A significant new recording of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony arrives just in time for the Austrian composer’s 200th birthday, while British composers Elgar and Holst — Imogen, that is — also make a play for your ears this weekend.
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Paavo Järvi, conductor
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Alpha
Paavo Järvi is an excellent conductor who seems intent on recording every major work from Beethoven to the present day — sometimes more than once. After previously recording an entire Bruckner cycle with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, he has returned to the Seventh, Eighth, and now Ninth Symphonies at the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, where he is chief conductor. The good news is the results are excellent, offering Bruckner a terrifically apocalyptic Ninth just in time for the composer’s 200th birthday.
Elgar: Violin Concerto
Vilde Frang, violin
Robin Ticciati, conductor
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Warner
Elgar’s Violin Concerto is a very special work, and Vilde Frang is a very special violinist — a match made in heaven. Having previously recorded some of the finest interpretations in recent memory of concertos by Sibelius, Nielsen, Bartók, and Prokofiev (not to mention an excellent Mozart “Sinfonia concertante” with violist Maxim Rysanov), Frang’s interpretation of Elgar’s lush and virtuosic concerto is a release we can’t wait to hear.
“Discovering Imogen”
Alice Farnham, conductor
BBC Concert Orchestra
BBC Singers
NMC Recordings
British composer Imogen Holst, daughter of Gustav, died 40 years ago in 1984, yet we’re only now beginning to see musicians explore her music in meaningful ways on record. This compilation from Alice Farnham and the BBC Concert Orchestra includes a broad sampling of her output, from the vibrant early composition “Persephone” to later choral works “What Man is He?” and “Festival Anthem.” A 20th Century composer very worth exploring.
