Dmitri Shostakovich
Anne Laurie, Scottish Ballad · Suite on Poems by Michelangelo Buonarroti, Op. 145a
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Thomas Sanderling, conductor
Listen to samples on selected tracks.
Gerald Finley's debut-album on Ondine is devoted to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). It includes the premiere recording of the orchestral version of Scottish Ballad ‘Annie Laurie'. Six Romances on Verses by English Poets is recorded for the first time sung in English, with the original full orchestra version from 1943. Initially maestro Sanderling and Ondine were made to believe that this would be the world premiere recording of this orchestration, but it has come to light that Gennadi Rozhdetsvensky made a recording of the work in Russia in 1986. We regret the misinformation in the booklet of the first edition of the CD, it will be corrected in the second edition.
Also included is a premiere recording of a very late Shostakovich masterpiece: the orchestral version of Suite on Poems by Michelangelo - sung for the first time in the original Italian. The work, composed in 1975, was one of the last pieces completed by Shostakovich.
Grammy-award winning Canadian baritone Gerald Finley has become one of the leading singers and dramatic interpreters of his generation, with award-winning performances and recordings on CD and DVD with major labels and performing at the world's major opera and concert venues in a wide variety of repertoire.
On this recording the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Thomas Sanderling, friend of the composer and a Shostakovich expert who has conducted award-winning Shostakovich premiere recordings. Sanderling was also personally involved in the process of the discovery of the versions included in this recording and conducted their premiere performances in connection to this recording.
The booklet features an essay by Gerald Finley about singing the Michelangelo sonnets in Italian.
Everything here works beautifully (...). The orchestral partnership is beautifully honed.
Performance: , Recording:
David Nice, BBC Music Magazine, July 2015
Grammy-award winning Canadian baritone Gerald Finley has become one of the leading singers and dramatic interpreters of his generation, with award-winning performances and recordings with major labels and performing at the world's major opera and concert venues in a wide variety of repertoire. Gerald Finley, born in Montreal, began singing as a chorister in Ottawa, Canada, and completed his musical studies in the UK at the Royal College of Music, King's College, Cambridge, and the National Opera Studio.
The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the first professional symphony orchestra to be founded in the Nordic countries (1882), has grown from a band of 36 players to an orchestra of 102 regular members.
Thomas Sanderling grew up in St Petersburg, where his father, the celebrated conductor Kurt
Sanderling, was permanent conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He graduated
from the Music School of the Leningrad Conservatory and went on to study conducting at the
Hochschule für Musik in East Berlin, becoming Music Director of the Halle Opera at 24 years old. By
his mid-twenties Sanderling was conducting in all East Germany's principal orchestras and opera
houses, including the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Leipzig Gewandhaus and won the Berlin Critic's
Prize for his opera performances at the Komische Oper Berlin. Sanderling's premiere recording of
Shostakovich's Michelangelo Suite directly lead to his becoming assistant to both Herbert von Karajan
and Leonard Bernstein. He went on to conduct extensively on the international stage, with orchestras
in North America including the National, Dallas, Baltimore and Vancouver Symphonies, in Europe with
the Royal Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki Philharmonics, and in the UK the Philharmonia, the London
Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic. Sanderling is also a regular guest conductor of Radio
Orchestras in the UK, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Shenyang, bass-baritone · Mari Palo, soprano · Tuomas Katajala, tenor · State Choir "Latvija" · Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra · Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
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