First recording of 'definitive' new edition of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring featuring David Bernard leading the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony

Recursive Classics has unveiled a release of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring - the world premiere recording of an important new edition - coupled with Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra featuring David Bernard conducting the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony.

"Ballet scores are notorious for errors and omissions, and The Rite of Spring is no exception," says conductor David Bernard. "Despite having been published and corrected four times between 1913 and 1967, this work still represents an ongoing challenge to performers. In 2014, while preparing The Rite of Spring for this recording with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, I began a dialog with Clinton Nieweg who supervised the editing of the recent Edwin F. Kalmus 2000 edition. Over eight months, we corrected numerous textual issues related to articulation, pitch, dynamics and doubling. The result is a new (2015) corrected edition that represents the best source for performing the work at this time."

In this release from Recursive Classics, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is paired with Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra. "I am especially excited to honor the brilliant innovation of Stravinsky and Bartók by uniting these two seminal 20th century works in a single release," says Bernard. "Each work fuses a unique powerful narrative with new musical languages to create an unforgettable and thoroughly captivating experience for the listener."

This recording is available on both on physical and digital formats form retailers worldwide, including:

Amazon.com (CD and MP3 Download)

https://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-Spring-Bart-k-Concerto-Orchestra/dp/B01G7QZSJ8

Apple Music/iTunes (Download and Streaming)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/stravinsky-rite-spring-bartok/id1110995077

ArkivMusic (CD)

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2193032

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

David Bernard has gained recognition for his dramatic and incisive conducting in the United Stated and in over 20 countries on four continents. A multiple First Prize Winner of the Orchestral Conducting Competition of The American Prize, David Bernard was described by the judges as "a first rate conductor. With no score, an animated and present Maestro Bernard led a phenomenal performance of incredibly difficult repertoire-masterly in shaping, phrasing, technique and expressivity". Alan Young of lucidculture praised Bernard's recent Lincoln Center performance of Stravinsky and Wagner: "Conducting from memory, David Bernard led a transcendent performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Segues were seamless, contrasts were vivid and Stravinsky's whirling exchanges of voices were expertly choreographed."

David Bernard is an acclaimed orchestra builder and is sought after for his artistic leadership and innovation in community engagement. Under his leadership as Music Director of the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony since 1999, the orchestra has thrived-expanding its audience, growing the ensemble and achieving critical acclaim. Bernard's approach to growing new audiences for classical music include engaging families in the community through schools, presenting multi-media presentations and InsideOut performances where audiences sit inside the orchestra during concerts.

An active guest conductor throughout the greater New York City area, David Bernard has appeared with the Brooklyn Symphony, the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Litha Symphony, the Massapequa Philharmonic, the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble, the Putnam Symphony and the South Shore Symphony. Mr. Bernard has previously served as Music Director of the Stony Brook University Orchestra, the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island, and Theater Three.

Devoted to the music of our own time, Mr. Bernard has presented world premières of scores by Bruce Adolphe, Chris Caswell, John Mackey, and Ted Rosenthal, and distinguished concert collaborators have included Jeffrey Biegel, Carter Brey, David Chan, Catherine Cho, Pedro Díaz, Stanley Drucker, Bart Feller, Ryu Goto, Whoopi Goldberg, Sirena Huang, Judith Ingolfsson, Christina Jennings, Yevgeny Kutik, Anna Lee, Jessica Lee, Kristin Lee, Jon Manasse, Anthony McGill, Spencer Myer, Todd Phillips, and James Archie Worley.

David Bernard's discography includes 17 albums spanning music from Vivaldi to Copland, including a complete Beethoven symphony cycle praised for its "intensity, spontaneity, propulsive rhythm, textural clarity, dynamic control, and well-judged phrasing" (Fanfare). About his release of 20th century orchestral music by Copland, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, and Bartók, Fanfare magazine wrote:

"David Bernard is an exceptional conductor... His performances are marked by a strong sense of the music's structure, an outstanding feeling for orchestral texture and phrasing, and a dynamic rhythmic propulsion that makes itself felt even in quiet passages."

David Bernard is passionately committed to elementary and secondary school music education, continuously developing new talent and providing solo performance experience to exciting young artists. His leadership in fundraising for music education programs has bolstered outreach, community music schools and conservatory preparatory programs-most notably the Harmony Program (a New York City initiative modeled after Venezuela's "El Sistema") and the Lucy Moses School. Mr. Bernard and the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony have also established the Parent's Association Endowed Scholarship Fund at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division.

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony is well known to New York audiences through its frequent appearances at Carnegie Hall. The ensemble regularly features important soloists such as David Chan (concertmaster, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Carter Brey (principal cellist, New York Philharmonic), Jeffrey Biegel and Anthony McGill (principal clarinet, New York Philharmonic). PACS international activities include a nine-city tour of China. Recently they have attracted particular attention for their "Inside Out" initiative, spearheaded by David Bernard, which places audience members amongst the orchestra musicians during performances, so that they can experience the thrill of the music from within the fabric of the orchestra itself.

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