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Perfectly Free
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
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917200546
Catalogue number
CC 720054
Release date
06 March 2026
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

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.

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...
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“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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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...
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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)

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