Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Entree pour les muses (from les Boreades)
Erkki-Sven Tuur: The Path and the Traces
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5

You can be reassured that the future of classical music performance and recording is not in jeopardy when you hear new recording projects like this one. The ensemble reflektor founded in 2015, is a chamber-sized orchestra of about 40 young musicians. They haven't been around long enough to see the patina of age, tradition and the status quo gloss over their youthful verve and determination, and this unbound spirit exhibits itself in their playing. There's a crisp, sharp edge to their rhythmic pulse and a palpable act of violence (Gewaltakt) to their precise and focused accents. This account of Beethoven simply jumps off the page with a forward momentum that I've not heard in a while and no, it's not fast just for the sake of speed, but rather has an elan and vigour to it that reminds us all that even Beethoven was young at one time. And oddly enough for a trendy group of 21st century musicians, it's their interpretation of the piece by Jean-Philippe Rameau that sounds the most authentic. There's a refined Baroque grace to its movement and a melodious flow to the string group in particular that is very pleasing to the ears. They demonstrate their versatility by including a "modern" work by the Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tuur which despite its tender age, does not totally clash with the rest of the program. It's endeavours like this that may very well make classical music relevant again to the young generations of today and beyond.