The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced the release of its newest recording, American Dreams, conducted by Music Director Louis Langrée. American Dreams features live performances from Langrée’s final two seasons and was specially curated and released to celebrate his finale season as the Orchestra’s Music Director. This digital-only release includes Night Creature by Edward K. “Duke” Ellington (trans. David Berger) featuring pianist Courtney Bryan, An American in Paris by George Gershwin (ed. Mark Clague) and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront.
Press Room / Press Releases / Announcing American Dreams Album, out May 3

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Announces American Dreams Album, out May 3

Louis Langrée’s Final Commercial Album Release as CSO Music Director will be released on all Streaming Platforms

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CINCINNATI, OH (April 10, 2024)— The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced the release of its newest recording, American Dreams, conducted by Music Director Louis Langrée. American Dreams features live performances from Langrée’s final two seasons and was specially curated and released to celebrate his finale season as the Orchestra’s Music Director. This digital-only release includes Night Creature by Edward K. “Duke” Ellington (trans. David Berger) featuring pianist Courtney Bryan, An American in Paris by George Gershwin (ed. Mark Clague) and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront.

“Ellington, Gershwin and Bernstein are in my pantheon of great 20th century American composers,” reflects Langrée. “Each piece on the album is an American tone poem and each is emblematic of the quintessential American music identity. They marry, juxtapose, infuse and weave together different musical ideas, styles and cultures to create a new language. These three masterpieces written by Ellington, Bernstein and Gershwin are stunning examples of the heart of the American Dream”

American Dreams extends the Orchestra’s prolific recording legacy, which includes more than 200 commercial recordings that have sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Previously, Langrée has recorded three albums with the CSO, earning two Grammy nominations for Best Orchestral Performance. Langrée and the Orchestra released two singles in 2023: David Lang’s man made featuring Sō Percussion and Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 6, which the Orchestra commissioned for its 125th anniversary season. Transatlantic (released in 2019) featured the first recording of Mark Clague’s critical edition of George Gershwin’s An American in Paris, which stripped the score of Campbell-Watson’s distortion of Gershwin’s original work.

“For instance, Campbell-Watson rearranged Gershwin’s original clear orchestration and distorted his crisp texture by adding heavy percussion or slurs. Campbell-Watson also softened Gershwin’s intended dissonances,” remarks Langrée. “This critical edition also reinstates the Ragtime style, which was predominant in the 1920s.”

CREDITS 

Released on the CSO’s Fanfare Cincinnati label and distributed by Naxos of America. Night Creature and An American in Paris were recorded live on May 12 and 13, 2023 at Cincinnati Music Hall and Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront was recorded live on October 13 and 14, 2023 at Cincinnati Music Hall.

The recording producer and engineer is Dirk Sobotka and the recording, mixing and mastering engineer is Mark Donahue. The album’s immersive producer is Dirk Sobotka and the immersive mixer is Mark Donahue. Art direction is by Tyler Secor and the album artwork is by Tom Ralston.