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Friday, July 24, 2020

Christopher Rouse - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4; etc. (Alan Gilbert)


Information

Composer: Christopher Rouse
  • (01) Odna Zhizn
  • (02) Symphony No. 3
  • (08) Symphony No. 4
  • (10) Prospero's Rooms

New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Alan Gilbert, conductor

Date: 2016
Label: Dacapo
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/recordings/rouse-christopher-odna-zhizn-symphonies-nos-3-4-prosperos-rooms


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Review

Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic have already set down a cycle of the Nielsen symphonies together with recent orchestral works by Magnus Lindberg for the Dacapo label. This latest disc focuses on Lindberg’s successor as the orchestra’s Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, Christopher Rouse (b1949), whom Gilbert has long championed, having already recorded the first two of his symphonies with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (BIS, 1/10).

The Third Symphony (2011) follows on directly from its predecessors in terms of musical idiom. Rouse has cited Prokofiev’s Second Symphony as the governing influence, and this two-movement work proceeds from an initial Allegro, whose tensile sonata design evokes its model even aside from several allusions, to a theme with five variations that streamlines the discursive trajectory of the Prokofiev into a simple though effective alternation of stasis and dynamism. This culminates in a heightened recall of the theme, then a coda of fateful decisiveness.

Even more absorbing is the Fourth Symphony (2013), not least through its striking out on an appreciably different path. Equivocation is the watchword: whether in the translucent texture and warmly enervated manner of the initial ‘Felice’ or the ensuing ‘Doloroso’ that gradually loses momentum as it draws into itself on the way to a sepulchral close. Intriguing, not least because the composer has pointedly refrained from discussing any more concrete ‘meaning’, and it will be fascinating to hear just where Rouse’s symphonic odyssey is headed (the first performance of his Fifth Symphony is scheduled by the Dallas Symphony for next season).

Odna Zhizn (2008) – the Russian for ‘A Life’ – is a homage to a close friend and, for all the pungent aggression at its centre, it is the ethereal music either side that lingers in the memory. Prospero’s Rooms (2012) is the ‘overture’ to an unwritten opera on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, but what resulted is so rich in incident as to be its own justification. No less persuasive is the advocacy of Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, heard to advantage in sound of clarity and depth. Rouse devotees and newcomers alike have no reason to hesitate.

-- Richard Whitehouse, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=13745
http://www.allmusic.com/album/christopher-rouse-odna-zhizn-symphonies-nos-3-4-prosperos-rooms-mw0002934919
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.226110&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Rouse-Zhizn-Symphonies-Prosperos/dp/B01CH6SA60

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Christopher Rouse (February 15, 1949 – September 21, 2019) was an American neoromantic composer. Rouse studied with Richard Hoffmann at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1971. He later completed graduate degrees under Karel Husa at Cornell University in 1977. In between, Rouse studied privately with George Crumb. Though he has written for various ensembles, Rouse was primarily known for his orchestral compositions, including a Requiem, eleven concertos, and four symphonies. He was the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic from 2012 to 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Rouse_(composer)
http://www.christopherrouse.com/

***

Alan Gilbert (born February 23, 1967) is an American conductor and violinist. Gilbert was born in New York City, USA, and is the son of two now retired New York Philharmonic violinists. As a youth, he learned the violin, viola, and piano. Gilbert studied music at Harvard University, New England Conservatory, Curtis Institute and Juilliard School. He was music director of the Santa Fe Opera (2003-07) and the New York Philharmonic (2009-17), principal conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (2000-08), and is currently principal conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Gilbert_(conductor)
http://alangilbert.com/

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