Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra

Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra & Alexander Shelley – The Bounds of our Dreams (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:34:25 minutes | 1,57 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Groupe Analekta, Inc

Saluted by the international press, for his “phenomenal technique” (The Spectator), his “sovereign mastery” (Hamburger Abendblatt), his deep sensitivity and exhilarating personality, Alain Lefèvre is a pianist who “breaks the mold” (International PIANO, London), and most importantly, an artist who “truly stands out from the typical trends and artifices offered on the international scene” (Classica). Some of his interpretations were described as “unparalleled” (Westdeutsche Zeitung), and even unsurpassed “in memory” (Los Angeles Times).

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Alexander Shelley, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra – Clara, Robert, Johannes: Atmosphere and Mastery (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:16:40 minutes | 2,28 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Les Productions Analekta Inc.

This is the third of four albums to be released that will form a recording cycle that explores the closely intertwined personal and artistic connections between three musical giants: Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Robert Schumann’s and Johannes Brahms’ symphonies will be paired and combined with Clara Schumann’s chamber works and orchestral pieces, including some special gems. “I have always loved these symphonies and saw many links between them. It has always been my dream to record them and release them together. No story of these two composers is complete without Clara, as famous in her lifetime as her husband, and a strong influence on both Robert and Johannes. ?We crafted this vision with Clara Schumann scholar Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers, to combine the symphonies with pieces by Clara in ways that provide an insightful narrative to the intertwined lives and works of these three Romantics.” – Alexander Shelley

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Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Alexander Shelley – New Worlds (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:06 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Groupe Analekta, Inc

Themes of migration and crossing borders are as hot topics today as they ever were. This recording explores two works written in the so-called “New World” by composers from the “Old World”.

Ana Sokolovic left war-torn Yugoslavia for a new home in Montréal, and her piece Golden slumbers kiss your eyes… looks back to European lullabies. It features Canadian-Korean counter-tenor David DQ Lee and several Ottawa choirs, and was commissioned by the NAC Orchestra in honour of its founding conductor, Mario Bernardi.

Antonín Dvořák wrote his famous symphony when he lived in North America, and there is still discussion about how much of the “New” and “Old” Worlds are to be found in it. It was taken to the moon, presumably because it contains some of the most recognizable and moving music ever written, and Neil Armstrong considered that the next “New World.”

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