Montreal-based Constantinople Ensemble is a group of musicians who chose the journey, not only geographical, but also historical, cultural, temporal, and inner, as their cornerstone, drawing inspiration from all sources and aiming for distant horizons. To the cynic this vision will sound trite. But unlike so many in the world of contemporary art music , the Constantinople Ensemble under their music director Kiya Tabassian put their music where their mouth is. Their recently-released album In the Footsteps of Rumi on the innovative Glossa label may be predictable in subject matter. But the core ensemble of setar (Persian lute), kanun (Turkish zither), percussion, and baroque violin and viola d'amore is far from predictable. For the exquisite Rumi settings in Persian and Arabic they are joined by Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali in an album that provides a refreshingly astute viewpoint on the over-exposed Rumi . Even further off the predictability scale is the Cons
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If this cycle was produced by James Mallinson and not Anna Barry, Gergiev's usual producer for Phillips, one can reasonably deduce that the Classic Sound team agreed to make this recording speculatively without financial or logistical support from Phillips, who most likely only agreed to release the recording(s) once they'd heard the result. So if the outcome is less than inspiring I can think of a number of reasons why the buck ought not to stop with the production company, who are likely to have benefitted little enough from their enterprise as it is.
London - May 2004
LSO LIVE GERGIEV PROKOFIEV SYMPHONIES
Jonathan Stokes with Producer James Mallinson embarked on a ten day recording period of the Prokofiev Symphonies with the LSO under the direction of Valery Gergiev.