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Release Date: January 8, 2021
Catalog #: NV6325
Format: Digital & Physical
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Symphonies No. 4 & 5

Meditation: In Flanders Fields

John Robertson composer
Bratislava Symphony Orchestra | Anthony Armoré composer

In an age accustomed to three-minute pop songs being the norm, does the world need more full-length symphonies? Yes, says New Zealand Canadian John Robertson with his new release, SYMPHONY NO 4 & 5. Like their predecessors, these orchestral works make no sacrifices in terms of scale and style: they aim to be grand, aesthetic compositions, and are intended to be enjoyed as such.

Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 5 bear the opus numbers 73 and 76, respectively – quite a feat, and even more impressive when one considers that composing wasn't Robertson's primary career. Instead, young Robertson had made the sensible choice to go into the insurance business (which, judging not only by the fate of most composers since the beginning of time, might have been rather wise). Nonetheless, the desire to invent music stuck. A competition win in 1987 eventually cemented this pastime as a worthwhile pursuit.

Like Robertson's previous symphonies (also available and released by Navona Records), No. 4 and No. 5 exhibit a strong adherence to a kind of neoclassical aesthetic, with influences of 20th-century composers sprinkled throughout. Unlike the previous orchestral works, however, these later symphonies are darker, more mature, more mysterious and generally more collected.

Nestled in between is Meditation: In Flanders Fields, op. 70, a poem colored by long, winding symphonic lines and nebulous harmonies. It's a clever choice both in terms of style and content, working perfectly as a musical palate cleanser between the larger symphonic pieces. Together, these works represent more than the sum of their parts: they aren't just unrelated compositions, but an apt snapshot of Robertson's later oeuvre.

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"The works are substantive and also pleasurable to hear"

The WholeNote

Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Symphony No. 4, Op. 73: I John Robertson Bratislava Symphony Orchestra | Anthony Armoré, conductor 9:54
02 Symphony No. 4, Op. 73: II John Robertson Bratislava Symphony Orchestra | Anthony Armoré, conductor 9:49
03 Symphony No. 4, Op. 73: III John Robertson Bratislava Symphony Orchestra | Anthony Armoré, conductor 8:20
04 Meditation, Op. 70 (In Flanders Fields) John Robertson Members of the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra | Anthony Armoré, conductor & narrator 11:35
05 Symphony No. 5, Op. 76 John Robertson Bratislava Symphony Orchestra | Anthony Armoré, conductor 33:31

Recorded July 1-3, 5, 2019 & March 7, 2020 at Studio 1, Slovak Radio in Bratislava, Slovakia
Recording Session Producer David Hernando Rico
Recording Session Engineer Martin Roller

Executive Producer Bob Lord

Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Chris Robinson

VP, Audio Production Jeff LeRoy
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland, Sara Warner

Artist Information

John Robertson

John Robertson

Composer

(Ernest) John Robertson (b. 1943) was born in New Zealand but is a longtime resident of Canada. His secondary school offered music as a full time subject, allowing Robertson to find his footing. Upon leaving school, he went into the insurance business where he spent his working life. Having emigrated to Canada in 1967, he continued to compose on the side.

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Anthony Armore

Anthony Armoré

Conductor

Born into an Italian family near New York City, Anthony Armoré had a career in the United States as a conductor before taking up residence in Europe in 2001. During studies in the United States and Europe in conducting, horn, violin, and music theory, he gained performance experience as a horn player and violinist and, later, as a conductor.

Armoré was the music director/conductor for a number of orchestras in the American state of Oregon, including the Portland Chamber Orchestra, the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Portland, associate conductor),  and the Newport Symphony Orchestra. He was a founder and artistic director/conductor of the Ernest Bloch Music Festival (1990/1994/1995), and Oregon Chamber Opera in Portland (1997-2000).

Once in Europe per the invitation of Maestro Ion Iancu from the Romanian National Opera in Timisoara, Romania, Armoré spent nearly four seasons as principal guest conductor and artistic advisor of the Black Sea Philharmonic (2001-2004); and associate director and staff conductor for Opera Constanta in Constanta, Romania. He is currently associate conductor and director of international projects for State Opera and Philharmonic Rousse/Bulgaria.

Armoré has conducted professional orchestras and opera companies in Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic (Plzen, Ceske Budejovice, Brno, Ostrava & Karlovy Vary), Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium, the Slovak Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia, Finland, Germany, and China.

Long interested in the music of contemporary composers, Armoré recorded an album for the Swiss record label VDE-Gallo Disques in 1997 with the Slovak Sinfonietta called Returns: Pacific Northwest Composers from Europe featuring the music of Ernest Bloch, Thomas Svoboda, and Klaus Cornell. Armoré has conducted world-premiere performances of several of Svoboda’s and Cornell’s orchestral works.

Armoré records with various orchestras, including the Janáček Philharmonic, for music by such composers as Mark McEncroe (Australia); Peter Greve (Holland); John Robertson (Canada); and Antoine Fafard (UK).  Since 2001, Armoré has been involved in the training of conductors, producing Conducting Masterclasses for both symphonic and operatic conductors, and the biennial Blue Danube International Opera Conducting Competition, now in its Seventh Edition (2017). Armoré lives and is based in Vienna, Austria with his wife, Elena, and their two children: Sophia and Matteo.

Notes

The 1st movement, Allegro, begins simply with a theme in the winds followed by a contrasting, more rhythmic one for clarinet and horns, both of which are extended and restated by the rest of the orchestra. A lyrical theme is then introduced by the strings, following which the clarinet’s rhythmical idea is given a workout by the trumpets (there are three used in this symphony). After the strings’ lyricism has been heard again, the time changes to 12/8 and eventually leads to the first big tutti of the movement after which the main themes are heard again.

The second movement, Andante, is in 6/8 time, and is very gentle with an oboe accompanied by high strings and a celesta. This melody is taken up by the bassoon and cellos with its first three notes providing the trombones with a very dark idea, thrice repeated, but mollified by the strings. The wind and brass then come up with a first theme extension in a rather jolly manner, which is joined with a sombre idea on all the strings and lower instruments. The main melody is reinstated on a solo viola and the sombre theme reappears and leads to the movement’s climax, after which the movement ends quietly with the celesta heard again in the background.

In the 3rd movement, Allegro, we are back in the lighter mood of the beginning with a second theme, again lyrical, continuing this light atmosphere. Much is made of some 16th notes in the first theme and also of three rising 8th notes that the brass enjoy making into a kind of chorale. The energy level remains high throughout.

The famous poem written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae in the first World War is narrated against a background of subdued strings which are joined by a trumpet. The mood is one of quiet contemplation.

The opening Allegro of this work is more serious than Symphony No. 4 had been, with the material being developed for some time before a contrasting idea is heard on a new voice: an alto saxophone, whose melody is played against a counterpoint of a bassoon (continuing the original material) and high strings. This idea is taken up by the strings and provides the brass with an opportunity to blaze forth. The remainder of the movement develops these themes and their offshoots until the dynamic level drops to pianissimo for long held notes in the strings which lead directly to the Adagio. This is purely lyrical, a rich melody beginning in the strings. A secondary theme is presented by the horns, and both these melodies provide the material for the rest of the movement. Again, high held notes on the strings lead directly to the Vivace, which is much more lighthearted. A second theme is heard and the two ideas lead us through their various permutations until the brass find a way of making a chorale and the piece ends jubilantly.