Antheil: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 BBC Philharmonic Orchestra & John Storgårds

• George Antheil (1900 - 1959):
• 1 Over the Plains 07:34
• Symphony No. 4 "1942":
• 2 Symphony No. 4 "1942": I. Moderato - Allegretto 10:53
• 3 Symphony No. 4 "1942": II. Allegro 09:28
• 4 Symphony No. 4 "1942": III. Scherzo (Presto) 05:20
• 5 Symphony No. 4 "1942": IV. Allegro non troppo 07:52
• Symphony No. 5 "Joyous":
• 6 Symphony No. 5 "Joyous": I. Allegro 09:06
• 7 Symphony No. 5 "Joyous": II. Adagio molto 07:55
• 8 Symphony No. 5 "Joyous": III. Allegretto maestoso - Allegro giocoso 06:52
• Total Runtime 01:05:00

Info for Antheil: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1

Alongside its ongoing much-lauded Copland series, the BBC Philharmonic embarks on a new American journey, this time with its chief guest conductor, John Storgårds.

Known as the ‘bad boy of music’, George Antheil began his career with a reputation as an enfant terrible, composing shockingly avant-garde works such as his ever-popular Ballet mécanique, inspired by the dynamism and dissonances of Stravinsky’s early ballets. Although he is well-established on the film music scene, too, it is his symphonic output – sampled here – that today survives in the concert hall.

This new series documents the evolution of his musical style, which moved towards a fundamentally tonal and melody-based idiom, Antheil joining the growing ranks of famous US symphonists. The war-inspired Fourth Symphony and ‘joyous’ Fifth clearly represent this compositional shift, breaking with what the composer called the ‘now passé’ modernism.

Also here is the premiere recording of the Texas-inspired Over the Plains, memorable for its allusions to cowboy music and offering some unexpectedly dramatic and atmospheric twists along the way.

"Storgårds treats this music with painstaking care, restoring deliberate ‘wrong notes’ expunged by earlier conductors in the Fourth, respecting all Antheil’s nuances of tempo variations, and – with the help of an excellent recording – balancing all the textures clearly." (BBC Music Magazine)

"Rather than placing these symphonies squarely in the mid-century mainstream...John Storgårds revels in their idiosyncrasies, revealing a wealth of expressive detail I’d never heard before...A brilliant recording all around, and an important one. Bring on the next installment." Gramophone Magazine)

"this Chandos release is so intelligently planned, so well performed, and so superlatively well-recorded that it deserves a recommendation in very enthusiastic terms." (MusicWeb International)

BBC Philharmonic
John Storgårds, conductor

John Storgårds
“The Finnish conducting miracle” is the phrase used of the fantastic host of talented conductors to come out of sparsely-populated Finland over the last few decades. And from that crowd John Storgårds stands out. He has a dual career as conductor and violin virtuoso, and he is a pioneer in contemporary music – an idealistic and eclectic musician.

From the autumn of 2008 John Storgårds became the new chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic, one of Scandinavia’s best and most tradition-rich orchestras. He is also chief conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic and artistic director of the magical Lapland Chamber Orchestra, which gives some of Europe’s most imaginative concerts north of the Arctic Circle.

Abroad John Storgårds has appeared with international orchestras such as l’Orchestre de Paris, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared in the USA, Asia and Australia and with leading ensembles specializing in contemporary music such as the Parisian Ensemble Intercontemporain. He has recorded a succession of CDs and can be heard for example as a soloist in Dacapo’s recording of Sunleif Rasmussen’s Violin Concerto no. 2, Songs of Seasons.

Booklet for Antheil: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1