‘A satisfying, thought-provoking disc.' The Guardian 'Trevor Pinnock directs a disciplined and expressive performance...' BBC Music Magazine 'Both capture a simplicity of timbre and colouring that goes to the essence of the music...' Financial Times 'Under Pinnock, the Royal Academy of Music's Chamber Ensemble bring to the surface the lithe counterpoint that usually lumbers under thicker string textures.' Gramophone • Historical performance pioneer, Trevor Pinnock, conducts the Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble in the premiere recording of Anthony Payne’s new arrangement of Bruckner’s second symphony. • This is the second in the series which sees Trevor and the Academy perform and record works which are retrospectively reigniting Schoenberg’s vision of performing chamber reductions of symphonic repertoire. • This brand new edition was commissioned by Royal Academy of Music Principal Jonathan Freeman-Attwood who asked composer Anthony Payne (of Elgar’s Third Symphony fame) if he would adopt the principles of Schoenberg’s Society in a new version of this symphony. • Whilst employing a slightly larger ensemble than the core group used by Schoenberg, this scoring serves to reveal the luminescent appeal of a little-known nineteenth-century masterpiece - whilst also extending Schoenberg’s and his pupils’ practice of refined intimacy. • Upon hearing the recording Anthony Payne remarked ‘the arrangement exceeded my most extravagant expectation… performed magnificently under Trevor Pinnock's direction by one of the finest chamber groups I've heard.’ • Rounding off this recording is Strauss’ Wein, Weib und Gesang arranged by Alban Berg, whose own pieces were regularly performed by the Society. • Trevor Pinnock is known worldwide as a harpsichordist and conductor who pioneered performance on historical instruments. The SACD layer is both 5.1 channel and 2-channel. The Studio Master files are 192kHz / 24 bit.