recordings
Symphony No. 7- Toltec
2009
Music by Philip Glass
Dennis Russell Davies, conductor
Bruckner Orchester Linz with the Linz Opera Chorus

Catalog

Orange Mountain Music 0061

Tracks

Movement I “The Corn” 11:23
Movement II “The Hikuri” (Sacred Root) 10:28
Movement III “The Blue Deer” 12:55

Notes

When I was invited to compose a work for Leonard Slatkin’s birthday season with the National Symphony Orchestra, I discussed with him the possibility of a symphony based on the Toltec wisdom tradition. As a man who has single-mindedly devoted himself to becoming a Man of (Musical) Knowledge I thought he would be intrigued by the Toltec point of view. He accepted my suggestion with enthusiasm.

The present recording, which is once again a work conducted by Dennis Russell Davies performed by the Bruckner Orchester Linz, represents my more recent thinking about this symphony. The revisions which now appear at the end of the symphony, and indeed the warmth and enthusiasm of the Bruckner Orchester Linz under Davies’ leadership, has finally provided me with an opportunity to make a definitive recording of the work.

Finally, I would like to thank Victor Sanchez who, through his books, teaching and his fieldwork, has made a lifetime effort to preserve and clarify the Toltec tradition for people today. He has kindly and patiently ‘opened the door’ to this tradition for me.

–Philip Glass

Credits

Recorded live at the Brucknerhaus Linz/Austria December 30,2008 – January 1,2009
Dennis Russell Davies,Chief Conductor
Executive Producers for Bruckner Orchester Linz:
Dr.Heribert Schröder,Dr.Thomas Königstorfer,Bruckner Orchester Linz.
The Bruckner Orchester Linz is the Philharmonic Orchestra of the State of Upper
Austria,Dr.Josef Puehringer,Governor.
Linz Opera Chorus
Chorus master: Georg Leopold
Recording Supervisor:Erich Pintar
Mixed and Edited at Studio Weinberg,Weinberg 1,A-4292 Kefermarkt/Austria
Editing:Erich Pintar,Dennis Russell Davies
Mastering Engineer:Michael Riesman
Cover Art:J.Burgard
For Orange Mountain Music:Richard Guerin

Philip Glass’s Seventh Symphony was commissioned by the National Symphony
Orchestra in honor of Leonard Slatkin’s 60th-birthday season,with support from the
John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund for New Orchestral Works.

Produced by: Don Christensen

Executive Producers for Orange Mountain Music:
Philip Glass,Kurt Munkacsi and Don Christensen

Symphony No.7 “Toltec” premiered January 20, 2005 at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC (USA) by National Symphony Orchestra and Master Chorale of Washington conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

Philip Glass’s Seventh Symphony, composed in 2004 under a commission from the National Symphony Orchestra in honor of Leonard Slatkin’s 60th-birthday season, with support from the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund for New Orchestral Works, receives its premiere performances in the present concerts.

DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES
One of the most innovative and eclectic conductors in the classical music world, Dennis Russell Davies has succeeded in challenging and inspiring audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Davies has ventured intooperatic, orchestral and even popular forms of music, as conductor, chamber musician and pianist, to express his versatile musical agenda. Since 1980, he has lived in Germany but has maintained an active presence on the North American scene as a regular guest conductor with the major orchestras and opera houses of New York and Chicago. In Europe, Davies has recently been Chief Conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and, in America, The Music Director of the American Composers Orchestra for 25 years. He currently continues as Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In the fall of 2002, he began his post as Chief Conductor of the Linz Opera, and Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and also assumes the music directorship of the Basel Symphony Orchestra in 2009.

In addition to his work with symphonic orchestras, Mr. Davies is also renowned for his work with opera. He has conducted operas internationally in Amsterdam, Munich, Leipzig, Paris and Hamburg, and in the United States for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera and New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Davies tenure as Generalmusikdirektor of the Stuttgart Opera, from 1980 to 1987, is regarded as one of the most significant periods in that theater’s distinguished history.

Davies prolific recordings, as conductor as well as pianist, number well over 70 and having received numerous awards, can be found on many labels. His recording diversity extends from Mozart, Schubert, Bizet and Satie, to Shostakovich, Glass and Kancheli, to name a few.

Davies has had successful tenures as the General Music Director of the City of Bonn (Germany), Principal Conductor/Classical Music Program Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Principal Conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. In addition to his North American orchestral guest conducting appearances, Davies has guest conducted some of the most prestigious orchestras in Europe including the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Mr. Davies was born in the United States in Ohio. He graduated from Juilliard in New York, having studied piano with Lonny Epstein and Sascha Gorodnitski and conducting with Jean Morel and Jorge Mester.

BRUCKNER ORCHESTER LINZ
The Bruckner Orchester Linz is the state orchestra of the Austrian province of Upper Austria. The orchestra, which looks back on history and traditions stretching back 200 years, has developed over the last three decades into one of the leading orchestras of Central Europe. With its 110 musicians it is not only the opera orchestra at the Upper Austrian State Theatre, the Landestheater, in Linz but also the concert orchestra for the State of Upper Austria. Between its local concerts and international touring activity, the Bruckner Orchester Linz offers an exciting and varied repertory, ranging from early classical and baroque to the very modern. Among the outstanding appearances of the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz are the concerts at the Bruckner Festival, the Ars Electronica Festival, the Linz Klangwolke and the voestival…

In 2005/06 the program included the first USA tour, with the world premiere of Philip Glass’ Symphony No.8, which was commissioned by the Bruckner Orchestrer Linz. Before arriving on the international scene the Bruckner Orchester Linz took part in the Brighton and Bath Festivals, Prager Herbst (Autumn in Prague), Primavista, concertistica Lugano, Beethovenfest in Bonn, Semana Mozart Barcelona, Festival International de Música y Danza and the Bratislava Festival and makes its second US tour in 2009 under Dennis Russell Davies including performances of the Glass Violin Concerto No.1 and Symphony No.7 “Toltec” and the European and US premieres of Philip Glass opera Kepler (commissiond by Upper Austrian State Theatre, Linz, and by Linz09, Cultural Capital of Europe). The orchestra has recorded Glass Symphonies Nos. 6, 7, and 8 and the composers opera The Voyage (Landestheater) for Orange Mountain Music. The Bruckner Orchester Linz has played under guest conductors such as Serge Baudo, Vladimir Fedosejev, Michael Gielen, Heinrich Schiff, Bernhard Klee, Hans Wallat and Franz Welser-Möst, and has been moulded by chief conductors such as Theodor Guschlbauer, Manfred Mayrhofer and Martin Sieghart. Since 2002 Dennis Russell Davies is the Chief Conductor of the Bruckner Orchester Linz.
Symphony No. 7 is published by Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc. (ASCAP).

℗ and © 2009 by Orange Mountain Music.

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