Alexandre Tansman - Symphonies Vol. 4 (Oleg Caetani)

Information

Composer: Alexandre Tansman

• Symphonie de chambre
• Sinfonietta No. 1
• Sinfonietta No. 2
• Sinfonia piccola

Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana

Oleg Caetani, conductor

Date: 2009

Label: Chandos

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Review

For this volume of his survey of the complete symphonies of Alexandre Tansman on Chandos, Italian conductor Oleg Caetani has switched from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, but the change is not all that noticeable. The first-rank provincial orchestra from Australia sounds remarkably like the first-rank provincial orchestra from Switzerland: amazingly polished from a technical point of view, but with little character from an interpretive point of view. Unfortunately, neither Caetani's interpretations nor Tansman's music show much character, either. Caetani is an excellent conductor with a great stick technique and an admirable sense of proportion, but he fails to find anything interesting in these four chamber symphonies. That may be because Tansman has not put much interest into them. Though clearly a gifted composer who mastered the dominant styles of 20th century modernist music, Tansman had little to say that could be considered original. One hears Honegger here, Hindemith there, and Stravinsky just about everywhere. These works are successfully put together; they are as well composed as anything by the above mentioned composers, but even Honegger had more on his mind and more in his music than Tansman. Listeners who love modernist symphonies may find these works attractive, but it's unlikely that they will prefer them to similar works by Honegger, Hindemith, and Stravinsky. Chandos' digital sound is big, but detailed, and clear, but colorful.

— James Leonard

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Alexander Tansman (12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish-born French composer. Born in Łódź to Jewish parents, he studied piano, composition and conducting before earning a law degree from Warsaw University. After moving to Paris in 1919, he gained recognition as a pianist and composer, influenced particularly by Stravinsky and Ravel. His international career included performances and tours across Europe, Asia and America. During World War II, he fled to Los Angeles with his family. Although he continued composing prolifically after returning to Paris, his neo-Classical style gradually fell out of favor.

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Oleg Caetani (born 1956 in Lausanne) is an Italian conductor and son of Igor Markevitch. He studied under Nadia Boulanger, and trained in conducting and composition at the Santa Cecilia (with Franco Ferrara), Moscow (with Kirill Kondrashin), and St Petersburg (with Ilya Musin) conservatories. Caetani began his career in Berlin and held leadership roles in major German opera houses. He became chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2005 but departed in 2009 due to conflicts. His recordings include Shostakovich symphonies, as well as works by Tansman, Stephan, Tchaikovsky, Gounod and Donizetti.

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