Panufnik - Metasinfonia - Universal Prayer (Bate - LSO - Panufnik - Stokowski) - [44.1/16 bits LP Rip]

Hi buddies. Here you are Panufnik's 7th symphony, in a originally digital(!) recording from 1985, but surprinsingly, never issued on cd. This recording appeared in the late 80's as LP with his Metasinfonia on one side coupled with his Universal Prayer by Stokowski on the other side. Despite the Lp is not in great conditions, its sound really rocks!! Smiley Enjoy!

Unicorn.Kanchana digital t DKP9049. Item marked new to UK, RHS305 (5/71). Metasinfonia: the title presumably means a symphony about the very idea of symphony, about what it is that makes otherwise diverse compositions authentically, essentially symphonic. The work, completed in 1978, predates the Sinjonia votiva written for the 1981 centenary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and I'm sure that listeners who admire the pared-down materials and expansive structures of that composition (available on Hyperion A66050, 12/82) will also enjoy the broad (though not especially bold) effects and monolithic design of Metasinfonia. Panufnik's symphonic ideal evidently has much to do with forms that reflect "the beauty and mystery of geometry", but his actual musical response to this ideal leaves me with some doubts. The music never seems to challenge expectation sufficiently. In Metasinfonia, for example, the arresting impact of the opening is not sustained. There is something too deliberate and calculated about the whole process of expansion, especially in the domain of rhythm, and I note that in his original review of Universal Prayer EG has similar difficulties: "Panufnik ignores a very basic aesthetic need in music, that of surprise. To put it bluntly, one then comes to wish he would get a move on". What cannot be denied is that many musiclovers, as well as not a few critics and fellowcomposers, are Panufnik enthusiasts, and the record itself certainly offers good value. The remastering of Universal Prayer (originally spread over two sides) reinforces the spaciousness of the original sound, and the performance of Metasinfonia, recorded without excessive resonance in the Royal Albert Hall, seems excellent. The sleeve omits to note that the important organ part in Universal Prayer is played by Nicolas Kynaston.