Orchestral Music, Volume Three

Karlis Catlaks (clarinet in E flat), Kristaps Catlaks (bass clarinet) & Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, Paul Mann

The first two Toccata Classics volumes of the orchestral music of the English composer David Hackbridge Johnson (b. 1963) presented three mighty symphonies, conceived on a large scale and powerful in their utterance. The Fifteenth Symphony, tone-poems and other works offered here show a change in focus: an engagement with the natural world, reflecting the poetry of changing light and shifting winds, with man’s impermanent presence dwarfed by the implacable grandeur of nature. Here Paul Mann, a frequent Toccata Classics artist, conducts the orchestra of the very town – Liep?ja, on the coast of Latvia – that inspired the Fifteenth Symphony.

This is Paul Mann’s fourteenth recording for Toccata Classics. He is a regular guest-conductor with many orchestras throughout Europe, the USA, Australia and the Far East, and is famous for his collaboration with the legendary rock group Deep Purple With Toccata Classics he has embarked on a series devoted to the music of contemporary British symphonists, recording the Ninth and Tenth and Thirteenth Symphonies of David Hackbridge Johnson and the Third by Steve Elcock, each accompanied by smaller works, as well as the Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 and tone-poem Distant Nebulae by Rodney Newton.

The Liep?ja Symphony Orchestra is the oldest symphonic ensemble in the Baltic States: it was founded in 1881. This is the eighth of a series of recordings planned with Toccata Classics, featuring the music of the late Norwegian composer Leif Solberg (recorded for his 100th birthday), the Scottish Romantic Charles O’Brien, the German Josef Schelb, Finnish Fridrich Bruk and English-born, Scottish-based William Wordsworth.

Johnson, D H:
 Aspens, Op. 362
 2 Elegies for Strings & Harp, Op. 159
 Symphony No. 15, Op. 361 No. 3 'Where the Wind Is Born'
 Valse mérovingienne, Op. 77a
 Ziggurats, Op. 251

"The disc is wonderfully played and recorded and its presentation is ideal. Buy it!"
MusicWeb International - June 2019