Title - The Lost Generation
Artist - The Orchestra Now
For those unaware, if you’ve seen the Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro”, you’ve seen and heard The Orchestra Now, the exceptional ensemble that appears in the movie’s Tanglewood Music Festival scene.
The Orchestra Now (TŌN), a New York-based graduate-level training orchestra comprised of the most vibrant young musicians from around the globe, was founded by conductor, educator and music historian Leon Botstein, whose insatiable curiosity has resulted in rescuing countless musical works from oblivion.
Their first recording for AVIE, “The Lost Generation”, brings together three German-speaking composers who were contemporaries of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, but whose music became suppressed by historical events of the 20th century.
HUGO KAUDER (1888–1972)
Symphony No. 1
1. I. Bewegt
2. II. Sehr mäßig bewegt
3. III. Sehr breit und betragen
4. IV. Ruhig, streng gemessen
The recording begins with Hugo Kauder’s Symphony No. 1, which opens on the sweeping work Bewegt, the organic Sehr mäßig bewegt, the embodied Sehr breit und betragen and culminates on the sterner fare of Ruhig, streng gemessen.
HANS ERICH APOSTEL (1901–1972)
Variations on a Theme by Haydn
5. I. Theme: Andante più tosto Allegretto
6. II. Variation I: Allegretto
7. III. Variation II: Andante cantabile
8. IV. Variation III: Tagstück (Pastorale)
9. V. Variation IV: Vivace
10. VI. Variation V: Adagio
11. VII. Variation VI: Vivace
12. VIII. Variation VII: Nachtstück (in Kubins Manier)
13. IX. Variation VIII: Andante cantabile
14. X. Variation XI: Allegretto
Up next is Hans Erich Apostel’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn, which itself opens on the flirtatious Theme: Andante più tosto Allegretto, the playful Variation I: Allegretto, the creeping Variation II: Andante cantabile, and the furtive Variation III: Tagstück (Pastorale), before bringing forth the vociferous Variation IV: Vivace, the more sedate Variation V: Adagio, the beholden Variation VI: Vivace, the work culminating with the inching Variation VII: Nachtstück (in Kubins Manier), the atmospheric Variation VIII: Andante cantabile, and the hopeful optimism found within Variation XI: Allegretto.
ADOLF BUSCH (1891–1952), arr. Peter Serkin (1947–2020)
15. Variations on an Original Theme
The final work is Adolf Busch’s aching yearn that drives the stellar, ten minute Variations on an Original Theme, and which features an arrangement by Peter Serkin. One of the most celebrated violinists and chamber musicians of the 20th century, this piece is a rather dutifully resplendent way to end this simply magnificent new recording.
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