Latest news with #Chandos
The Guardian
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos 1 & 3; Two Scherzos album review – deft execution of the Russian's early exuberance
If the key stylistic reference in Shostakovich's symphonies from the Fifth onwards would unmistakably be Mahler, his early symphonies show a much more catholic array of influences, and often hint at other directions his music might have taken had events in the Soviet Union allowed him the freedom of choice. The First Symphony in particular, composed in 1924-25, is an energised bundle of ideas derived from many sources, with the Stravinsky of Petrushka and the early neoclassicism of Paul Hindemith vying for supremacy in music that careers along with sudden changes of direction – alternating exuberance with flashes of pathos – which never fail to surprise. In what is the latest instalment of their Shostakovich series for Chandos, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic are more effective in maintaining the momentum of the faster music than they are in registering the moments of deeper, darker emotion, so that a crucial dimension often seems to be lacking. It's the rendition of the much less frequently performed and recorded Third Symphony, composed four years after the First, in 1929, that's the more convincing here. In between these works, the Second Symphony, composed for the 10th anniversary of the October revolution in 1927, contained some of the most radical music Shostakovich would ever compose, while the single-movement Third, subtitled 'The First of May' and which ends with a tub-thumping hymn celebrating International Workers Day, takes a step back and is distinctly less iconoclastic. But Storgårds skilfully negotiates its changes of gear and he pairs the symphonies with real curiosities – two pieces, both scherzos, that pre-date even the First Symphony. Scherzo No 1, which Shostakovich designated as his Op 1, was composed in 1919 when he was just 13 years old; it was dedicated to his composition teacher Maximilian Steinberg and shows the influence of Glazunov more than anyone else. While in Scherzo No 2, completed in 1924, Stravinsky has become part of the mix, and the First Symphony is just around the corner. This article includes content hosted on We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify
The Guardian
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos 1 & 3; Two Scherzos album review – deft execution of the Russian's early exuberance
If the key stylistic reference in Shostakovich's symphonies from the Fifth onwards would unmistakably be Mahler, his early symphonies show a much more catholic array of influences, and often hint at other directions his music might have taken had events in the Soviet Union allowed him the freedom of choice. The First Symphony in particular, composed in 1924-25, is an energised bundle of ideas derived from many sources, with the Stravinsky of Petrushka and the early neoclassicism of Paul Hindemith vying for supremacy in music that careers along with sudden changes of direction – alternating exuberance with flashes of pathos – which never fail to surprise. In what is the latest instalment of their Shostakovich series for Chandos, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic are more effective in maintaining the momentum of the faster music than they are in registering the moments of deeper, darker emotion, so that a crucial dimension often seems to be lacking. It's the rendition of the much less frequently performed and recorded Third Symphony, composed four years after the First, in 1929, that's the more convincing here. In between these works, the Second Symphony, composed for the 10th anniversary of the October revolution in 1927, contained some of the most radical music Shostakovich would ever compose, while the single-movement Third, subtitled 'The First of May' and which ends with a tub-thumping hymn celebrating International Workers Day, takes a step back and is distinctly less iconoclastic. But Storgårds skilfully negotiates its changes of gear and he pairs the symphonies with real curiosities – two pieces, both scherzos, that pre-date even the First Symphony. Scherzo No 1, which Shostakovich designated as his Op 1, was composed in 1919 when he was just 13 years old; it was dedicated to his composition teacher Maximilian Steinberg and shows the influence of Glazunov more than anyone else. While in Scherzo No 2, completed in 1924, Stravinsky has become part of the mix, and the First Symphony is just around the corner. This article includes content hosted on We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify
Telegraph
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Follow my guide to Ravel's finest recordings
Having written about Maurice Ravel 's life just before the 150th anniversary of his birth last month, I wanted to look at recent recordings, and to recommend some from longer ago that show the composer's mastery to its utmost. One notable new recording is of his complete ballet Daphnis et Chloé, written between 1909 and 1912. By then, he had very much found his own voice, but was still under the impressionist influence of Debussy. The almost faultless new recording is compiled from two performances last year by the London Symphony Orchestra under Antonio Pappano. Pappano's immense talent as a conductor is unquestionable and there are numerous examples of the breadth of his range and depth of his insight in other recordings on the LSO Live label, whence this comes. Recently, John Wilson, another conductor who appears able to do no wrong, brought out a disc of orchestral works with the Sinfonia of London, on Chandos, which includes a stunning account of the composer's orchestration from 1919 of his piano masterpiece Le Tombeau de Couperin. Wilson, who has produced several first-rate Ravel recordings, judges the orchestral textures perfectly. He is well served, in a piece Ravel made into an instrumental showpiece, by an ensemble packed with virtuosi. As ever with Chandos, the sound engineering is superlative. The label has also issued a double album of Ravel's complete works for solo piano by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, the Frenchman whose considerable abilities are overdue for proper recognition outside his home country. In my own extensive collection there are several Ravel recordings to which I return repeatedly, and I do not hesitate to recommend them. A rare pianist who surpasses Bavouzet is Samson François, a prodigy who died in 1970, aged just 46, after a life of excess, but whose abilities were astonishing. A six-CD box set includes not just the complete solo piano works but also Ravel's two piano concerti played by François with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, conducted by the Belgian-born André Cluytens. The box set also includes Cluytens conducting the same orchestra in Ravel's complete orchestral works. One wants this set for François, but Cluytens's interpretations of Ravel's orchestral works are among the best available and show a deep understanding of the composer.
The Independent
10-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
National Lottery £38 billion pledge for good causes ‘looks fanciful'
The National Lottery operator's pledge spend £38 billion on good causes by 2034 'looks fanciful', a viscount has warned. Viscount Chandos asked gambling minister Baroness Twycross to say whether the watchdog was 'taken for a ride' before it awarded Allwyn a 10-year licence to run the National Lottery, which kicked in last year. At the Lords despatch box on Monday, Baroness Twycross said the Gambling Commission is looking at the company's technology upgrades, which she said are 'needed to realise their bid commitments'. She told peers that good cause returns from National Lottery ticket sales are expected to be £1.6 billion in the year 2024-25. This figure is 'consistent with returns last year and in line with performance over the last five years', the minister said. Viscount Chandos asked: 'They've pledged at the time of the licence being awarded to give £38 billion in the next 10 years, which looks fanciful, to put it mildly. 'Now, will my noble friend the minister say what the Government will do to hold Allwyn to its pledge, or was the Gambling Commission taken for a ride?' Baroness Twycross said the Labour peer was 'correct that Allwyn is committed to increasing the amount of funding going to good causes over the course of the licence from £30 million a week to £60 million a week'. She added: 'The Gambling Commission has direct oversight of Allwyn and they're implementation of the technology transformation needed to realise their bid commitments and to ensure that these are delivered safely and effectively. 'In addition, I have met with Allwyn on a couple of occasions including on Wednesday last week to receive additional assurance around delivery.' Lord Sahota, a Labour peer, said: 'In my previous life, I sold National Lottery tickets for years and years, and I always got the impression that the National Lottery was a tax on the poor. 'Does the noble minister agree with that?' The minister replied that lottery players had helped fund 'incredible iconic national treasures' including Antony Gormley's Angel of the North near Newcastle upon Tyne and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. She said: 'I can't agree that the National Lottery is a tax on the poor, as my noble friend suggests. 'I think that the National Lottery is an incredible national institution which was founded by Sir John Major's government, which has great ambitions to become part of the lifeblood of DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) sectors.' Former GambleAware chair of trustees Baroness Lampard, an independent crossbencher, described the National Lottery's past investment into gambling harms research, education and treatment as 'derisory', including under its previous operator Camelot. She asked whether ministers think the new operator's 'contribution is fair and adequate given the significant numbers of problem gamblers who participate in the lottery'. Baroness Twycross replied Allwyn had agreed to pay £1.6 million annually during the current (fourth) licence, 'which triples the amount that was given under the third licence'. Tory peer Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay referred to a legal challenge against the Gambling Commission by The New Lottery Company, a subsidiary of Northern and Shell, which lost out on the National Lottery contract and is seeking damages, claiming the regulator failed to fairly run the licence bidding process. The Guardian reported last week that the Gambling Commission watchdog had accidentally handed over more than 4,000 documents to lawyers acting for their challenger. Lord Parkinson asked: 'What conclusions she and her department have drawn about what that says about the competence of the Gambling Commission to perform the oversight functions that it has and the appropriate oversight of our regulators by her department?' 'I'm not going to go into details about media reports. It is clear that legal challenges are ongoing.'
