Thomas Adès & London Symphony Orchestra - Adès: Asyla, Tevot, Polaris (2017)

There is little doubt that Thomas Adès (* 1971) is the most famous British composer of his generation. Barely twenty-two years old, he was already composer-in-residence of the Hallé Orchestra of Manchester, and when Simon Rattle took over the direction of the Berlin Philharmonic he registered the present 1997 Asyla at his inauguration concert! For this album recorded in concert in 2016, it is Adès himself who directs the London Symphony Orchestra in an anthology of his orchestral works; In Asyla, we note the presence of two pianos tuned to the quarter-tone and a low oboe, a rarity, for the second movement, which seems to refer as much to Ives as to Bach; While the third movement has acquired a status of celebrity since it describes there a sort of "atmosphere of a huge night club full of dancers and drug addicts". Tevot (2007, created by the Berlin Philharmonic) uses an oversized orchestra, and pushes the musicians to the extreme limit of their instrumental technique, especially in the high register; No doubt some influence of Britten may be felt there. The last major work of the album, Polaris of 2010, takes as a point of support a short loop on the piano that develops tirelessly to the orchestra in a music of striking beauty. And as a "sweet" Ades ends with Brahms, a sort of anti-homage on a text by Alfred Brendel, here sung by Samuel Dale Johnson.

TRACKLIST

01. Asyla, Op. 17: I. First Movement - London Symphony Orchestra & Thomas Adès
02. Asyla, Op. 17: II. Second Movement - London Symphony Orchestra & Thomas Adès
03. Asyla, Op. 17: III. Ecstasio - London Symphony Orchestra & Thomas Adès
04. Asyla, Op. 17: IV. Fourth Movement - London Symphony Orchestra & Thomas Adès
05. Tevot - London Symphony Orchestra & Thomas Adès
06. Polaris "Voyage for Orchestra" - London Symphony Orchestra & Thomas Adès
07. Brahms, Op. 21 - Samuel Dale Johnson, Thomas Adès & London Symphony Orchestra