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Fabiren Sevitzky & the Indianapolis Sym. Vol. I – Pristine Audio

Fabiren Sevitzky & the Indianapolis Sym. Vol. I – Pristine Audio

by | Aug 19, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Mark Obert-Thorn restores the World Premiere recording of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony.   Fabien Sevitzky – Indianapolis Symphony Vol. 1 = TCHAIKOVSKY: Manfred Sym. in b minor, Op. 58; Waltz from Eugene Onegin, Op. 24; GLINKA: Russlan and Ludmilla Ov.; RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Dubinushka, Op. 62; LIADOV: Baba Yaga, Op. 56 – Indianapolis Sym. Orch./ Fabien Sevitzky – Pristine Audio PASC 479, 79:00 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****: The restoration of the Fabien Sevitzky (nee Koussevitzky) reading of the Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony (27-28 January 1942) at the Mural Theatre, Indianapolis by audio engineer and annotator Mark Obert-Thorn is not the first CD incarnation of this performance: it had been issued on the Historic-Recordings.co.uk label in 2009 (HRCD 00017) in a transfer by Damien Rogan. Under that aegis, the gloomy, dramatic symphony inspired by Lord Byron’s 1816 epic poem stands alone; here, Obert-Thorn adds – in the first two selections from 1941 – the earliest of the conductor’s sessions at RCA Victor. Sevitzky (1891-1967) – nephew of his more illustrious uncle Serge Koussevitzky – had studied both with Liadov and Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, so he had imbibed the Russian style naturally. An avid collector of neckwear, Sevitzky claimed to possess the second largest assortment of neckties, […]

“New World Serenade” – BYRON ADAMS: Serenade; OLIVER CAPLAN: Lunastella Fuga; JOHN CORIGLIANO: Snapshot: Circa 1909; PISTON: Divertimento; ZWILICH: Prologue and Variations – Sinfonietta of Riverdale/ Mark Mandarano – Albany

“New World Serenade” – BYRON ADAMS: Serenade; OLIVER CAPLAN: Lunastella Fuga; JOHN CORIGLIANO: Snapshot: Circa 1909; PISTON: Divertimento; ZWILICH: Prologue and Variations – Sinfonietta of Riverdale/ Mark Mandarano – Albany

by | Jul 9, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

“New World Serenade” – BYRON ADAMS: Serenade for Nine Instruments; OLIVER CAPLAN: Lunastella Fuga; JOHN CORIGLIANO: Snapshot: Circa 1909; WALTER PISTON: Divertimento for Nine Instruments; ELLEN TAAFFE ZWILICH: Prologue and Variations – Sinfonietta of Riverdale/ Mark Mandarano – Albany RR7904, 62:52 (4/01/16) ****: 
Very diverse and rewarding collection of works for chamber orchestra. The Sinfonietta of Riverdale is a very fine chamber orchestra under the direction of the young talented Mark Mandarano. They are based in New York and perform at the Riverdale Temple. This is apparently their first recording and CD release and is quite rewarding! The director, Mark Mandarano seems like a very interesting and well-prepared conductor, having held positions with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Westchester Philharmonic and the Bard Festival. Mark has trained with several of the most important people out there including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph von Dohnányi, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Roger Norrington, Valery Gergiev, Paul Dunkel, Leon Botstein, Carl St. Clair, Osmo Vänskä and Leonard Slatkin. Mandarano is also the Director of Instrumental Music at Macalaster College. I think, in many ways, this CD is about Riverdale and Mandarano. The music, itself, is quite rewarding and fairly […]

HAYDN: Symphonies Nos. 78, 79, 80 & 81 – Accademia Bizantina/ Ottavio Dantone – 
Decca (2 CDs)

HAYDN: Symphonies Nos. 78, 79, 80 & 81 – Accademia Bizantina/ Ottavio Dantone – 
Decca (2 CDs)

by | Jun 7, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Beautifully recorded and rendered, these original instrument realizations of rare Haydn symphonies do everyone honor. HAYDN: Symphony No. 78 in c; Symphony No. 79 in F Major; Symphony No. 80 in d; Symphony No. 81 in G Major – Accademia Bizantina/ Ottavio Dantone – Decca 478 8837 (2 CDs), 54:20, 55:10 (2/12/16) [Distr. by Universal] *****: Recorded June-September 2015, this little-known quartet of Haydn symphonies 78-81 dates from the years 1782-1784, when Haydn still served as kapellmeister to the Esterhazy family in their spectacular summer and winter palaces in Esterháza (present day Hungary) and Eisenstadt (Austria), where the music was first performed. Collectors will know these works through the Antal Dorati editions he led with Philharmonia Hungarica, or individually: for instance, the one symphony familiar to me, the sturm und drang No. 80 in d minor, I first heard in a live broadcast of the New York Philharmonic under Dimitri Mitropoulos. Decca plans a 36-CD edition of the complete Haydn Symphonies as performed on period instruments. We might begin with Dantone’s reading of the said No. 80 in d minor: though not “officially” part of the composer’s sturm und drang compositions, it opens with a fierce gesture in tremolo – […]