Sony Classical Presents Anshel Brusilow Conducts the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia The Complete RCA Album Collection
Sony Classical Presents Anshel Brusilow
Conducts the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia
The Complete RCA Album Collection
Philadelphia’s top chamber orchestra, founded and conducted by the Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal violinist and conductor Anshel Brusilow in 1966
All recordings in this set appearing on CD for the first time, remastered from the original master tapes using 24 bit / 192 kHz technology
Original LP sleeves and labels, booklet with full discographical notes
Release Date: November 3, 2023
Pre-order: bit.ly/SonyAnshelBrusilowChamberSymphonyOfPhiladelphia
The Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia was founded in 1965 by Anshel Brusilow, then concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Brusilow, who studied conducting and played under Pierre Monteux, George Szell and Eugene Ormandy, auditioned more than 1,000 musicians for the 36 full-time positions and conducted the ensemble from 1966 until 1968, when it was disbanded for want of adequate philanthropic support in the city for a second orchestra. But over the course of two-and-a-half 34-week seasons it had already performed more than 200 concerts and made six albums for RCA Victor. Sony Classical is now issuing all these LP recordings by the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia on CD for the first time.
The original LP releases were praised by High Fidelity, which called the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia “an orchestra of rare quality”. Reviewing its début release, Brahms’s D major Serenade, the US classical music magazine opined: “Brusilow could hardly have chosen a better work to show off the capabilities of his new orchestra – every first-chair woodwind and brass player has his chance to shine (and each does shine, brilliantly).” The Brahms was followed by a series of choice couplings: Tchaikovsky’s “Mozartiana” Suite with Arensky’s Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky (“Brusilow is thoroughly at home in this literature, and his players respond beautifully to his direction” – High Fidelity); symphonies by Haydn and Cherubini; a French programme of Ravel, Ibert and Françaix (“Perhaps a reflection of the Monteux influence … this record … carries true stylistic conviction in matters of phrasing, texture, and timbre” – High Fidelity); and Richard Strauss’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme as well as Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade.
The orchestra also premièred and recorded a new sacred choral work by Richard Yardumian, the Philadelphia-based composer championed by Eugene Ormandy. Come, Creator Spirit for mezzo-soprano, chorus (or congregation) and orchestra was the first mass setting by an established American composer in the English vernacular following the Vatican Council’s 1963 decision. The work was lauded for its integrity, spiritual fervor, and power to communicate the essence of devotion in all its nuances from praise to supplication.
SET CONTENTS
DISC 1:
Brahms: Serenade No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11
DISC 2:
Yardumian: Come, Creator Spirit
DISC 3:
Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Suite No. 4, Op. 61, "Mozartiana"
Arensky: Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky, Op. 35a
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No.1, Op. 11: II. Andante cantabile (Arr. for Orchestra)
DISC 4:
Cherubini: Symphony in D Major
Haydn: Symphony No. 60 in C Major, Hob. I:60, "Il distratto"
DISC 5:
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin, M. 68a
Francaix: Sérénade for Small Orchestra
Ibert: Suite Symphonique
Ibert: Capriccio
DISC 6:
R. Strauss: Der Bürger als Edelmann Suite, Op. 60
Wolf: Italian Serenade