SCO releases first recording with Robin Ticciati

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra releases its debut recording with Principal Conductor Robin Ticciati: Berlioz’s majestic Symphonie Fantastique.

Robin Ticciati opened the 2011/12 Season with a bold programme of music by Berlioz, including the rarely-heard choral work, Tristia, and the SCO’s first-ever performances of the composer’s masterwork Symphonie Fantastique. Following these critically-acclaimed concerts, the Orchestra and Ticciati went into the studio together for the first time to record Symphonie Fantastique and the Overture to Berlioz’s Béatrice & Bénédict for release on the Linn Records label.

The symphony, written in 1830, is one of the major works of early Romanticism.  It was described by Leonard Bernstein as the first musical expedition into psychedelia because of its hallucinatory and dream-like nature.  An opera without words, it tells the story of an artist through five episodes in his life, including March to the Scaffold and Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath, as he is thrown into the depths of despair by love.

Ticciati's aim for the recording was to offer the audience “a thought-provoking and new way of listening to the piece”, and it has already been well-received by critics:

 “...this first collaboration on disc captures all the energy, the finesse and the sheer panache with which he [Ticciati] invests his live concerts.” The DailyTelegraph

“...Britain's rising young star conductor, Robin Ticciati, has lost no time in presenting his credentials as an outstanding Berliozian in his first recording as music director of the SCO.” Sunday Times

Ticciati and the Orchestra have recently made their second all-Berlioz recording together, including La Mort de Cléopâtre and Les Nuits d’été with Scottish mezzo soprano Karen Cargill. This is due for release later this year.

The Symphonie Fantastique disc is available through the SCO shop and at SCO concerts.