ワシリー・ペトレンコ&RLPOのエルガー
第4弾はキャスリン・ラッジが歌う「海の絵」!

ノルウェーのオスロ・フィルとイギリスのロイヤル・リヴァプール・フィル(RLPO)、2つの名門オーケストラで首席指揮者を務め、2021年からはシャルル・デュトワの後任としてロイヤル・フィルハーモニー管弦楽団の音楽監督に就任する若き巨匠の筆頭格、ワシリー・ペトレンコ。
2006年の首席指揮者就任以降10年以上にわたり良好な関係を築き、首席指揮者退任後も「桂冠指揮者(ConductorLaureate)」のポストで関係を続ける予定のRLPOとは、交響曲第1番(ONYX 4145)、交響曲第2番(ONYX 4165)、エニグマ変奏曲(ONYX 4205)と、エルガーの一連のレコーディングでも緻密で洗練された音楽作りを魅せてくれました。第4弾では、「イギリスでもっとも輝かしき若きメゾの一人」(WhatsOnStage)と称されるリヴァプール出身のメゾ・ソプラノ歌手、キャスリン・ラッジが参加。管弦楽伴奏付きのメゾ・ソプラノ(コントラルト)のための歌曲集「海の絵」と、メゾ・ソプラノ独唱、合唱と管弦楽のための「ミュージック・メイカーズ」をカップリング。
現代最高峰の"エルガリアン"とも称さるワシリー・ペトレンコと英国の名門オケによるエルガーの更なる旅路にご注目ください!
東京エムプラス

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2020/02/13）

Conductor Vasily Petrenko has proven to have a really distinctive way with Elgars music at the helm of his Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and even those not on board with his free tempos and perhaps a somewhat overheated approach to Elgar have to concede, at the very least, that its never dull. Those interested in sampling this Elgar series might try the Petrenko-Liverpool recording of the Symphony No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 63, instead, but theres plenty to recommend this pair of vocal works. The orchestral song cycle Sea Pictures, Op. 37, is worth hearing just for the vocal contributions of Kathryn Rudge, whose instrument lies right on the line between contralto and mezzo-soprano. She can stand with the various greats who have recorded this work, including Sarah Connolly (in the same pairing as is heard here), Janet Baker, and Clara Butt. However, the real attraction is The Music Makers, Op. 69, a kind of choral cantata that seems to have reflected Elgars inner musical dictates in a way: he wrote it with no particular commission or performance occasion in mind. It is a setting of a poem by Arthur OShaughnessy about musical artists (We are the music makers / And we are the dreamers of dreams). Elgar quotes his own music and veers from dreamy to splashy. The work is not often performed, but Petrenko finds the key: to embrace the rather unbalanced quality of the music and its powerhouse, emotionally triumphant finale, which is right in this conductors wheelhouse. For digital purchasers in need of a state-of-the-art Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, Petrenko winds down the program with one. This album will fill a hole on many Elgar shelves or hard drives.

Rovi