24 FLAC Discount
Long acclaimed among the world's greatest orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra recently celebrated 100 years since its creation by local impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes. Now looking ahead to its second century of musical excellence, the Orchestra launches its own record label with a three-part album featuring performances conducted and curated by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, whose tenure was recently extended to a quarter century to become the longest-serving artistic leader in the ensemble's history. Showcasing the legendarily intimate acoustics of Cleveland's Severance Hall, the third volume of A New Century pairs Prokofiev's enigmatic Third Symphony — based on his opera The Fiery Angel — with the world premiere recording of Bernd Richard Deutsch's concerto for organ and orchestra, Okeanos. "When I have chosen to pair composers together, I often want to show that there are similarities between the two," says Welser-Möst. "There are certain elements of their music, how they create intimate moments and contrasting eruptions of sound which absolutely align. When you hear these pieces juxtaposed with one another, there is an unexpected, satisfying symmetry. Both works feature metaphysical aspects of water and fire, elemental feelings of expanse and energy."