Rubbra: Symphony No. 3 - Symphony No. 4 - A Tribute - Resurgam

Albumbeschreibung

Start with the Con moto that opens the Fourth Symphony of Edmund Rubbra. If its combination of stillness and anticipation, strength and tenderness, and clarity and mystery don't get you, then you might as well forget Rubbra. But if it does -- and for anyone who's ever been touched by the music of Vaughan Williams or Elgar, it probably will -- this disc of the English composer's Third and Fourth symphonies plus his single-movement orchestral works A Tribute and Overture Resurgam will be just the thing. Norman del Mar is a skilled conductor and a dedicated interpreter and he obviously knows and loves Rubbra's music. The Philharmonia is a superb orchestra with a radiant tone and a cogent ensemble and they're clearly ready to do whatever Rubbra's music requires of them. What it requires is quite a bit and not all that much. On the one hand, it requires immense intensity to make the lines glow and on the other hand it requires complete selflessness not to get too overtly expressive. Del Mar and the Philharmonia give their all without going too far -- and Rubbra's music shines with an inner light. Lyrita, one of the finest of the smaller English labels, provides them all with absolutely transparent yet thoroughly atmospheric sound.

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