Emil Tabakov: Complete Symphonies, Volume Four
The music of the Bulgarian composer-conductor Emil Tabakov (b. 1947) explores the darker side of the human spirit in epic scores as austere as they are powerful. His mighty Fifth Symphony, a work almost an hour in length, is obsessive and violent, with the two outer movements, wild kaleidoscopes of whirling colours and driving energy, framing a tragic slow movement and a sardonic march. The much earlier Double-Bass Concerto, which sits downstream from Shostakovich, shows the same grim sense of humour in the teeth of the dancing indifference of fate.
Entcho Radoukanov, double bass Tracks 1 – 3
Symphony Orchestra of Bulgarian National Radio
Emil Tabakov, conductor
Listen To This Recording:
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Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra (1975)
- I Allegro
- II Lento
- III Vivace
- Spirituoso
- Largo
- III Allegro moderato
- IV Finale: Andante
Symphony No. 5 (2000)
FIRST RECORDINGS
MusicWeb International :
[The Double Bass Concerto] has ruthless and colourful kinetic ways. You will likely find this work appealing if you subscribe to the cello concertos by Shostakovich and Kabalevsky. The recording is stunningly good and is a good gauge of music that seethes with conflict and victory. It’s all carefully coloured and balanced.’
—Robert Barnett, MusicWeb International