Notes and Editorial Reviews
Play this recording of Arcana next to the recent Boulez/Chicago on DG, and you're in for a big surprise. No, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra isn't Chicago, and Naxos has paid for a recording of great immediacy and clarity of texture by accepting a very dry, attenuated bass. But musically, Christopher Lyndon-Gee blows Boulez away. His Arcana is only about a minute faster, but sounds about ten times more exciting, more dynamic, more rhythmically emphatic, more committed. Here is a conductor who understands what the composer means when he writes a triple forte, and he charts an unerring course from the pounding opening right through the mysterious closing bars.
The other works offer still more evidence of
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extraordinarily communicative musicianship. Tangy wind sonorities give a playful edge to Octandre's acerbic central movement, and a vocal, human warmth to its outer ones. Déserts, unlike the Boulez version, includes its taped interpolations and explores a stunning sonic landscape in which Lyndon-Gee's contributions sustain the work's atmosphere far more impressively. Intégrales reveals greater sensitivity to dynamic gradation than Boulez permits his Chicago players, and Offrandes' mysterious, sensual landscapes still mesmerize despite the dryness of the sound and the close-up focus on the otherwise fine soprano, Maryse Castets. In short, this wholly unexpected surprise of a disc will delight Varèse fans. You won't find Chailly's level of polish and sophistication, but Lyndon-Gee's interpretations offer a wholly winning freshness of their own. Now dare we hope for Amériques from these same forces?
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Arcana by Edgard Varèse
Conductor:
Christopher Lyndon-Gee
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1925-1927; USA
Date of Recording: 04/2000
Venue: Grzegorz Fitelberg Hall, Katowice
Length: 18 Minutes 36 Secs.
2.
Octandre by Edgard Varèse
Conductor:
Christopher Lyndon-Gee
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Written: 1923
Date of Recording: 04/2000
Venue: Grzegorz Fitelberg Hall, Katowice
Length: 6 Minutes 46 Secs.
3.
Offrandes by Edgard Varèse
Performer:
Maryse Castets (Soprano),
Marisz Zietek (French Horn),
Stanislaw Dziewior (Trumpet),
Michal Paliwoda (Double Bass),
Michal Mazurkiewicz (Trombone),
Marek Baranski (Bassoon),
Aleksander Tesarczyk (Clarinet),
Tomasz Miczka (Oboe),
Lukasz Zimnik (Flute)
Conductor:
Christopher Lyndon-Gee
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921; New York, USA
Date of Recording: 04/2000
Venue: Grzegorz Fitelberg Hall, Katowice
Length: 7 Minutes 13 Secs.
Language: French
4.
Intégrales by Edgard Varèse
Conductor:
Christopher Lyndon-Gee
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Written: 1924-5
Date of Recording: 05/2000
Venue: Grzegorz Fitelberg Hall, Katowice
Length: 11 Minutes 0 Secs.
5.
Déserts by Edgard Varèse
Conductor:
Christopher Lyndon-Gee
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: ?1950-54; USA
Date of Recording: 05/2000
Venue: Grzegorz Fitelberg Hall, Katowice
Length: 27 Minutes 11 Secs.
Sound Samples
Octandre: II. Tres vif et nerveaux
Offrandes: Chanson de La-haut
Offrandes: La Croix du Sud
Deserts: First Electronic Interpolation (beginning)
Deserts: First Electronic Interpolation (conclusion)
Deserts: Second Electronic Interpolation (beginning)
Deserts: Second Electronic Interpolation (conclusion)
Deserts: Third Electronic Interpolation (beginning)
Deserts: Third Electronic Interpolation (conclusion)
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