Moderato espressivo - Meno mosso, maestoso - Andante
6.
II
Allegro scherzando
5:50
7.
III
Largo
13:55
8.
IV
Allegro con fuoco - Andante misterioso - Larghetto - Allegro con anima -
11:58
Poco meno mosso - Meno mosso, maestoso - Allegro con brio - Festivo
Total time: 72:53
Orchestra: Orchestre de la Francophonie
Conductor:Jean-Philippe Tremblay
Notes
Our second album of orchestral works by Airat Ichmouratov features three works united by an ear for bold orchestral colour, a dramatic sense of form, and a firm dedication to tonality. The ‘Youth’ Overture was dedicated to the recording’s performers, the Orchestre de la Francophonie and its founder, Jean-Phillippe Tremblay, on the occasion of their fifteenth anniversary, and was premiered in July 2016. The ‘Maslenitsa’ Overture, premiered in 2013, portrays the week prior to Lent and represents an array of carnival-like festivities, including folk dances, disguises, troika rides, ice sculptures, and blini. First performed in 2017, the Symphony in A minor seeks to recreate the vitality of Longueuil, a city on the south shore of the St Lawrence River, from its beginnings as an outpost of New France (only the foundations of Fort Longueuil remain) to the present day. The symphony features Ichmouratov’s trademark descriptive eclecticism – especially in the second movement in which we hear children playing in parks, adults on the street engaged in boisterous debate, traffic noises, and the sound of a trumpet from a nightclub. All three works are world premiere recordings.
Further
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Reviews
Coup de Cœur *****
Jeremie Cahen – Classica (France) – December 2020/January 2021
“More than any other recording company, Chandos is prepared to dust off neglected (even forgotten) composers and demonstrate that the neglect does a disservice to some splendid music… The music here (while not of the first rank) is as colourful and approachable as that of many a better-known composer.”
Barry Forshaw – CD Choice.co.uk – 30 July 2020
“… The orchestra and conductor are splendid, and recorded in warm, Chandos sound…”
Michael Wilkinson – MusicWeb-International.com – 21 August 2020
Performance *** Recording ****
“… The Youth Overture, once past the portentous opening, has a clarinet theme with engagingly florid turns, a creepy-weird counter-theme and a broad synthetic melody … The playing is good …”
David Nice – BBC Music magazine – September 2020
“… The overture Youth (2016) is a light, fun concert-opener … It was commissioned by the Orchestre de la Francophonie and Jean-Philippe Tremblay, who play it here with relish, audibly enjoying the theatrical atmosphere … The Symphony in A minor … is an example of Ichmouratov drawing inspiration from his homeland … The Orchestra de la Francophonie under Jean-Philippe Tremblay perform it and the overtures more than capably, and with affection. Excellent sound as usual.”
Guy Rickards – Gramophone magazine – August 2020
“… Dedicated to the performers on this disc (Orchestre de la Francophonie under Jean-Philippe Tremblay) and written to celebrate the optimism of the youth of its title, it [Youth Overture] is remarkable in its vivacity; it opens Chandos' second album of music by Ichmouratov… Most impressive of all on this Ichmouratov disc is the Symphony, "On the Ruins of an Ancient Fort". The most recent work here (first performed 2017), and this is about as heady as it gets, with children playing in parks, arguments and even an overheard trumpeter from a nightclub; the third movement offers simply beautiful contrast… Eclectic hardly seems to cover this music, yet somehow, miraculously, it all hangs together due in no small part to the conductor, Jean-Philippe Tremblay and the palpable enthusiasm of his Montréal players.”
Colin Clarke – Classical Explorer.com – 26 July 2020
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