EIJI OUE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA RR-99CD [HDCD] Relaxing, beloved classics by Debussy, Satié, Ravel, Faure, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and more, beautifully played by one of America's great orchestras. A balm for jangled nerves! The pace of the human heartbeat so appealed to the composers on this program that they harnessed their music to it. Yet they produced orchestral statements of such variety that a listener might not immediately discern their similar pace, which is described by the musical term andante, or walking tempo. The serene music of Debussy permeates this program, and his Reverie gave us our title. Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun is now so familiar that we can't imagine how its revolutionary textures and form stirred audiences when it was new. Debussy's musical presence can be felt in the Stately pavanes of Fauré and Ravel. His orchestrations of two Satie Gymnopédies begin and end this program of subtle, provocative music, which has endured since "la belle epoch" to inspire generations of listeners with its rare beauty. A departure, then, for Reference Recordings and Prof. Johnson, whose spacious and transparent sonic textures play large dividends in string-based orchestral music of such clarity and refinement.
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Reference Recordings are distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading |