Piano Concerto & Variations For Orchestra - Ursula Oppens & The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

 

Piano Concerto - Part 1

Elliott Carter

Piano Concerto

Ursula Oppens, Piano

Variations For Orchestra

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra 

Michael Gielen, Conductor

Recorded at performance in 1984 and 1985

Recorded in the Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio buy WGUC-FM

Piano Concerto recorded at a performance on October 5 and 6, 1984

Variations for Orchestra recorded at a performance on October 22, 1985

Recording Engineer: Brent Reider

Digital Editing: New York Digital Recording, Inc.

Mastering: Robert C. Ludwig, Masterdisk

Cover Art: Fannie Hillsmith (U.S. 1911 -). Nocturne

Oil on canvas, 50 1/2 x 56 in. (128.2 x 142.2 cm.)

Back cover photograph: E. S. Runyon

Jacket Design: Bob Defrin

New World Records

Digital Analog NW 347

1986

From the back cover: Ursula Oppens has performed with major orchestras both in the United States and abroad, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony. Noted for her interpretations of contemporary music, she has premiered works of many composers, including Frederic Carter, George Ligeti and John Adams. She is a cofounder of Speculum Musicae, a contemporary music group in New York. Her recordings are on the None-such, Angel, CBS, CRI, Vanguard and Watt Works labels.

Michale Gielen grew up in Germany, Austria and Argentina. In 1951 he became a conductor at the Vienna State Opera, and he has been music director of the Royal Opera in Stockholm and the Belgium National Orchestra, and principal conductor of the Netherlands Opera. Gielen made his America debut in 1971 with the New York Philharmonic. He has since conducted the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and National Symphony orchestras, and at the Blossom Festival. Gielen has been named chief conductor of the Southwest German Radio Orchestra in Baden-Baden.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1895, is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States. Several prominent musicians have served as music director of the symphony, including Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ysaye, Fritz Reiner, Thor Johnson and Max Rudolf. The orchestra has presented the American premieres of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and works by Ravel, Debussy, Respighi and Bartok, among others. The Cincinnati Symphony mad its first recording for Columbia in 1917; its recording can now be found on the Telarc, Vox, CRI and Candide labels.