Elliot Goldenthal - Symphony In G# Minor/ Carl St. Clair

180-gram vinyl

Limited time album download included

Zarathustra Music presents the world premiere recording of Elliot Goldenthal's Symphony in G# Minor, performed by Pacific Symphony under conductor Carl St.Clair. These artists previously collaborated 20 years before, when Pacific Symphony commissioned and recorded Goldenthal's highly acclaimed Fire, Water, Paper - A Vietnam Oratorio.

For the occasion of the orchestra's 2014 American Composers Festival, Goldenthal composed this symphony, in the obscure key of G# Minor, especially for the occasion.

"Goldenthal ('Interview with a Vampire,' 'Frida'), who wrote an opera that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, understands what makes a symphony tick, and that is a consistent development of materials, or, musical progress. Given a time limitation of 22 minutes, Goldenthal has divided his work into two movements, the first longer, slow, spare and expansive, the second fast, gritty and compact. They play off each other. The thematic material is simple and limited in scope, all the better to manipulate, vary and mull. The work is harmonically centered on G-Sharp Minor but is freely dissonant, its Moderato con Moto has a Mahlerian quality, dark and brooding and serious, also trenchantly orchestrated. It takes its time, is in no rush to show off, is even hesitant in its unwinding. The finale takes the lid off, is brash and jagged and motoric, near the end unleashing a battery of antiphonal percussionists, who slammed away here in the reverberation chambers around the hall, to thrilling stereophonic effect. Call it dramatic but never cheap. This tightly knit score deserves wide play, and I hope St.Clair and the orchestra will bring it back, too." — Orange County Register

Symphony in G# Minor: Movement I - Moderato con Moto 17:01

Symphony in G# Minor: Movement II - Rondo Agitato 7:48

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