United Strings of Europe, Julian Azkoul – Through the Night (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

United Strings of Europe, Julian Azkoul – Through the Night (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:17:47 minutes | 2,71 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS

For their fourth release with BIS, the United Strings of Europe with their director Julian Azkoul present another innovative programme, dedicated this time to the night, a source of wonder and fascination, rich with metaphorical associations. The ensemble’s varied, tailor-made programme features counterpoint, aching dissonance and chromaticism from across a range of styles spanning nearly 500 years, from the Renaissance to the present day. The album is built around two post-romantic masterpieces: Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen (here in an arrangement by Éric Mouret), a work composed during the final months of the Second World War that evokes destruction, mourning, nostalgia, but also hope for progress and transformation, and Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, based on a poem by Richard Dehmel, which, in a nocturnal dialogue between a man and a woman, shows the power of love that can overcome the greatest challenges. These two major works are joined by arrangements for strings of vocal pieces by Maddelena Casulana, Carlo Gesualdo and Henry Purcell, as well as a new work by Daniel Kidane, Be Still, featuring percussionist Beibei Wang, a reflection on recent years marked by lockdowns during which everyday markers, such as meeting with friends and family, travelling or attending concerts vanished.

Tracklist:
1-01. United Strings of Europe – Metamorphosen, TrV 290 (Arr. for String Orchestra by Éric Mouret) (25:47)
1-02. United Strings of Europe – Morir non può ‘l mio core (Arr. for String Orchestra by Simon Parkin) (06:37)
1-03. United Strings of Europe – Be Still (06:35)
1-04. United Strings of Europe – Tristis est anima mea (Arr. for String Orchestra by Michi Wiancko) (05:00)
1-05. United Strings of Europe – Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (Version for String Orchestra) (29:56)
1-06. United Strings of Europe – Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626: When I Am Laid in Earth (Arr. for String Orchestra by Leopold Stokowski) (03:49)

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