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra continue their fruitful relationship with Naxos. Their recording of Ned Rorem’s Symphonies Nos. 1-3 (8559149) was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2004 and their CD of William Schuman’s Violin Concerto with Philip Quint (8559083) also enjoyed much critical acclaim. Serebrier’s own music is also available from Naxos: the GRAMMY-nominated recording of his Symphony No. 3 (8559183) was released in September 2003.
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