Perfectly Free by Maja Bogdanović | Phion Symphony Orchestra | David Cohen

Osvaldo Golijov, Anna Clyne

Maja Bogdanović | Phion Symphony Orchestra | David Cohen | Xandi van Dijk

Perfectly Free

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917200546
Catnr: CC 720054
Release date: 06 March 2026
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1 CD	€ 19.95	Preorder

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917200546

Catalogue number
CC 720054

Release date
06 March 2026

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Perfectly Free brings together two contemporary cello concertos—Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul and Anna Clyne’s DANCE—in a live recording that cellist Maja Bogdanović describes as a deeply personal journey of discovery. Both works received their Dutch premieres during the Stift International Music Festival with the Phion Symphony Orchestra, under the batons of David Cohen (Azul) and Xandi van Dijk (DANCE). Golijov’s Azul is portrayed as a poetic, otherworldly tapestry of colors and styles, ranging from Baroque influences to Piazzolla-inflected rhythms, enriched by an unusual orchestration featuring a prominent accordion and a wide spectrum of exotic percussion. The concerto unfolds like a cosmic vision—at times improvisatory, at times prayerful—culminating in sound worlds that evoke radio signals, stardust, and distant galaxies.

Clyne’s DANCE, inspired by Rumi’s poetry, contrasts this with a five-movement exploration of raw emotion and virtuosity, stretching the expressive and technical boundaries of the cello. Moving from fragility to rhythmic intensity, from baroque purity to diabolical energies, the work blends folk elements, lyrical lines, and personal nostalgia—including a final, haunting dedication to the composer’s father. Bogdanović emphasizes the profound artistic partnerships behind the recording, noting the rare creative “telepathy” experienced with Golijov and the intuitive collaboration with van Dijk.

Golijov says: “Perhaps the greatest joy I know in music is telepathy between composer and performer. I am beginning to get used to it when I experience it with life-long collaborators who instantly understand the music I only understand myself after months of working on it. But I am startled when telepathy happens with a musician I have just met. This is what happened with Maja: No need for words to explain anything. Maja understands Azul better than I understand it myself. This gives me a great sense of relief. I know I don’t need to be present for my music to live in the world. I am grateful to Maja for that. David Cohen and the Phion Symphony Orchestra prove to be ideal shipmates in this Azul recording that I love dearly. To have it paired with Anna Clyne’s gorgeous music makes the recording even more special and closer to my heart.

The project reflects the “Perfectly Free” spirit of the Stift Festival—fearless, generous, and adventurous—capturing not only two landmark contemporary concertos but also the shared inspiration of the musicians who brought them to life.

Perfectly Free vereint zwei zeitgenössische Cellokonzerte – Osvaldo Golijovs Azul und Anna Clynes DANCE – in einer Liveaufnahme, die die Cellistin Maja Bogdanović als eine zutiefst persönliche Entdeckungsreise beschreibt. Beide Werke erlebten ihre niederländischen Erstaufführungen beim Stift International Music Festival mit dem Phion Symphonieorchester unter der Leitung von David Cohen (Azul) und Xandi van Dijk (DANCE). Golijovs Azul erscheint als ein poetischer, jenseitiger Teppich aus Farben und Stilen, der von barocken Einflüssen bis zu von Piazzolla geprägten Rhythmen reicht und durch eine ungewöhnliche Orchestrierung mit prominentem Akkordeon und einem breiten Spektrum exotischer Schlaginstrumente bereichert wird. Das Konzert entfaltet sich wie eine kosmische Vision – mal improvisatorisch, mal meditativ –, die in Klangwelten mündet, welche an Radiosignale, Sternenstaub und ferne Galaxien erinnern.
Clynes DANCE, inspiriert von der Dichtung Rumis, setzt dem eine fünfteilige Erkundung roher Emotion und Virtuosität entgegen und dehnt die expressiven wie technischen Grenzen des Cellos aus. Von Zerbrechlichkeit zu rhythmischer Intensität, von barocker Reinheit zu diabolischen Energien reichend, verbindet das Werk folkloristische Elemente, lyrische Linien und persönliche Nostalgie – einschließlich einer letzten, eindringlichen Widmung an den Vater der Komponistin. Bogdanović betont die tiefgehenden künstlerischen Partnerschaften hinter der Aufnahme und spricht von einer seltenen kreativen „Telepathie“ mit Golijov sowie von der intuitiven Zusammenarbeit mit van Dijk.

Golijov sagt:
„Vielleicht ist die größte Freude, die ich in der Musik kenne, die Telepathie zwischen Komponist und Interpret. Ich beginne mich daran zu gewöhnen, wenn ich sie mit lebenslangen Weggefährten erlebe, die die Musik sofort verstehen, die ich selbst oft erst nach Monaten der Arbeit begreife. Doch ich bin erstaunt, wenn diese Telepathie mit einer Musikerin geschieht, die ich gerade erst kennengelernt habe. Genau das ist mit Maja passiert: Es braucht keine Worte, um irgendetwas zu erklären. Maja versteht Azul besser, als ich es selbst tue. Das gibt mir ein großes Gefühl der Erleichterung. Ich weiß, dass ich nicht anwesend sein muss, damit meine Musik in der Welt lebt. Dafür bin ich Maja zutiefst dankbar. David Cohen und das Phion Symphonieorchester erweisen sich in dieser Azul-Aufnahme, die ich sehr liebe, als ideale Weggefährten. Dass sie mit der wunderbaren Musik von Anna Clyne gekoppelt ist, macht diese Aufnahme noch besonderer und meinem Herzen noch näher.“
Das Projekt spiegelt den Geist von „Perfectly Free“ des Stift Festivals wider – furchtlos, großzügig und abenteuerlustig – und hält nicht nur zwei wegweisende zeitgenössische Konzerte fest, sondern auch die gemeinsame Inspiration der Musikerinnen und Musiker, die sie zum Leben erweckt haben.

Artist(s)

Maja Bogdanović (cello)

“Cellist Maja Bogdanović is the real thing; a true, soulful artist with a brazenly expressive sound who has a lot to show off, but who is never pretentious.” - New York Concert Review Following her stunning recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, the Strad hailed Maja Bogdanović for “an outstanding performance of exceptional tonal beauty and great maturity of interpretation.” Since then, she has taken her place among today’s foremost cellists.
Concert engagements have included the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Tokyo Philharmonic, Minas Gerais Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, RTS Serbian Symphony orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Symphony, Brasov Philharmonic, Timisoara Philharmonic, Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, Morelia Philharmonic Orchestra, Salta Sinfonica, Cape Town Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic and KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban. In the USA, Ms. Bogdanović made her debut at the 2017 Grand Teton Music Festival under the baton of Cristian Macelaru. She has also performed with the Fort Worth Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Lubbock Symphony and Bakersfield Symphony.
An avid chamber musician, Maja Bogdanović is a frequent guest at leading chamber music festivals and the world’s leading venues, such as Kuhmo Festival in Finland, Amsterdamse Cello Biënnale, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Folle Journée/Nantes, Storioni Festival, the Stift International Chamber Music Festival in The Netherlands, and the Seoul International Chamber Music Festival, performing with artists such as Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Julian Rachlin, Nino Gvetadze, Daniel Rowland, Nemanja Radulović, Frederieke Saeijs, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Marianna Shirinyan and Anna Fedorova. Maja has produced several internationally-released CDs for the Lyrinx and Nimbus labels and her recital disc ‘Eastern wind’ (Orchid Classics) with pianist Maria Belooussova, dedicated to Glière and Rachmaninoff, received rave reviews. Maja’s latest CD release (Challenge Records) with violinist Daniel Rowland, ‘Pas de deux’, includes world premiere recordings of works by Penderecki, Vasks, Sollima and Nisinman, and was described as ‘a magical meeting of cello and violin’ by leading Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad.
Within her wide repertoire, Maja Bogdanović devotes a special place to contemporary music. She has premiered works of Nicolas Bacri, Sofia Gubaidulina, Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Sawyers, Eric Tanguy, Benjamin Yusupov, Natasha Bogojević, Isidora Žebeljan and others.
Her collaboration with Krzysztof Penderecki began with the Belgrade Philharmonic in 2008, and with the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana, where she performed his Cello Concerto No. 2 under the baton of the composer. This led to several further collaborations, such as with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, the Orchestra National des Pays de la Loire and the Krakow Philharmonic.

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Phion Symphony Orchestra

David Cohen (conductor)

David Cohen Nino Gvetadze Cellist and conductor David Cohen is the solo cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra. He made his solo debut with the Belgian National Orchestra at the age of nine. He studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and then at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he studied under Oleg Kogan. He has won more than 25 prizes in international cello competitions, including the Gold Medal of the GSMD in London, the Geneva International Cello Competition, J. S. Bach International Competition and many others. During the 2002/03 season, he was nominated as the ECHO Rising Star by the Royal Philharmonic Society of Belgium and the Concertgebouw. In his musical journey, David has worked as a soloist with some of the most distinguished conductors in the industry such as Lord Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Walter Weller, Sir Charles Mackerras, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christoph von Dohnányi, Pedro Halffter and Martyn Brabbins, among others. David plays on the ‘Ex-Pergamenschikow’ cello, a magnificent Dominicus Montagnana circa 1735, thanks to the kindness and generosity of Mrs Pat Morton and the help of the Razumovsky Trust. In recent years David has increasingly also appeared as a conductor, recently conducting to great acclaim the Phion orchestra, Stift Festival Orchestra and the Žebeljan Orchestra.

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Xandi van Dijk (conductor)

Xandi van Dijk conductor Born into a musical family in Cape Town, Xandi van Dijk started conducting at age 14 and by his mid twenties had conducted all the major South African orchestras. He conducted the William Kentridge production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Cape Town and Johannesburg, premiered his father P.L. van Dijk’s opera earthdiving at the Spier Summer Festival, recorded the soundtrack to the Philip Noyce blockbuster Catch a Fire and premiered struggle icon Denis Goldberg and Matthijs van Dijk’s Moments in a Life at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival 2016. Xandi made his European conducting debut with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and his German debut with the Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO). This season has seen...

Xandi van Dijk conductor Born into a musical family in Cape Town, Xandi van Dijk started conducting at age 14 and by his mid twenties had conducted all the major South African orchestras. He conducted the William Kentridge production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Cape Town and Johannesburg, premiered his father P.L. van Dijk’s opera earthdiving at the Spier Summer Festival, recorded the soundtrack to the Philip Noyce blockbuster Catch a Fire and premiered struggle icon Denis Goldberg and Matthijs van Dijk’s Moments in a Life at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival 2016. Xandi made his European conducting debut with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and his German debut with the Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO). This season has seen him return to the Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg, Pärnu City Orchestra, MKO and debut with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Phion Symphony Orchestra in the Netherlands. In October 2024, Xandi founded the Viimsi Sinfonietta, which is constituted of some of Estonia’s top young instrumentalists and in residence at the Viimsi Artium. Xandi’ dual passions for conducting and chamber music led him to move to Germany, and since 2007 Xandi has been a member of the internationally renowned Signum Quartet. With them he has been a laureate of international competitions, and from 2011-2013 they were BBC Radio 3 New Generation 21 20Artists. Their recordings have received universal acclaim, and their debut disc for PENTATONE, Schubert “Aus der Ferne”, includes a number of Xandi’s arrangements of Schubert lieder. This album was a Diapason choice, and won an OPUS Klassik. 2023 saw the release of “Lebensmuth”, the final instalment of their Schubert trilogy, which garnered rave reviews and won a further OPUS Klassik in 2024 for Best Chamber Music Album of the Year. Concert appearances have led the Signum Quartet from Carnegie Hall to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall and the Berliner Philharmonie to the the Aldeburgh Festival, the Festival Aix-en-Provence and the BBC Proms. They have recorded for Capriccio, harmonia mundi, Sony Classical and ECM.

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Robbrecht Van Cauwenberghe (accordion)

Robbrecht Van Cauwenberghe is widely recognized as one of the leading young bayan — Russian button-accordion — players of his generation. As soloist and chamber musician, he performs across Europe and beyond, appearing at venues such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Palacio de Festivales Santander, Bachfestival Dordrecht, the Ghent Festival van Vlaanderen, and the International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht. Performing on a custom-built Jupiter bayan, Robbrecht is dedicated to expanding the instrument’s repertoire through close collaborations with composers and contemporary ensembles. He has performed with the Residentie Orkest, Ensemble Black Pencil, Postland Collectief, Phion Symphony Orchestra, and Camerata RCO. Equally active in music theatre, he has appeared in productions by the Dutch National Opera, Dutch Touring Opera,...

Robbrecht Van Cauwenberghe is widely recognized as one of the leading young bayan — Russian button-accordion — players of his generation. As soloist and chamber musician, he performs across Europe and beyond, appearing at venues such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Palacio de Festivales Santander, Bachfestival Dordrecht, the Ghent Festival van Vlaanderen, and the International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht. Performing on a custom-built Jupiter bayan, Robbrecht is dedicated to expanding the instrument’s repertoire through close collaborations with composers and contemporary ensembles. He has performed with the Residentie Orkest, Ensemble Black Pencil, Postland Collectief, Phion Symphony Orchestra, and Camerata RCO. Equally active in music theatre, he has appeared in productions by the Dutch National Opera, Dutch Touring Opera, and Holland Opera, and is a founding member of Amsterdam’s Oorkaan Ensemble, known for its staged concerts. Robbrecht studied with An Raskin at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and Janne Rättyä at the Kunstuniversität Graz, and holds a magna cum laude degree in musicology from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

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