This second disc of orchestral music by Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar (1862-1941) is very enjoyable. I say “orchestral music” and not “symphonic poems,” as the back of the tray card promises, because the largest and best work on the disc isn’t a symphonic poem at all. It’s his Sinfonietta, a work which is exactly what it purports to be: a little symphony, expertly crafted, cleverly scored, and simply delicious from first note to last. What a splendid addition this piece would make to any program, not that you’re every likely to hear it live. Thank God we have recordings, and this one sounds excellent, both as regards the conducting, playing, and engineering. Console yourself accordingly.

Next on the list of gems is the tone poem Elverhöi, one of those “virtuous knight meets a batch of nasty fairies” stories so beloved of romantic composers. This time the tale has a happy ending. Indeed, much of Wagenaar’s music is cheerful, and in Frühlingsgewalt and the Amphitrion overture it can easily lapse into a sort of four-square blandness that his detractors associate with Dutch music generally, for some reason. I have no idea if this is true, but both pieces, merely “nice”, fail to show the composer at his best. What matters more, to me at least, is that Wagenaar did have a “best” to show. Le Cid is the prelude to a comic opera, and funny it surely is. Not all of this music is equally great, but the good stuff is really good, and certainly worth hearing.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com