Fernando Sor - Overtures & Symphonies (Neville Marriner)

Information

Composer: Fernando Sor

1. Hercule et Omphale, ballet suite: Overture
2. Symphony No. 1 in C major: I. Largo - Allegro assai
3. Symphony No. 1 in C major: II. Andante molto
4. Alphonse et Léonore ou l'amant peintre, ballet suite: Overture
5. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major
6. La Elvira Portuguesa, incidental music: Overture
7. Symphony No. 3 in F major
8. Cendrillon, ballet suite: Overture

Orquesta de Cadaqués

Neville Marriner, conductor

Date: 2009

Label: Tritó

Fernando Sor is best known for his guitar repertoire. This is the first album to be released with some of his most important symphonic works. Sor wrote a number of pieces for the stage during his life, some of them during his stay in Catalonia, such as the ballets Cendrillon, Hercule et Omphale, and Alphonse et Léonore. Once again under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner, the Cadaqués Orchestra made a recording that seeks to reconstruct the sound environment of the Spanish classical venues.

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Fernando Sor (baptized 14 February 1778 – 10 July 1839) was a Catalan Romantic guitarist, composer and teacher. Trained at Montserrat's choir school, he wrote his first opera in 1797 and later worked under the French administration after Spain's defeat by Napoleon. Sor lived in Paris and London, composing prolifically and publishing influential works. His Méthode pour la guitar (1830) became a foundational study text. Though forgotten after his death, Sor's music was revived in the 20th century, and he is now celebrated for his guitar compositions, such as the Grand Sonata, Op. 22 and the Variations, Op. 9.

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Neville Marriner (1924–2016) was an English violinist and conductor. Trained at the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatory, he performed with leading ensembles such as the Philharmonia and London Symphony before turning fully to conducting. Marriner was renowned for his extensive recording career and leadership of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, which he founded in 1958 and directed for more than five decades. He also led major international orchestras in Los Angeles, Minnesota and Stuttgart. He earned three Grammy Awards, notably for supervising the Amadeus (1984) soundtrack.

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