Includes work(s) by Johan Peter E. Hartmann. Ensemble: Concerto Copenhagen. Conductor: Lars Ulrik Mortensen.

RÖNTGEN Serenade (Wind Quintet). Serenade (Wind Septet). Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Bassoon • Linos Ens • CPO 777 127-2 (60:15)


As Jerry Dubins reviewed this disc at some length in Fanfare 36:1, I will make this relatively brief, wanting only to register some degree of dissent from his overall negative judgments. Basically, Dubins liked the rather Brahmsian early Serenade, op. 14, but dismissed the later wind quintet Serenade as a “frivolous, frothy fluff piece” and called the Trio “a work of modest means and even flimsier substance.” He concluded, “If you’re new to Röntgen ... I’d strongly suggest that you start with almost anything else by him than the disc at hand.” I must beg to differ with him regarding the latter two works. While these are indeed occasional pieces rather than major masterworks, they are all ingratiating and provide charming and rewarding listening. While the major influence on the late serenade is indeed, as Dubins notes, Richard Strauss—the clarinet at the opening is reminiscent of that in Till Eulenspiegel , and the end of the third movement sounds much like the music for the little Moorish servant boy from the final bars of Der Rosenkavalier —it also follows in the footsteps of Nielsen’s Quintet. Adjectives that spring to mind are saucy, insouciant, cheeky, and mischievous. It is constructed in a cyclic pattern with a return in the last movement to material from the first movement. The Trio is even closer to Nielsen’s ambit in the more craggy melodic contours and unexpected harmonic twists of its three brief movements. The connection is not surprising; not only was Röntgen an enthusiast for Scandinavian culture, who wrote a biography of his friend Edvard Grieg, but he also played in a string quartet with Carl Nielsen in 1892. It would be interesting to know of any further connections between them. I do admit to being less fond of this piece than of the two serenades, as the slow movement is uningratiating.


I do agree with Dubins regarding the high caliber of the playing of the Linos Ensemble, although in the Trio I do find the oboe to be a bit harsh and off in intonation (perhaps the instrument simply needed to be swabbed out). The recorded sound and booklet notes meet CPO’s usual excellent standards. For those who are particularly fond of the genre of wind serenades, this disc is a welcome addition to its not very sizeable repertoire.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

Following the release of Friedrich Gernsheim's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 so rich in dramatic romanticism, we do not want to deprive you any longer for his Symphonies Nos. 2 and 4. Some passages of this new CD may move many a listener to ask: Is that not Brahms? But then the music goes on to develop a different sound on its own, with original orchestral colors and a precisely formulated structure. It is by a wrongly forgotten composer from the Nibelungen city of Worms who is coming to be regarded as an important romantic symphonist from the period after Mendelssohn and Schumann into the era of Bruckner and Brahms. The Symphony op. 46 premiered by Gernsheim himself in Rotterdam on 16 March 1882 offers a compressed musical language. In some passages, scored with a love for the horn sound, it seems to reflect Brahms's second symphony. However, as a whole, this work is a highly individual composition. Gernsheim composed his fourth and last Symphony op. 62 in Berlin in 1895. Of all his symphonies, it calls for the largest ensemble, with an English horn, bass clarinet, tuba, and cymbals in addition to the usual orchestra of the nineteenth century. In some sections, especially the first movement, this work creates the impression of a continuation of the second symphony while mixing relaxed and orchestrally thinned-out passages with energetic tutti. Woodwind solos and catchy string cantilenas mark the music here as well; the middle segment, a development section, displays Gernsheim's excellence as a symphonist. As the musicologist Dietrich Kämper Stated in MGG in 2002 here Gernsheim exhibits his "consummate command of the compositional means" without "artifice." - CPO (Translated from German text.)

The symphonist Felix Woyrsch (1860-1944) shouldered the burden of the mighty symphonic legacy that preceded him; a tradition he did not aspire to break with but rather seek a negotiable path for its continuance in his own personal manner. His Three Bocklin Fantasies belong to the group of works preparing for his symphonic style, drawing on coloristic instrumental and harmonic resources as in hardly any other work by him. The Third Symphony’s thoroughly chromaticized, frequently dissonant tonal idiom justifies its claim to the status of an ‘Apocalyptic Symphony’ in the context of his oeuvre.

Classical Music

This disc makes the perfect introduction to a composer who has more to offer than the fact that he was Beethoven's pal.

This is a lovely program of exciting, colorful music. Ferdinand Ries may not have been a great composer in large forms, such as symphonies and concertos, but these single-movement pieces give him the opportunity to use his imagination, and he takes full advantage. The Ouverture bardique, for example, asks for six harps (though it sounds more like two here, since there are only two individual parts), and employs a Welsh folk theme. Both The Bride of Messina and Don Carlos (plays by Schiller) are suitably dramatic, and full of fire. Ries loads his Victory March with brass and percussion, but the music's high kick is buoyant rather than pompous. The dramatic overture "L'Apparition" was Ries' final orchestral work, and it seems to foretell the Mendelssohn of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Howard Griffiths and the Cologne radio orchestra play the music with plenty of spirit. The solo woodwinds, which Ries employs with particular gusto, have lots of character. Timpani use hard sticks, and the strings offer a lean sound that mellows expressively in lyrical passages. The style, with biting, edgy brass, is obviously "period performance"-influenced, but not absurdly so. In short, the performances are stylish and sound idiomatic. As usual with German radio engineering, the sonics are very good, with excellent balances between orchestral sections. This disc makes the perfect introduction to a composer who has more to offer than the fact that he was Beethoven's pal.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The composer Ries, born in Bonn, Germany, will not be known to many nowadays, yet he had been London-based, had an English wife and wrote a number of overtures for the Philharmonic Society to perform. The concert 'ouvertures', as such, had been invented by Romberg, Spohr and Schneider. Previously, the regular concert hall practice of starting an evening with a single movement of a symphony was felt too severe an introduction for the audiences. Consequently, lighter pieces were introduced with stronger melodic line and easier on the ear to endear the audience and encourage their focus.

Such ouvertures were not written on the frothy styles of Zampa, Poet and Peasant or Barber of Seville where fanfare and catchy repetitious melodic phrases became the norm. Those were to come later. The ouvertures here are more solid and owe more to Beethoven ( Egmont) or Weber ( Der Freischütz) in weight and style. This is not surprising for Ries had been a pupil of Beethoven.

I found the pieces soft-toned in colour yet engaging to the ear. Only once did I sit up when I heard off-beat, knocking, percussive effects: I wonder what the audiences expecting a certain legato flow thought of this acoustic intrusion? Ries's Ouverture bardique is particularly British by its inclusion of the well-known Welsh folk song, 'All through the night'. By the time Ries premièred this ouverture, versions of the folk song had been published and even used by Gay in The Beggar's Opera.

Cologne's WDR Symphony Orchestra gives a strong performance and are well coordinated under Howard Griffiths’ direction. Although English there is no record of his home town, only his RCM association. He has gained significant experience on the Continent, especially in Switzerland with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra where he has been Principal Conductor for ten years. He is clearly interested in reviving lost pieces and in this he is well-partnered with CPO who should be congratulated for their fresh approach to the repertoire they cover. The pieces are recorded in a good acoustic with well-balanced dynamics.

The well-written notes by Bert Hagels cover the Ouvertures in detail yet overlooks detail about this interesting composer. The notes are provided in German, English and French.

-- Raymond J Walker, MusicWeb International

ROSETTI Oboe Concertos: in C; in C. Symphonies: in F; in D • Kurt Meier (ob); Johannes Moesus (cond); Zurich CO • CPO 777-631-2 (71:16)


Quite apart from the fact that he’s virtually forgotten, the composer of record has a problem. According to the Harvard Biographical Dictionary , “He has been confused with Franz Anton Rössler, a cobbler, and five other musicians named Antonio Rosetti.” That’s severe! It may be that he should have stuck with his given name, Franti?ek Antonín Rössler, except that the Italianization worked for him during his very active lifetime. Rössler/Rosetti was born in Litom??ice, Bohemia, in 1750, played double bass in the orchestra of the Wallerstein court, eventually becoming court conductor and Kapellmeister. He composed prolifically—as many as 40 symphonies and 50 solo concertos as well as various sacred works. In 1789 he became Kapellmeister at the court of Ludwigslust, where he died at age 42 in 1792. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries, and in 1791 wrote and conducted a Requiem for Mozart at Prague. The present disc makes a strong case for re-examining his legacy. The two symphonies, both set in three movements, are early works, but they attest to his skill in handling of the orchestra and his ability to craft memorable lines. The F-Major Symphony, composed around 1776–77, was one of his most popular works. The concertos are even more impressive. Kurt Meier is an effective advocate, with a rich, full tone and a flawless technique. Rosetti wrote many concertos for members of his orchestra, especially for horns or bassoons, but also, of course, for the oboe. I reviewed a cpo disc of three other Rosetti oboe concertos played by Lajos Lenscés in Fanfare 15:2. All five could be welcome additions to any soloist’s repertory. Two discs of Rosetti’s more mature symphonies—by Concerto Köln on Teldec and Mathias Bamert on Chandos—are worth seeking out, as well. There are four symphonies on each disc, with, remarkably, no duplications. Meanwhile, the present disc gives me great pleasure, and I recommend it heartily.


FANFARE: George Chien

Since Oscar Straus began his career in the cabaret, it was only natural for him to bet on comedy in his first operetta, Die lustigen Nibelungen (1904), a parody of the Nibelungenlied, Wagner, and Wilhelminism. In this way, Straus, more than any of his Viennese contemporaries, became the heir to Jacques Offenbach, the founder of the genre, whose last period of flourishing influenced Straus (who was born in 1870) as well as Franz Leh�r, Leo Fall, and Emmerich K�lm�n. Straus's Serenade for String Orchestra is written in an always-radiant classical style. Especially the last two movements, "Walzer" and "Alla marcia," have an elegant structure already anticipating the later operettas. The highly romantic Piano Concerto in B minor displays a very different compositional design. Even though the three movements based on Franz Liszt's "New German" model form a seamless whole, they remain clearly recognizable and follow the pattern of the Classical-Romantic piano concerto, a form to which his teacher Max Bruch adhered until the very end. Oscar Straus's claim that he was Bruch's "favorite pupil" is made understandable by this romantic piano concerto, but he very much moves beyond his teacher, is bolder harmonically, and is more reminiscent of Liszt, whom Bruch rejected, along with his idea to have movements form sequences without breaks.

Classical Music

The court of the Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt developed a magnificent and richly varied music culture very much standing up to comparison with larger music centers such as Hamburg and Mannheim. The Darmstadt court ensemble must have had considerable musical forces at its command. For five decades the court chapel master Christoph Graupner was the absolute ruler in this musical kingdom. This universal spirit and highly individual and original composer unfortunately receives much too little attention today. Along with the Mannheimer Hofkapelle Baroque Orchestra under the conductor Florian Heyerick and with top soloists, we at cpo have committed ourselves to changing these circumstances. Vol. 1, Das Leiden Jesu, presents recordings of three passion cantatas by Graupner. What we hear is a composer of the late Baroque who (like his friend Telemann) participated in a perennial quest for new expressive options – which brings genuine pleasure! The key to his personal style is found in his delight in experimentation and his incredibly individual instrumentation technique. Graupner fascinates us not so much with compelling »melodies« as with intensive playing with the various tone colors made available to him by the energetic members of the court ensemble and their instruments.

Like his contemporary Louis Couperin, Johann Jacob Froberger preferred to let his music speak for itself. He left no known treatises to clue the interpreter one way or the other as to interpretation, save for the usual dance markings in the suites themselves. Once in a rare while he'll title a movement programmatically, alluding to an extramusical subject (such as in the Allemande of Suite III here subtitled "Wasserfall" or waterfall); but otherwise, the performer is left to freely interpret within the stylistic keyboard parameters of the time. For the less imaginative performer this can be stultifying. For the adventurous one however, the rich variety of Froberger's ideas can bring great joy.

On this new two-CD set from CPO, harpsichordist Ludger Rèmy is thankfully up to the task. He offers the debut recording of Froberger's complete autograph Strasbourg Manuscript, an amazing collection of 14 keyboard suites brimming with fine ideas which was discovered in 1675, eight years after its composer's death. How youthful and exuberant these works are! And how pensive and introspective they can become. The scope and variety of Froberger's imagination places him on par with Rameau, the Couperins, Frescobaldi, and d'Anglebert in their prime. In Germany certainly, he had no peer before J.S. Bach. Listen to the marvelous Gigue in Suite XII, for instance. Rèmy's pointed contrapuntal voice-leading may make the piece impossible to dance to--it is, after all, a stylization--yet it's musically fascinating, a real treat for the ear. In the Allemande of Suite IV, Rèmy treats each run as if it were a new beginning; a fresh start in a series of fresh starts that ends up completeing the piece. The simple minute-long Courante in Suite X is a model of dignity undermined, with it's cocky twists and flourishes humorously interupting the march. This set is loaded with similarly brilliant inventive moments.

CPO's sound is excellent; Rèmy's harpsichord has sufficient weight, yet sparkles gracefully. His fascinating, personal notes are appropriately suited to the diverse interpretive nature of the program. Since this is the only recording of these pieces, there is no comparison. However, for those inclined to further their enjoyment of Froberger, I heartily recommend last year's "Ou L'intranquillité" by longstanding Froberger champion Blandine Verlet (Astree Naive), as well as a much older, transcendental program performed by Enrico Baiano (Symphonia). Like these, this recording could not be recommended more highly!
--John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by Hans Rott. Ensemble: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies.

After some initial criticism, Respighi’s Marie Victoire has gone on to be hailed as one of the most important productions during Kirsten Harms’s tenure at the German Opera of Berlin and as a beacon in the Berlin opera history of the first decade of the twentieth century. This fourth of Respighi’s total of ten operas was composed during 1912-13. Marie Victoire was supposed to celebrate its premiere at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in early 1915, but these plans were thwarted, with the foreign policy of World War I surely playing a principal role here. It was 89 years later, in the spring of 2004, that the premiere of Marie Victoire was held in Rome, and it then went on to be performed with great success in Berlin in 2009.

After its German premiere, Opernwelt wrote, "The German Opera of Berlin demonstrates its high level of achievement with the rediscovery of Respighi’s opera – with passion both for the music and for the stage action." And the conductor Michail Jurowski perfectly summed up the significance of this impressive work as follows: "Respighi’s music emphasizes the drama, not the culinary opera. The interaction of text and music, of scene and song, is decisive. The composer discovers new musico-dramatic worlds. He turns away from Puccini and to the music dramas of Richard Strauss and Sergei Prokofiev, thus marking the beginning of the modern opera in Italy. In La fiamma Respighi deliberately writes in an archaizing style in order to bring to life the gloomy atmosphere of medieval Byzantium. In contrast, in Marie Victoire we hear a music more reminiscent of the tone of Pini di Roma: wild, with grand surging in orchestra. Perhaps the music has too much ‘French lightness‘ for the friends of the Italian verismo; for the admirers of French impressionism from about the same period, it perhaps has too much ‘Italian verve’ – but in fact one understands why it was that Alberto Franchetti, after listening to Marie Victoire, told his young colleague Respighi that with this work the new path of the opera had been found."

Concertgoers and critics alike rave about Silke Aichhorn’s entertainingly moderated concerts, and her goal is nothing less than the redefinition of the image of the harp! Active as a soloist and chamber musician, Aichhorn is one of the most sought-after and versatile harpists of her generation. Following her release featuring Eichner’s harp concertos, she now interprets for cpo three harp concertos by Johann Wilhelm Hertel, a composer regarded as one of the most important representatives of the empfindsamer Stil during the German preclassical period. His concerto oeuvre comprises some fifty solo concertos, and seventeen harpsichord concertos by him are known today. Three works – heard on this release – are assigned to the harp or harpsichord: "Concerto per la Harpa o il Cembalo concertato." The harp’s softer tone seems to make it the more suitable instrument for these charming works of brilliant virtuosity offering top-quality entertainment. Genuine enrichments of the quite compact harp repertoire are in store!

One of the nicest organ recordings I’ve heard.

I’ve been aware of Charles Koechlin for a very long time, having played flute pieces of his for almost as long as I can remember. It’s only relatively recently however that his name seems to have been cropping up more in the CD catalogues, with fascinating and remarkable works such as the piano cycle Les Heures Persanes showing previously little known aspects of the composer. Organist Christian Schmitt has here recorded a representative sample of organ works by Koechlin, and as many of these are première recordings this disc will add considerably to our supply of Koechlinalea.

Koechlin himself was more of a pianist than an organist, and the conventional nature of earlier works such as the Choral in F minor develops into further extremes of contrapuntal extremity as evidenced by the later opus numbered Choral Final du Requiem, which pushes canonic techniques into a labyrinthine elegy. If you like Hindemith’s organ sonatas, then the three Sonatines which Koechlin wrote during 1928-29 occupy comparable melodic and harmonic territory. Koechlin’s fascination and deep study of Bach comes through strongly in the Finale of Sonatine III, and the first and second of these pieces contrast with the rest of the programme in also having lighter Pastorale movements. There is also a good deal of melodic charm in the Quatre Chorals, produced as a by-product of the composer’s own composition classes.

This programme contains what is apparently Koechlin’s last work, the eccentric Pièce pour orgue, Op. 226, which shows the composer exploring the essence of his own expressive palette in what the booklet notes describe as “sketchy textures.” More monumental is the extended Fugue Op.133 II originally written for “a symphonic string apparatus”, and with seemingly impossible chromatic lines. More gentle and improvisatory is the Adagio pour Grand-orgue Op.201, which nonetheless builds a remarkable structure in which one can become totally immersed.

The recently rebuilt 1950s Marktkirche organ is a tremendous instrument, and very well suited to this music. A more nasal French sound might arguably be more appropriate, but whether consciously or not the organ sound here points to the universality of Koechlin’s expressive world and to my ears is both appropriate and highly enjoyable. The CPO recording is very rich and deep even in plain stereo. As an SACD multi-channel experience it really is of demonstration quality. This is one of those inspiring releases which anyone keen on organ music and 20 ^th century repertoire should have around. The organ music of Charles Koechlin should hold no fears for anyone attracted by the romantic worlds of Widor and Duruflé, and indeed it often harks back to more ancient worlds in its sometimes antique style and use of the models of Bach. This organ sound is woodsmoke and nostalgia to me, and has restored my faith in its qualities as a truly expressive instrument. Superbly performed and produced with useful booklet notes, it is one of the nicest organ recordings I’ve heard for a long time.

-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International