{"id":119180,"date":"2025-11-04T14:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T19:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=119180"},"modified":"2025-11-05T07:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:00:03","slug":"scoop-canadas-national-arts-centre-orchestra-releases-poema-2-terra-nova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/11\/04\/scoop-canadas-national-arts-centre-orchestra-releases-poema-2-terra-nova\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra Releases Poema: 2. Terra Nova"},"content":{"rendered":"
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National Arts Centre Orchestra Music Director Alexander Shelley (Photo: Greggory Clark)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The National Arts Centre Orchestra will release Poema: 2. Terra Nova, the second volume of their Strauss recording project on November 14, 2025. The album will be released on the Analekta label, and features a series of tone poems by Richard Strauss, along with 1Q84: Sinfonietta Metamoderna, a work by Canadian composer Ian Cusson that was commissioned by the orchestra.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout this project, our composers are encouraged to reflect, critique, embrace, reject or deconstruct Strauss\u2019s language and model. It is an exploration of the notion of the tone poem and the orchestra as a tool for storytelling,\u201d writes Music Director Alexander Shelley in the album notes.<\/p>\n

\u201c1Q84 is a work of sophistication, nuance, and emotional insight, and it is a privilege to share it with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The juxtaposition of Strauss and Cusson\u2019s new work opens up a musical dialogue between past and present.<\/p>\n

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L-R (clockwise): The album cover for Poema: 2. Terra Nova (Analekta Records); Alexander Shelley works on the recording with sound engineer Charles Gagnon (Photo courtesy of NACO); Composer Ian Cusson (Photo: John Arano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poema: 2. Terra Nova<\/h2>\n

For the Poema series of recordings, Shelley asked Canadian composers to write new works in response to Strauss\u2019 masterworks. The first album, released in January 2025 and titled Ad Astra<\/a>, examined themes of the cosmos, and the afterlife.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Terra Nova features two works that focus on the search for meaning, and new intellectual and philosophical discoveries.<\/p>\n

The album features Strauss\u2019s Also sprach Zarathustra. Composed in 1896, the work was inspired by by Friedrich Nietzsche’s work of philosophy of the same name, published in a series of four volumes between 1883 and 1885. Through its protagonist, Zarathustra, also known as Zoroaster, an Iranian philosopher and religious reformer, the books discuss philosophy, morality, and metaphysics.<\/p>\n

The opening fanfare, titled Sunrise, has become famous in pop culture through its use in the classic Kubrickfilm 2001: A Space Odyssey.<\/p>\n

There are nine sections in total, each named after a specific chapter from Nietzsche\u2019s novel, which trace the trajectory of the title character\u2019s journey;<\/p>\n