MacDowell: Orchestral Works Vol. 2 Xiayin Wang, Peter Dixon, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra & John Wilson

• Edward MacDowell (1860 - 1908): Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22:
• 1 MacDowell: Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22: I. Hamlet 06:56
• 2 MacDowell: Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22: II. Ophelia 06:22
• Piano Concerto No.2 in D Minor, Op. 23:
• 3 MacDowell: Piano Concerto No.2 in D Minor, Op. 23: I. Larghetto calmato 12:46
• 4 MacDowell: Piano Concerto No.2 in D Minor, Op. 23: II. Presto giocoso 04:40
• 5 MacDowell: Piano Concerto No.2 in D Minor, Op. 23: III. Largo – Molto allegro 07:23
• Romanze in E Minor, Op. 35:
• 6 MacDowell: Romanze in E Minor, Op. 35 03:52
• Suite (No.1) in A Minor, Op. 42:
• 7 MacDowell: Suite (No.1) in A Minor, Op. 42: I. In a Haunted Forest 05:23
• 8 MacDowell: Suite (No.1) in A Minor, Op. 42: II. Summer Idyll 02:15
• 9 MacDowell: Suite (No.1) in A Minor, Op. 42: III. In October 03:55
• 10 MacDowell: Suite (No.1) in A Minor, Op. 42: IV. The Shepherdess’ Song 03:05
• 11 MacDowell: Suite (No.1) in A Minor, Op. 42: V. Forest Spirits 04:26
• Total Runtime 01:01:03

Info for MacDowell: Orchestral Works Vol. 2

In July 1884, MacDowell and his wife, Marian, spent their honeymoon in England, and were both captivated by performances of Shakespeare plays at London’s Lyceum Theatre. The young composer started immediately on sketches based on six characters, but completed only two, Hamlet and Ophelia, which were published the following year. MacDowell recycled some of the music from his sketch for Benedick, from Much Ado about Nothing, as the second movement of his Second Piano Concerto. Having lived in Germany from 1885 to 1888, the couple returned to America and Edward reactivated his career as a concert pianist. The Second Concerto was the perfect vehicle to display his virtuosity, and he gave the first performance in New York in 1889. Composed during the same period as the Second Concerto, the Romanze for Cello and Orchestra was written at Wiesbaden in 1887, and MacDowell dedicated it to the virtuoso Bohemian cellist and composer David Popper. The Suite in A minor was the first work MacDowell composed after the couple’s move to Boston, and reflects his lifelong love of nature. Set in five movements, it received its first performance in 1895 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Emil Paur.

Xiayin Wang, piano
Peter Dixon, cello
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
John Wilson, conductor

Xiayin Wang
An artist with a winning combination of superb musicianship and riveting technical brilliance, pianist Xiayin Wang conquers the hearts of audiences wherever she appears, as recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral soloist in such venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Winning high praise from the American press, she has also toured with the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra in St Petersburg itself, as well as in the United States in Houston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Washington DC and New York. Xiayin Wang has seven recordings to her credit, including a highly lauded CD of Richard Danielpour’s The Enchanted Garden: Preludes Books I and II recorded for Naxos (8.559669). Her recording of the piano music of Earl Wild on Chandos received the highest critical praise. A Steinway artist, she is represented by Thea Dispeker, Inc.

Peter Dixon
who was born in 1962 and studied at the Royal Academy of Music with David Strange, made his Purcell Room debut in 1981. He held the post of Associate Principal of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1986 until 1990 when he joined the BBC Philharmonic as Principal Cello. In 1991 he made his debut as soloist at the Royal Festival Hall in Walton’s Cello Concerto. For BBC Radio 3 he recorded James MacMillan’s Cello Concerto, a piece he also performed with the BBC Philharmonic at the Royal Northern College of Music in March 2002, both performances conducted by the composer. He was the soloist in a live broadcast of Elgar’s Cello Concerto on BBC Radio 3 from City Hall, Sheffield, and also performed the concerto in Bahrain with the BBC Philharmonic. He gave notable performances of Bach’s six cello suites at Chester Cathedral. In October 2003 he was invited to Japan to give the world premiere of Yoshimatsu’s Cello Concerto, written specially for him, with the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra of Osaka and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra of Tokyo conducted by Sachio Fujioka.

Peter Dixon is a regular adjudicator of BBC’s Young Musician of the Year and a coach for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

John Wilson
Born in Gateshead and since 2011 a Fellow of the Royal College of Music where he studied composition and conducting, John Wilson is now in demand at the highest level across the globe and has over the past 30 years conducted many of the world’s finest orchestras.

In 2018 he relaunched Sinfonia of London, which The Arts Desk described as ‘the most exciting thing currently happening on the British orchestral scene’. His much-anticipated BBC Proms début with this orchestra, in 2021, was praised by The Guardian as ‘truly outstanding’ and admired by The Times for its ‘revelatory music-making’. They are now highly sought-after across the UK, the 2023/24 season notable for returns to the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival, and London’s Barbican Centre, among other festivals and venues.

Their large and varied discography having received near universal critical acclaim, in the Autumn of 2023 they released their 17th album since 2019. Their CDs have earned several awards, including, for three successive years, the BBC Music Magazine Award in the Orchestral category: for recordings of Korngold’s Symphony in F sharp (2020), Respighi’s Roman Trilogy (2021), and Dutilleux’s Le Loup (2022). The Observer described the Respighi recording as ‘Massive, audacious and vividly played’ and The Times declared it one of the three ‘truly outstanding accounts of this trilogy’ of all time, alongside those by Toscanini (1949) and Muti (1984).

In March 2019, John Wilson was awarded the prestigious Distinguished Musician Award of the Incorporated Society of Musicians for his services to music and in 2021 was appointed Henry Wood Chair of Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music.

Booklet for MacDowell: Orchestral Works Vol. 2