Carl Goldmark was not a symphonist – and that is no secret. His few attempts in this field – an early work, in part lost, and his second symphony, his op. 35, did not add up to much, and the Ländliche Hochzeit, to which the generic label »symphony« was assigned, does nothing more than confirm that this master of orchestral colors was above all good at atmospheric and character pictures. Goldmark very evidently needed a programmatic or dramatic “pretext” in order to rise up to his creative best, which is why he was able to gain the greatest fame and to score his most important successes with his stage works (tops here: Die Königin von Saba) as well as with his concert overtures. As he himself said, a change of milieu was good for his powers of inspiration, and so he repeatedly sought out extremes while selecting his materials and subjects. Accordingly, this new album with the Bamberg Symphony and the conductor Fabrice Bollon is also a “composite”: it complements Vol. 1 (555 160-2) with a program including the three mirthful overtures Im Frühling (In the Spring), In Italien (In Italy), and Aus Jugendtagen (From the Days of Youth), the preludes to his last two operas, Götz von Berlichingen and Ein Wintermärchen (A Winter’s Tale), and a special rarity in the form of the symphonic tone picture Zrinyi – a musical monument to this Hungarian-Croatian national hero and a work with which Goldmark wanted to express his gratitude to his home Magyar territory.

Louise Farrenc, a fine early romantic-era composer, led a charmed life as a youngster. Born into a ‘high art’ family, she also had the advantage of coming into contact with dozens of other artistic families at the Sorbonne. With an impeccable cultural background and artistic bloodline, Farrenc was certainly in excellent position to learn piano and music composition. She also was trained by some of the most esteemed musical artists of the time: Antoine Reicha, Johann Hummel and Ignaz Moscheles.

Although Farrenc had to deal with restrictive views concerning acceptable female roles in life, she always considered herself first and foremost a composer of music. Her works were widely performed in Europe during her lifetime, but her current reputation is slim indeed. Her obscurity likely derives from two considerations. First, unlike Clara Schumann or Fanny Hensel, Farrenc was not aligned with a famous relative. Second, Farrenc’s music was of the Germanic tradition, and this style was not popular in 19th century France.

Of the best composers of Farrenc’s era, her music most reminds me of Beethoven’s with a dash of Chopin added into the mix. Her works display an expert sense of construction, ample variety of form and emotional content, and a fine penchant for attractive melodies. However, readers should not think that Farrenc possessed the musical inspiration of a Beethoven or Chopin. Farrenc’s musical magic is more in the range of Hummel and Reicha, which makes her music highly desirable as opposed to essential.

This is not CPO’s first Farrenc recording. The company has already issued a disc of Farrenc symphonies and another of her large-scale chamber works. Those recordings were well received, and I have no doubt that this new solo piano disc will also garner fine reviews. I should also relate that being a pianist, Farrenc’s early compositions consisted primarily of piano music, and that the works on the new disc are from her early career.

Konstanze Eickhorst has the honor of performing Farrenc’s piano music. Ms. Eickhorst is no stranger to Farrenc’s music, performing the piano parts of CPO’s previous chamber music disc mentioned above. Eickhorst currently enjoys a busy concert schedule that started with winning the Clara Haskil Competition in 1981 at the age of twenty. She has also won other piano competitions and performed with many of the most prestigious orchestras and conductors in Europe in addition to chamber music groups such as the Melos Quartet, Carmina Quartet, and the Linos Ensemble. Eickhorst has played a wide range of keyboard music from the Baroque period up to contemporary pieces. Her recordings include Bach’s Goldberg Variations for Bella Musica and Clara Schumann’s piano works on CPO.

Eickhorst programs three types of Farrenc’s piano music: works based on a basic theme with variations, character pieces and Études. Of the two variation works, the Air russe varié is the more contemplative and consists of a Preludio, Theme, eight short variations and a Finale. This expansive structure is expertly crafted by Farrenc and quite distinctive. The Preludio is a serious Moderato of a pleading and compelling nature that is followed by the basic theme that I must admit is rather simple in the manner of the Diabelli theme that Beethoven made into a marvel of variation technique. Although not at Beethoven’s exalted level, Farrenc gives us eight inventive variations. The Finale is rather special, having a first section of Bachian fugue proportion with overlapping voices and a second section of exuberance and triumph.

The other variation work, the Variations brillantes, takes its basic theme from the cavatina "Nel veder la tua costanza" from Gaetano Donizetti’s Opera "Anna Bolena". Although of equal length to the Air russe varié, there are only four variations, which does lead to greater thematic development. Further, the Variations brillantes is very much a work for public display with its virtuosic requirements and exhilarating nature.

The two character pieces on the disc, the Valse brillante and the Nocturne, were both published in the early 1860s but may well have been composed in the early years of Farrenc’s musical career. Neither piece displays the brilliant artistry of Chopin’s character pieces, but both are rewarding in their own right. The Valse brillante is true to its title and consists of a series of contrasting dance themes of a generally upbeat and vivacious nature. The Nocturne is in the style of Chopin’s works in this genre and is quite lovely and poignant.

I have left the best for last: Eickhorst’s selection of nine of the thirty Études of Opus 26. With this body of music, Farrenc shows her expertise in conveying a compendium of the piano techniques used during the first decades of the 19th Century, employing the extended ‘circle of fifths’ as her structural guide. Of course, we are not able to follow the architectural path when only given selections, but Farrenc often programmed just a few of her Opus 26 Études in piano recitals. Each of the pieces is in ABA form and ranges in length from under two minutes to over four minutes.

The Études Nos. 22 and 19 are so propulsive and concentrated that they take on a relentless quality that is compelling. No. 7 is a gorgeous and uplifting Andante, while No. 4 is thoroughly invigorating. Contemplation and melancholy pervade No. 10, and No. 11 has the relentless qualities mentioned for Nos. 22 and 19. My personal favorite is No. 12, another Bachian style fugue that clearly reveals Farrenc’s affinity for baroque form and counterpoint.

In summary, the new CPO disc of Farrenc solo piano music is a highly rewarding effort having both excellent music and performances. The recorded sound is fine, although a little thin compared to current standards of piano richness in recordings. This enjoyable disc represents great entertainment value and should appeal to piano enthusiasts and anyone wanting to travel the byways of the early romantic period.

-- Don Satz, MusicWeb International

Violinist/composer Karol Lipinski (1790-1861) has been dubbed the "Polish Paganini". Is that nickname a compliment or something of a slight? The two men were contemporaries who at first meeting were mutual admirers and even colleagues in presenting double concerts; later, their partnership soured, and now Lipinski's soubriquet might sound more like second-best than a mark of distinction. And although Lipinski's contemporaries left records of their admiration for his performing skills (among his fans were Berlioz, Schumann, and Wagner), we can only directly judge his merit by his compositions.


Like the Italian violinist, Lipinski focused his energies on writing caprices and concertos for the violin--horrendously difficult works that meander quite a bit, as evidenced on this disc, while providing a compelling platform for a talented technician to let sparks fly. Here, French/German violinist Albrecht Breuninger and conductor Wojciech Rajski reexamine Lipinski in a program that features a complete reading of his second violin concerto as well as the allegro movements from Lipinski's third and fourth concertos. (Lipinski was not a composer of any great brevity; each allegro runs about 15 minutes.) These concertos may have all the heft of a cream puff, but all the tricks of a virtuoso violinist's trade are here: flashy runs, extended trills, dazzling pizzicato passages, the whole spectrum of bowing techniques, outrageous string crossings, and a tonal range that takes the soloist to every left-hand position possible.


And Breuninger soars; his light and unerring touch, such as in the concluding two minutes of the third concerto's Allegro movement, makes these thrilling passages sound like child's play. These showcases are where Lipinski really excels, but don't overlook the sensual lyricism of the one Adagio (from the second concerto), where Breuninger's masterful sense of phrasing brings out all of the piece's shapeliness. The orchestral accompaniment is no less showy: the haughty, pompous opening to the "Concerto Militaire" signals Lipinski's love of grand gestures, and Rajski and his forces dispatch their duty with plenty of zest. The orchestral sound is more two-dimensional than would be ideal; the colors of the brass and winds in particular are quite muted in favor of putting Breuninger upfront. By contrast, the violinist's sound is vibrant and fully realized.
--Anastasia Tsioulcas, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Yes, it's really that Schlemihl, the poor guy in Jewish folklore for whom nothing goes right. The composer describes the work's "orgy" sequence as follows: "A fat naked witch, with breasts and belly hanging down, arrives riding a sow to the tune 'Ach! Du Lieber Augustin'." Now who wouldn't want to hear that? The music actually sounds a bit like the waltz from the second movement of Mahler's Ninth Symphony with lots more percussion thrown in (in fact it was composed a couple of years after Mahler's death). The work's subtitle, "A Symphony Life Story", doesn't really begin to describe it, for the piece is a gigantic parody, principally of Strauss' Ein Heldenleben and Sinfonia Domestica. As with those works it has sections that describe the title character's wife, his child, and his various tribulations, but it's at once less specific than Strauss and if anything even more colorful.


Take the opening, a very funny Wagner/Strauss parody that represents the "hero". All of the clichés are firmly in place: the simple triadic melodies, bold writing for brass, and repeated wind chords. There's only one problem--the music can't make up its mind what key it's in. However, the composer's message couldn't be clearer, and while there's much that's quite beautiful (the music of "the woman" and the entire last few minutes), the overriding impression remains one of good-natured fun. There's even a brief tenor solo toward the end that basically says "Your life hasn't been a total waste and you've earned a rest" (or words to that effect), plus some solemn writing for organ that hits an aptly religious note, but not too seriously. It's all gloriously played by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Michail Jurowski and fabulously well recorded, and I can't recommend it highly enough.


Reznicek apparently did for Raskolnikoff (of Crime and Punishment fame) what Beethoven did for Leonore. This is the second of two Raskolnikoff overtures that he wrote, and it dates from the 1920s (Reznicek was born in 1860, the same year as Mahler, and died in 1945). While not as interesting as Schlemihl (no surprise there), and despite the fact that it takes a while to get going, the piece is just as immaculately crafted and certainly as well performed here. The ending, with the birdsong from the slow movement of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony putting in a brief appearance, can't fail to please even if it leaves open the question of what any of it has to do with Dostoyevsky. Never mind; Reznicek is a major composer and one of the great discoveries of this (or any) year. CPO's ongoing series of recordings is turning into a major event. Just remember, you heard it here first. [3/5/2004]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Born in 1819 as a Prussian citizen in a Saarbrücken suburb then named Goffontaine (today’s Scheidt-Schafbrücke), when Louis Théodore Gouvy died in 1898 he was regarded as a Frenchman in Germany and as a German in France. No other foreign composer’s works were performed as frequently in Leipzig during the 1850s as those by Gouvy. In his symphonic oeuvre, Gouvy displays the bravura and clarté that his contemporaries valued in his music. “Melodic richness, natural sovereignty in the treatment of harmony, and a completely unaffected originality… play[ed] with fine nuance…” (klassik-heute)

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music