Tansman, A.: Symphonies, Vol. 4

Featuring

Oleg Caetani
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
Alexandre Tansman

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Critical Reception

After World War II, Alexandre Tansman's polyglot neoclassical style fell out of favor with the avant-garde, and he was "blacklisted" by the Polish socialist government for over thirty years.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Alexandre Tansman, the composer, found inspiration in diverse sources including Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, Polish and Jewish folklore, American jazz, Asian traditions like gamelan, and the works of composers like Bach, Chopin, Stravinsky, and Ravel.

Compositional Technique

The two Sinfoniettas on this album, written 54 years apart, demonstrate Alexandre Tansman's consistent mastery of form, harmony, orchestration, polyphony, and fugues, despite the first being neoclassical and the second using dodecaphonic techniques.

Composer Biography

Alexandre Tansman, the composer, won the top three prizes in the first post-war Polish Composers' Competition in 1919, leading him to move to Paris and embark on an illustrious career.

Performer Biography

Oleg Caetani, the conductor, was discovered by Nadia Boulanger and studied conducting with Kirill Kondrashin and Ilya Musin, winning the RAI Turin and Karajan competitions.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded using 24-bit technology, which offers a dynamic range up to 48 dB greater and 256 times the resolution of standard 16-bit recordings.

Historical Context

As a Jew, Alexandre Tansman and his family spent a year in hiding in Nice during World War II, waiting for American visas secured through the efforts of friends like Charlie Chaplin and Serge Koussevitzky.