Catalogue

Summary:

As he takes up the reigns as Principal Conductor and Music Director of Manchester Camerata this autumn, the orchestra releases their first recording with Gábor Takács-Nagy. The celebrated Hungarian violinist-turned-conductor and his Mancunians present an exclusive digital release of two Russian works that straddle the turn of the 20th century and illuminate different musical strands – Tchaikovsky’s Romantic elegance and Prokofiev’s early, compositional irreverence. Yet these two works also share a common classicism: the Mozartian intricacy and grace of Tchaikovsky’s cello “concerto”, performed here by Takács-Nagy’s eminent fellow-Hungarian Miklós Perényi – in the composer’s original version rather than the more commonly heard revision by the work’s dedicatee Wilhelm Fitzhagen – and the Haydn-esque symphonic form on which Prokofiev hung his 20th-century harmonies.

Tracklist:

Peter Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
[1] Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 (18:01)
I. Moderato quasi Andante
II. Tema: Moderato semplice
III. Variazione 1: Tempo del Tema
IV. Variazione 2: Tempo del Tema
V. Variazione 3: Andante sostenuto
VI. Variazione 4: Andante grazioso
VII. Variazione 5: Allegro moderato
VIII. Cadenza
IX. Variazione 6: Andante
X. Variazione 7 e Coda: Allegro vivo

Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891 – 1953)
Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25, “Classical”
[2] I. Allegro (4:43)
[3] II. Larghetto (3:44)
[4] III. Gavotte: Non troppo allegro (1:23)
[5] IV. Finale: Molto vivace (3:54)
Total time: 32:40

Recorded October 2010 at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England

Recording Producer: Andrew Keener
Recording Engineer: Will Brown
Assistant Engineer: Tim Adam-Smith
Editor: John H. West