IDAGIO | Shadow of Stalin - Ligeti: Concert Romanesc / Husa: Music for Prague / Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra 00028947773276

Featuring

Esa-Pekka Salonen
Los Angeles Philharmonic
György Ligeti
Karel Husa
Witold Lutosławski

Did you know?

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Historical Context

In 1948, the Soviet Communist party condemned modernism in music, calling it 'the cult of atonality, dissonance, and disharmony…confused neuro-pathological combinations that transform music into cacophony.'

Composer Biography

György Ligeti, a Hungarian composer, escaped to Austria with his wife in December 1956 following the Soviet invasion of Hungary.

Composer Biography

Karel Husa, a Czech composer, was unable to return home from his studies in France because he was deemed insufficiently supportive of the new Communist regime in Prague.

Performer Biography

Esa-Pekka Salonen, the conductor on this album, is the 10th conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic and is in his 15th season as Music Director, making his tenure the second-longest in the Philharmonic's history.

Composition History

Witold Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned in 1950 by Witold Rowicki, director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, to celebrate the orchestra's rebirth after German occupation.

Recording & Production

This album is a live recording from Walt Disney Concert Hall, which the Los Angeles Philharmonic opened in October 2003 and is known for its exceptional acoustics and visual drama.

Historical Context

The album's title, "Shadow of Stalin," refers to the repressive Soviet-aligned Socialist and Communist governments that were firmly in place in Eastern Europe by 1948.