Here is some new and specific information about the upcoming (release date still pending) album from the Kansas City Symphony, including the album name!
Britten’s Orchestra, RR-120 HDCD
1. The Repertoire:The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is a virtuoso orchestral spectacular, which RR has wanted to record for many years. Sinfonia da Requiem is widely considered to be Britten’s finest orchestral inspiration, and is full of color and wide dynamic range. The music of Peter Grimes, Britten’s operatic masterpiece, is most often heard in the well-known suite of orchestral Sea Interludes and Passacaglia. This is music of haunting atmosphere, and the final Storm brings the program to an exciting conclusion.
2. The Conductor: Michael Stern, now in his fourth season as music director of the Kansas City Symphony, is the son of famed violinist Isaac Stern. He is also the founder of the Iris Chamber Orchestra in Memphis, Tennessee, and in addition to RR, has recorded for Sony, Hyperion, Denon, Arabesque and Naxos.
3. The Producer: David Frost is a Grammy-award-winning producer, and son of Thomas Frost, who for many years was chief producer at Columbia Masterworks. He and Michael Stern have been friends since childhood, so this Britten project is very much a family affair. David Frost says he is “honored” to work with engineer Keith Johnson for the first time, and is full of enthusiasm for the sound quality of the masters. A partial list of the renowned artists Frost has produced: Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo, Andre Previn, Los Angles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, Yo Yo Ma / Silk Road Ensemble, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Alicia de Larrocha, Saint Louis Symphony, Kathleen Battle, Tokyo String Quartet, Van Cliburn, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Eroica Trio, Leonard Slatkin, English Chamber Orchestra
4. The Orchestra: The Kansas City Symphony is a dynamic, growing and successful arts organization which has garnered tremendous critical acclaim for their first CD project on Reference Recordings, Shakespeare’s Tempest, RR-115, Incidental Music for the Tempest by Sullivan and Sibelius. Their mission is to perform live symphony music with a passion for excellence. They have achieved a tremendous performance on this new Britten recording and we look forward to its critical and marketing success.
5. The Recording Venue: The Community of Christ Auditorium in Independence, Missouri is a large structure similar in design to the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Its acoustics are very fine for a symphony orchestra, being especially notable for clarity and speciousness. At the sessions, everyone in the recording booth commented about hearing details in the orchestration that are never audible on other recordings. Keith Johnson was able to work magic here!