account
basket
Challenge Records Int. logo
Battle of Stalingrad
Various composers

The Royal Norwegian Air Force Band

Battle of Stalingrad

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Lawo Classics
UPC: 7090020180465
Catnr: LWC 1045
Release date: 17 May 2013
Buy
1 CD
✓ in stock
€ 19.95
Buy
 
Label
Lawo Classics
UPC
7090020180465
Catalogue number
LWC 1045
Release date
17 May 2013
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
DE

About the album

FROM THE FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE TO VICTORY IN STALINGRAD
- A VIRTUOSO JOURNEY

With the release of the Royal Norwegian Air Force Band’s new album featuring Russian music for wind instruments, the scene is set for a compelling musical experience. Bearing the title “The Battle of Stalingrad”, the recording offers the listener works of some of the most prominent early Soviet composers from a time when Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. Even today we can take pleasure in the virtuosity and power of these compositions — classic, immortal works that stir our feelings.

The idea for the recording stems from the band’s hugely popular concert production in Trondheim in the autumn of 2011, and at the Nordland Music Festival 2012, with the Battle of Stalingrad as its theme. Besides lavish works of Glière and Khatchaturian, who seldom have been recorded, the album includes virtuoso pieces of Kabalevsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.

The Royal Norwegian Air Force Band, one of five professional bands of the Norwegian Armed Forces, has roots dating back to 1818. While the band’s main venue is “Byscenen” in Trondheim’s city centre, it has distinguished itself nationally with its concerts and special events, and it has received a “Spellemannspris” nomination (Norwegian Grammy).

Leif Arne Pedersen took over as principal conductor in 2011. He is principal clarinet of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and he can be heard on a LAWO Classics release of Mozart and Brahms clarinet quintets
Russische Werke für Blasorchester.

Vom Hummelflug zur „Schlacht in Stalingrad” – eine virtuose Reise mit der Royal Norwegian Air Force Band. Das neue Album dieses Blasorchesters enhält russische Musik, die den Hörer in eine entscheidende Phase der sowjetischen Komponisten versetzt als Europa vom eisernen Vorhang abgetrennt war. Die Virtuosität und Kraft der Kompositionen machte sie zu bedeutenden Werken, die auch heute noch immense Gefühle wecken.

Reinhold Glière: Solemn Ouvertüre op. 72
Nikolai Rimsky-Korssakov: Hummelflug
Aram Khatchaturian: Tänze aus „Armenische Volkslieder und Tänze“, Lezginka aus dem Balett „Gayaneh“, Russischer Polizeimarsch, Usbekischer Marsch und Tanzlied, Schlacht von Leningrad op. 74a
Dmitry Kabalevsky: Galopp aus der Suite „Die Komödianten“ op. 26

Artist(s)

Leif Arne Pedersen (conductor)

Leif Arne Pedersen, born 1964 in Porsgrunn, is principal clarinet of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he has held since 1990. Pedersen studied with Knut Henriksen, Bendt Neuchs Sørensen in Copenhagen, and Larry Combs in Chicago. In 1987, after having performed for two years with the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces, he was hired as co-principal clarinet of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He joined the OPO as co-principal clarinet in 1988. In 1996 Pedersen and the Oslo Philharmonic premiered Rolf Wallin’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, for which the composer received the Nordic Council Music Prize. Pedersen’s orchestral solos often receive special at­tention in the Norwegian and foreign press. He has on numerous occasions performed as soloist with...
more
Leif Arne Pedersen, born 1964 in Porsgrunn, is principal clarinet of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he has held since 1990. Pedersen studied with Knut Henriksen, Bendt Neuchs Sørensen in Copenhagen, and Larry Combs in Chicago. In 1987, after having performed for two years with the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces, he was hired as co-principal clarinet of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He joined the OPO as co-principal clarinet in 1988. In 1996 Pedersen and the Oslo Philharmonic premiered Rolf Wallin’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, for which the composer received the Nordic Council Music Prize.
Pedersen’s orchestral solos often receive special at­tention in the Norwegian and foreign press. He has on numerous occasions performed as soloist with Norway’s principal symphony orchestras, and by vir­tue of his position with the OPO he has collaborated with a number of the world’s leading soloists and conductors. Pedersen is active as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He has made guest appear­ances as chamber musician and teacher at festivals in Europe, South America, and Asia. From 2003 to 2008 he was Music Director of the Royal Norwegian Navy Band, and today he holds the same position with the Royal Norwegian Air Force Band. He is pro­fessor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, teaching clarinet and chamber music. Pedersen has several previous releases on the LAWO Classics label, both as clarinettist and conductor.

less

Composer(s)

Aram Khachaturian

Aram Khachaturian was a Soviet Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Soviet composers. Born and raised in Tbilisi, the multicultural capital of Georgia, Khachaturian moved to Moscow in 1921 following the Sovietization of the Caucasus. Without prior music training, he enrolled in the Gnessin Musical Institute, subsequently studying at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Nikolai Myaskovsky, among others. His first major work, the Piano Concerto (1936), popularized his name within and outside the Soviet Union. His style is characterized by colorful harmonies, captivating rhythms, virtuosity, improvisations, and sensuous melodies. During most of his career, Khachaturian was approved by the Soviet government and held several high posts in the Union of Soviet Composers from the late...
more
Aram Khachaturian was a Soviet Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Soviet composers.
Born and raised in Tbilisi, the multicultural capital of Georgia, Khachaturian moved to Moscow in 1921 following the Sovietization of the Caucasus. Without prior music training, he enrolled in the Gnessin Musical Institute, subsequently studying at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Nikolai Myaskovsky, among others. His first major work, the Piano Concerto (1936), popularized his name within and outside the Soviet Union. His style is characterized by colorful harmonies, captivating rhythms, virtuosity, improvisations, and sensuous melodies.
During most of his career, Khachaturian was approved by the Soviet government and held several high posts in the Union of Soviet Composers from the late 1930s, although he joined the Communist Party only in 1943. Along with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, he was officially denounced as a "formalist" and his music dubbed "anti-people" in 1948, but was restored later that year. After 1950 he taught at the Gnessin Institute and the Moscow Conservatory, and turned to conducting. He traveled to Europe, Latin America and the United States with concerts of his own works. In 1957 Khachaturian became the Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers, a position he held until his death.
Khachaturian was the most renowned Armenian composer of the 20th century and the author of the first Armenian ballet music, symphony, concerto, and film score. While following the established musical traditions of Russia, he broadly used Armenian and to lesser extent, Caucasian, Eastern & Central European, and Middle Eastern peoples' folk music in his works. He is highly regarded in Armenia, where he is considered a "national treasure".

less

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions— Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade — are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects. Rimsky-Korsakov believed, as did fellow composer Mily Balakirev and critic Vladimir Stasov, in developing a nationalistic style of classical music. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional Western compositional methods. However,...
more
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions— Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade — are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects.
Rimsky-Korsakov believed, as did fellow composer Mily Balakirev and critic Vladimir Stasov, in developing a nationalistic style of classical music. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional Western compositional methods. However, Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members of The Five. His techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner.

less

Reinhold Glière

The Russian composer Reinhold Glière was born in Kiev in 1875, but was of German-Polish heritage. He graduated in 1900, having received a gold medal in composition and composed  a one-act opera Earth and Heaven, and went on to teach at the Gnesin School of Music, the Kiev Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory. Many of his students, amongst whom are Nikolai Myaskovsky and Sergei Prokofiev, have become famous composers. Glière was melodically oriented on folkloristic examples and his harmonies were presented as ‘Russian’. His works found favour with the Soviet authorities owing to their blend of nationalism and conservatism. Today, he is generally best known for his sumptuous orchestral and ballet scores. The music for the ballet Krasny tsvetok (The Red Poppy)...
more
The Russian composer Reinhold Glière was born in Kiev in 1875, but was of German-Polish heritage. He graduated in 1900, having received a gold medal in composition and composed a one-act opera Earth and Heaven, and went on to teach at the Gnesin School of Music, the Kiev Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory. Many of his students, amongst whom are Nikolai Myaskovsky and Sergei Prokofiev, have become famous composers.
Glière was melodically oriented on folkloristic examples and his harmonies were presented as ‘Russian’. His works found favour with the Soviet authorities owing to their blend of nationalism and conservatism. Today, he is generally best known for his sumptuous orchestral and ballet scores. The music for the ballet Krasny tsvetok (The Red Poppy) was praised "as the first Soviet ballet on a revolutionary subject". It is perhaps his most famous work in Russia as well as abroad.
less

Press

Play album Play album

Often bought together with..

Ketil Hvoslef
L'homme armé - Works by Ketil Hvoslef
Sjøforsvarets musikkorps

You might also like..

Various composers
The Silk Road
Oslo Kammerakademi
Sigurd Lie
Sigurd Lie: Songs, Vol. 2
Marianne Beate Kielland
Sigurd Lie
Songs, Vol. 1
Marianne Beate Kielland | Nils Anders Mortensen
Various composers
Seraph
Tine Thing Helseth
Jean Sibelius
Orchestral Songs
Marianne Beate Kielland
Various composers
Loudmouthed Beauty
Clare Farr
Max Bruch, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Samuel Barber
Bruch / Vaughan Williams / Barber
Sonoko Miriam Welde
Signe Lund
Impromptu - Works By The Young Signe Lund
Rune Alver
Various composers
Norwegian Opera Overtures
The Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Various composers
Chanson et danses - French Chamber Music for Winds
Oslo Kammerakademi
Various composers
Magical Memories
Tine Thing Helseth / Kåre Nordstoga
Various composers
Stille Som Sne | Quiet as snow
Kvindelige Studenters Sangforening