BIS  BIS-2589

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral

Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen (arr. Éric Mouret)
Maddalena Casulana: Morir non può il mio cuore (arr. Simon Parkin)
Daniel Kidane: Be Still
Carlo Gesualdo: Tristis est anima mea (arr. Michi Wiancko)
Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht (1943 version for string orchestra)
Henry Purcell: Dido's Lament (arr. Leopold Stokowski)

United Strings of Europe
Julian Azkoul (director)


For their fourth release with BIS, the United Strings of Europe with their director Julian Azkoul present another innovative programme, dedicated this time to the night, a source of wonder and fascination, rich with metaphorical associations. The ensemble’s varied, tailor-made programme features counterpoint, aching dissonance and chromaticism from across a range of styles spanning nearly 500 years, from the Renaissance to the present day.

The album is built around two post-romantic masterpieces: Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen (here in an arrangement by Éric Mouret), a work composed during the final months of the Second World War that evokes destruction, mourning, nostalgia, but also hope for progress and transformation, and Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, based on a poem by Richard Dehmel, which, in a nocturnal dialogue between a man and a woman, shows the power of love that can overcome the greatest challenges. These two major works are joined by arrangements for strings of vocal pieces by Maddelena Casulana, Carlo Gesualdo and Henry Purcell, as well as a new work by Daniel Kidane, Be Still, featuring percussionist Beibei Wang, a reflection on recent years marked by lockdowns during which everyday markers, such as meeting with friends and family, travelling or attending concerts vanished.