Karl Weigl's music demonstrates once again that the great Austrian/German symphonic tradition did not die with Mahler, but continued to thrive well into the 20th century. Weigl (1881-1949) worked under Mahler in Vienna and enjoyed a fine reputation until, as we've heard often by now, the Nazi seizure of power, which forced his emigration to America where he died in comparative obscurity. He nevertheless composed a substantial body of orchestral and chamber music, including six symphonies. If this one is typical, it's a legacy that urgently calls out for wider exposure.


Composed in 1945 and dedicated to the memory of President Roosevelt, the "Apocalyptic Symphony" received its premiere in 1968 under Stokowski. Although a couple of private tapes of that and at least one other performance exist, neither gives much sense of the impact that this magnificent work can have in concert. This splendid recording does. Weigl's music offers the tonal richness and harmonic complexity of Franz Schmidt, with a healthy dose of Mahlerian irony and a brittle humor that calls to mind Berthold Goldschmidt. The symphony opens with a marvelous gesture: over the sounds of the orchestra tuning, the trombones blast out the first movement's principal theme. Order having thus been established out of chaos, the music moves purposefully through a variety of predominantly dark moods to a stern conclusion.


The scherzo, subtitled "The Dance around the Golden Calf", has a certain oriental quality, but much more noteworthy is its thematic workmanship, particularly the return of the trio section in a fortissimo outburst toward the end. The Adagio, headed "Paradise Lost", must be ranked among the finest slow movements since Bruckner, whose rapt serenity and spiritual loftiness it effortlessly recalls. Get this disc for this movement alone: it's a perfect example of music both of a specific tradition and effecting a new step forward for that same tradition. Distinguished by haunting melodies, evocative orchestration, and superbly gauged climaxes, it also confirms just how well trained this entire generation of composers really was, particularly in the confident use of a large and varied orchestra.


The finale, "The Four Horsemen", is not what the title might lead you to expect, and it serves to caution listeners to pay attention to the music rather than to external descriptions. We'll never really know exactly what this appellation may have meant to Weigl, but I have already seen a couple of stupid comments in print by "critics" who observe that the music doesn't "sound" to them like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as if they would know! What matters, of course, is whether or not what Weigl actually composed works as the finale to his Fifth Symphony--and about that there can be no question. What we have here is a bitterly ironic march, leaving no doubt that Weigl sees the apocalypse in question not as a spiritual happening, but as man-made event. For 10 minutes the music marches on, pausing once for a glimpse back at Paradise Lost before the pealing of bells announces a conclusion as ambiguously triumphant as that of any Shostakovich symphony. It's an inexorably "right" conclusion to a remarkable work.


The Phantastisches Intermezzo began life as part of the composer's Second Symphony, but soon acquired an independent existence. More lightly scored than the Fifth Symphony, it's a brilliant exercise in contrast, particularly with respect to chromatic vs. diatonic harmony. Scurrying wind figures and bustling strings alternate with Romantic-sounding brass fanfares. It's a delight. Weigl's orchestration shimmers brilliantly, and there's absolutely nothing quite like it by anyone else.



The Berlin Radio Symphony and Thomas Sanderling deserve special credit for their effervescent performance of this gossamer-textured, extremely rapid and tiring piece. But then, they play both works with tremendous commitment. Sanderling clearly understands the special emotional world that the symphony's Adagio inhabits; he and his players deliver the music with a hushed intensity that, more than any other factor, sets the seal on Weigl's claim to musical greatness. Thrilling recorded sound, warm yet clear, captures the music's complex textures with tactile immediacy. Don't miss this stunning new release. Buy it, and send a signal to BIS that we want more!
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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Described as ‘one of the most innovative and influential among progressive figures of his time’, György Ligeti (1923 – 2006) was able to constantly reinvent himself. In his earliest works, written in Communist Hungary, the musical language is often an extension of that of Bartók’s and he kept his most daring compositions to himself. Escaping Hungary in 1956 he was able to revel in the freedom to experiment – with electronic techniques as well as elaborate serialism – but he was forever sceptical of schools and steered his own course throughout life. The 1960s and early 70s were a highly productive period, which saw works such as Lux Aeterna and Lontano, as well as three of the works on the present disc. In the Cello Concerto and the Chamber Concerto, Ligeti in different ways explores the idea of the concerto as something collective, rather than polarised between the one and the many. The Cello Concerto is striking, and even provocative, in that the soloist often seems to aspire to silence and even absence rather than virtuosic display. The Chamber Concerto, on the other hand, dazzles because here all 13 players are unmistakably present, all essential to the design and character of the whole. Like the Cello Concerto – and the Piano Concerto – Melodien can be performed by large orchestra, but also, as on the present recording, with a single string player per part, becoming a natural pendant to the Chamber Concerto. The disc closes with the Piano Concerto from 1988, which Ligeti had begun sketching eight years earlier but was only able to proceed with after having composed his first set of studies for piano solo. Ligeti himself described the five-movement work as a statement of his ‘aesthetic credo’. Performing these complex scores is the Norwegian specialist ensemble BIT 20 under the Swiss conductor Baldur Brönnimann, with soloists Christian Poltéra and Joonas Ahonen, making his first appearance on the BIS label.

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10/10 Classicstoday.com The music of Frank Zappa played on baroque instruments? 'As if! Like...grody to the max!' Ensemble Ambrosius is a group that concentrates on contemporary music, using mostly baroque instruments. Their first step in tackling the music of Frank Zappa was to use the 'Stevie Vai' method - every note was first transcribed from the original songs, and then arranged for the ensemble. Then the work began! Retaining the rhythmicality and metric pulse of the music was paramount. The results are like totally, what-ever! This is the ONLY Zappa album ever recorded on baroque instruments. It is a MUST for all Zappa fans.