Nigel Clarke: The Prophecies of Merlin - Symphony for Violin and Orchestra

Nigel Clarke: The Prophecies of Merlin - Symphony for Violin and Orchestra

8.579127 (Naxos Records, CD)

DDD
FIRST RELEASE (23 June 2023)

Playing time: 65'05"
Tracks: 5
Booklet pages: 6
℗ 2023 Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd
© 2023 Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd
Main country of recording: Austria
Country of manufacture: Germany
Reviewer: Geoff Pearce
Review of Nigel Clarke: The Prophecies of Merlin - Symphony for Violin and Orchestra published on 10 June 2023

Peter Sheppard Skærved, violin
Alexandru Cozma, bassoon (track 4)
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Kristina Šuklar, leader
Neil Thomson, conductor

Nigel Clarke (born 1960):

The Prophecies of Merlin - Symphony for Violin and Orchestra (2021)
1 Tapestry I - Calidon Wood
2 Tapestry II - Calaterium Forest
3 Tapestry III - Severn Sea
4 Tapestry IV - Canute's Wood
5 Tapestry V - Daneian Forest

The Brussels-based British composer Nigel Clarke is renowned for his virtuosic style, and an uncompromising contemporary musical language that speaks with an authentic voice to today's audiences. This first recording of his symphony for violin and orchestra The Prophecies of Merlin is inspired by the twelfth century text De gestis Britonum by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and it casts the soloist as the maddened Merlin, either raging alone or caught up in the wild tumult of the orchestra. This score brims with rhythmic drive and bravura orchestration, juxtaposing savage musical outbursts with moments of sheer transcendental beauty.

Recorded: 29 (track 2), 30 (tracks 3 and 4) and 31 (track 5) August 2022 at Studio 6, ORF Funkhaus, Vienna, Austria.