London Philharmonic Orchestra - Tania Leon: Horizons Raices (Origins) Stride [CD]

Cuban-born American composer Tania León was Composer-in-Residence with the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 2023-2025. During this period, she not only brought a bold new voice to the concert stage with a number of world premieres, but also mentored the LPO's Young Composers, championing living composers and diversity in contemporary music. Premiered in the UK by the LPO under Karina Canellakis at the Royal Festival Hall in October 2023, Horizons (1999) is an evocative orchestral work reflects León's fluid musical form - an ever-shifting stream punctuated by vivid foreground events and rich textures. Commissioned by the LPO and Concertgebouw Brugge and [world] premiered by the LPO under Edward Gardner in March 2024, Raíces explores León's multicultural heritage through a vibrant, three-part structure that fuses contemplative textures, lively Latin rhythms and jazz-inflected exuberance. A Pulitzer Prize-winning work premiered by the New York Philharmonic and given it's UK premiere by the LPO in 2023 under the baton of Dima Slobodeniouk, Stride draws inspiration from women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony's determined spirit. It's powerful rhythmic language blends Black music traditions from the US and Caribbean with the modality of the orchestra. With it's European premiere by the LPO under Edward Gardner in February 2025, the vivid four-part Pasajes evokes the sounds, sights, and joyful spirit of León's childhood in Cuba. Rich in color, rhythm and narrative, it is a sonic gallery of cultural memory, celebration and radio playing in the street.