Lahav Shani, Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for the past five years, conducts the Dutch ensemble in Bruckner’s epic Symphony No 7. He admires the Austrian composer for his proverbially grand musical architecture, but also for his vision and the atmosphere he creates as he builds to mighty climaxes over extended periods “ … from a hint of light to the whole world”. Shani’s sense for symphonic structure and drama, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic’s response to it, was evident in their Warner Classics recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 (released in 2022). Gramophone magazine’s reviewer praised “… an account where the feeling is refreshingly one of rediscovery …. Shani has a wonderful nose for atmosphere … [He] reminds me just how achingly beautiful the slow movement of this piece is … and I don’t think I have ever heard the transition into the hushed final pages sound quite as breathtaking … A terrific disc.”

Rimsky-Korsakov is universally acknowledged as a great master of the orchestra. He even wrote a textbook on the subject consisting entirely of examples from his own music! He needed some sort of pictorial or literary stimulus to really get his imagination going, however. His "abstract pieces," like Symphonies No. 1 and 3, are comparative failures specifically because he believed that symphonic thought was incompatible with orchestral brilliance (he wasn't the only Romantic composer to succumb to that fallacy). So all of his best music is either obviously illustrative, or taken from one of his colorful "fairy tale" operas. This two-disc set gives you an excellent selection of works of both types at a great price.

These readings are sensitive and beautifully, thoughtfully paced. The phrasing is totally idiomatic, too. There is a tenedency to bend phrases like taffy in Borodin. Gergiev, however, has a deep understanding of the structure of these works, which he conveys with a wonderful feeling for dynamics (typically Russian in the brass) and light and shade. This was an early Gergiev/Rotterdam Philharmonic collaboration, but the orchestra already seems totally attuned to the conductor's artistry.

This album brings together world premiere recordings of three aesthetically diverse piano concertos that were written for Alexandre Tharaud. They are Left, alone by the Dane Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952), Future is a faded song by the Frenchman Gérard Pesson (b.1958) and Kuleshov by the Argentian-born Frenchman Oscar Strasnoy (b.1970). Strasnoy has said that his concerto was “inspired by Alexandre Tharaud’s unique and inimitable phrasing and clarity of playing.” No doubt those words could apply to all three works on the album.

This cello concerto is a miracle, both for the listener and for the soloist. The listener is swept along through unexplored terrain. The instrumentation stands out - even for a master like Robin. For a cello, Robin's concerto is innovative and challenging from a technical point of view. The premiere with Yannick and the orchestra was like a celebration - you can hear it. New work only reveals its secrets after a lot of listening, so it is fantastic that this recording is being made. In the summer of 2007, Robin de Raaff wrote Entangled Tales for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Entangled Tales is built up of several layers. It is a continual variation of small elements: rhythms, brief melodies, and ever-changing sounds in the rich palette of a large symphony orchestra. He does not hesitate to use an opulent instrumentation in impressionist and expressionist sphere. For the occasion of its 125th anniversary in 2015, the Het Gelders Orkest asked Robin de Raaff to write a special composition. The result is a symphony of three movements on the concepts of light and dark, referred to as illumination and eclipse. These words do not point to a state of being, but to motion. It is not just about states - light and dark - but also about motion: illumination and eclipse.

The dynamic young French-Canadian conductor records the symphony that has played a central role in his remarkable career.brbrYannick Nezet-Seguin first heard it live in Montreal at the age of eight. It was the work he chose for his debut with both the Orchestre Meetropolitain du Grand Montreeal and the Philadelphia Orchestra.brbrConducting this quintessentially Russian music with the Rotterdam Philharmonic acknowledges his predecessor on the podium, Valery Gergiev, as well as showcasing the depth and refinement of the Dutch orchestras rich textures.brbrYannick Nezet-Seguin admires Tchaikovsky not just as a composer of heart-breaking melodies but also as a master symphonist.

Nicolas Altstaedt presents here his version of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s monumental Cello Concerto, originally composed for Yo-Yo Ma, and given its Finnish premiere by the Franco-German cellist under the composer’s direction. In partnership with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, he reveals its full expressive dimension here: ‘The first movement opens with what, in my sketchbook, was called “Chaos to line”’, says Esa-Pekka Salonen. Chaos, a metaphorical comet, a rhythmic mantra with congas and bongos, a wild dance . . . Salonen goes on to say of the third movement: ‘I imagined the orchestra as some kind of gigantic lung, expanding and contracting first slowly, but accelerating to a point of mild hyperventilation which leads back to the dance-like material’ The coupling is the famous ‘Duo Ravel’ (to give it the original title used at its premiere), which Nicolas Altstaedt and Pekka Kuusisto have been performing and refining ever since 2010, and which it was high time to record.

For his first album with Warner Classics, Lahav Shani conducts the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in Symphony No. 7 and plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4: two pieces which come from Beethoven’s so-called “middle period”. The classical harmonic tension contributes to the drive of the music as much as the rhythmic propulsion. This music features a clarity of texture and, above all, a unity between the melodic motive and the accompaniment. Acclaimed for his “instant chemistry” with the orchestra, Lahav Shani is considered the shooting star amongst conductors – as Der Tagesspiegel puts it: “The young maestro is simply sensational”.