FOERSTER: Eva

T he Strauss family was one of music's greatest dynasties. In this glittering disc, we hear such classics as the Radetzky March of Johann Strauss I, and his son, Johann Strauss II's overture to Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron), one of the enduring masterpieces of the Viennese concert repertoire. The irresistibly exciting Unter Donner und Blitz (Thunder and Lightning) offers thunderous delight, whilst Ander schenen blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube) is one of the most unforgettable melodies ever written. Strauss the Elder's second son, Josef, was an outstanding composer in his own right, as demonstrated by the frenzy of excitement that is the Jokey-Polka (Jockey-Polka). After positions as Chief Conductor of Prague State Opera and First Permanent Conductor of Leipzig Opera, Johannes Wildner was the General Music Director of the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia (Germany) for ten years from 1997. His years of experience as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra have given his conducting a distinctive stamp.

From time to time, the general idea gains currency that national anthems are nowadays an anachronism. According to the critics' arguments, these anthems were the product of a period of awakening nationalism. Today, however, there is wide endeavour to overcome narrow, national ways of thinking and acting, with the great aim of promoting the peaceful community and union of nations, to realize which should be the first principle for politicians all over the world. Criticism of this kind may surely be justified, considered from the standpoint of those seeking a United Europe. On the other hand we must not underestimate the sanctity accorded national anthems, carefully guarded symbols which enjoy the same respect and protection as national flags. They express love of the fatherland, pride in the native country, and trust in the nation. This is the reason for the sincerity with which people regard and sing their own national anthem, and the respect accorded to the anthems of other peoples. The solemn, dignified start and close of each official meeting between peoples divided by national borders is provided by national anthems. Yet when before have meetings between representatives of different nations been as frequent as today? Peoples meet at sporting events, at international youth gatherings, or at political conferences, heads of the states and delegations are received, cultural weeks and festivals are celebrated, and on such occasions the national anthems surely contribute to the understanding of other peoples, as well as offering the occasion for personal contact among individuals. Nothing, then, is more important in our time than mutual understanding, since misunderstandings and prejudices have in the past brought so much disaster to the nations of the world. Since publication of the CD-set Complete National Anthems of the World, Vols. 1-6 (Marco Polo 8.206001) in 1998, the following independent states have introduced new national anthems, restored from former anthems of the earlier history of their respective countries: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Congo-Kinshasa (formerly Zaire), Georgia, Iraq, Mozambique, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia and Turkmenistan. It has therefore been necessary to produce a complete new set to replace the previous series. In addition to the national anthem of the newly independent state of East Timor, the Grand Ducal Hymn of Luxembourg and the Swedish Royal Song, the previous set furthermore included many state hymns of autonomous dependencies, overseas territories, other regional administrative bodies and ethnic groups, as well as the hymns of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the United Nations Organization, the European Union and the International Olympic Committee. The anthems are performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava under the conductor Peter Breiner (born 1957), who has arranged and orchestrated all the anthems with great sensitivity. It is a highly successful undertaking which will arouse the enthusiasm of music collectors, ethnologists, heads of protocol and sports promoters.

Zhonghu Concerto & Pieces for Erhu and Orchestra

The music of the Strauss family is justifiably famous, but many other talented composers were producing popular music of comparable quality in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawn from a unique collection of original archive material compiled by The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain, much of which has been reconstructed or orchestrated by John Georgiadis, this first volume of two presents world première recordings of works by many undeservedly forgotten central European light music composers.

The 12th volume of Konstantin Scherbakov’s ongoing Leopold Godowsky cycle primarily features shorter original works and transcriptions of German art songs. Compared to his elaborate Chopin Etudes paraphrases, Godowsky’s reworkings of songs by Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, and Böhm are relatively restrained and technically manageable, although the Strauss/Godowsky Ständchen’s intricate filigree requires, shall we say, a little practice to master it well.

As always, Scherbakov is in complete command, technically and musically. His sense of textural foreground and background particularly shines in the Six Waltz-Poems for left hand alone, while his firm articulation and rhythmic drive in the Op. 11 No. 1 Concert Study prove more interesting than the actual music. These qualities also describe Scherbakov’s bravura performance of the Weber Perpetuum Mobile, where Godowsky piles more technical hurdles on top of that composer’s already challenging First Sonata Rondo finale. In Godowsky’s hands, Weber’s Invitation to the Dance gets swallowed up into a huge contrapuntal paraphrase, packed with chromatic reharmonizations and garish inner voices. Somehow Scherbakov’s straightforward elegance and stylish poise prevent the music from sounding overloaded. Marco Polo’s engineering has measurably improved over the course of this cycle, and piano mavens will appreciate Keith Anderson’s informative booklet notes.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Contemporaries of the Strauss Family, Vol. 3

LUMBYE: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4

From one of the most famous 19th-century families of musicians and known as “The Strauss of Berlin”, Hungarian-born Josef Gung’l toured widely with his orchestras, and the series of 61 concerts they gave at Hasselbacken, Stockholm in 1871 became one of the greatest events in the history of music in Sweden. This programme recreates such an evening at Hazel Hill, with waltzes such as Gung’l’s memorial to Johann Strauss I, Die Immortellen, dances by celebrated contemporaries, and nephew Johann’s famous march En Avant! - Naxos

This seventeenth volume in Marco Polo' popular Johann Strauss I Edition celebrates the internationally adulated Viennese composer' unflagging ability to create dance music for all occasions and to stimulate a public avid for ever-new entertainment.

The Chinese music here recorded is of a thoroughly traditional kind. There are, of course, certain fundamental differences between Chinese and Western music, exemplified in the music for the qin, the ancient Chinese zither, with its emphasis on a melodic line of great subtlety, in which nuances of timbre are of great importance, coupled with its symbolic significance. While much of Western music is abstract, Chinese music tends to be programmatic, offering usually a general picture rather than a detailed sequence of events, although there are occasional examples of the latter. The present collection includes examples of regional music as well as two examples of recent compositions in traditional style. The nine pieces can be classified as follows: Moon in Xunyang is an example of Jiangnan music, traditional folk music of the Shanghai region. Bells from the Temple, Sorrow of Zhaojun, Autumn Moon in the Han Palace and Flying Birds are examples of Cantonese ensemble pieces. Beyond the Frontier and Chanting in the Temple are transcribed, the first from a well-known Tang Dynasty piece for pipa (Chinese lute) and the second from a work for qin (traditional Chinese zither). Jin Chun Luo and Resentment are original compositions, the first based in Chaozhou music. Four instruments are used for the present recording, erhu (two-string fiddle), pipa (Chinese lute), zheng (zither) and xiao (end-blown flute), played by Hong Kong musicians Lam Fung, So Chun Bo, Wong Kuen and Loo Kah Chi. The music is played by various combinations of these instruments in quartet, trio or duet, with one solo for erhu, Flying Birds.

Throughout his life, Eduard Strauss's compositions were unfavorably compared with those by his elder brothers, Johann II and Josef, yet many of his works, especially those dating from the 1870's and 1880's, easily stand comparison with those crafted by his two famous siblings. Moreover, in two particular dance genres - the quick polka and the galop - Eduard was in a class of his own. As the Strauss authority Professor Franz Mailer stated: ''Posterity must make restitution to Eduard Strauss.'' It is to be hoped that, at the very least, this present recording will encourage a reassessment of ''handsome Edi's'' unique musical genius.

ZIEHRER: Selected Dances and Marches, Vol. 3

LUMBYE: Orchestral Works, Vol. 5

This sixteenth volume in Marco Polo' ongoing Johann Strauss I Edition includes dances that reflect topical events, obsessions and the ever ubiquitous cult of the personality.

While globalization advances, all countries staunchly retain two unique features: their distinctive national flag and a bonding national anthem. The anthems reflect an enormous indigenous diversity, but relatively few are generally known by citizens of other nations, making any comprehensive compendium a source of endless interest and discovery. We invite you to take a musical tour of Naxos’ definitive set of national and regional anthems, from Algeria to Kuwait. Lapland to Zanzibar, and all stops in between. You’ll be delighted by the gems that are waiting to be discovered and compiled into either personal or family favorites. And you can check out the flags in the process with our informative supporting booklets! Welcome to the Naxos set of The Complete National Anthems of the World.

The Central Philharmonic Orchestra Plays Popular Chinese Mel

Liu Dehai Plays Pipa Favourites

This new release contains compositions from Hong Kong TV and Movie Classics. Violinist Takako Nishizaki is the featured soloist on this recording. The works are performed here by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Henry Shek, Varujan Kojian, and Kenneth Jean.

This penultimate volume charts Strauss' life from the revolutions of 1848 to his trip to London to perform before Queen Victoria the following year.

Popular Pipa Music: King Chu Doffs His Armour

USANDIZAGA: Mendi Mendiyan (High in the Mountains)

Herrmann: Snows of Kilimanjaro (The) / 5 Fingers

This second volume in Marco Polo's crucial survey of the symphonic cycle by the most prominent Slovak symphonist of the first half of the past century—Alexander Moyzes (1906-84)—comprises two consecutive though quite contrasted works.

The Third or "Little" Symphony of 1942 is one of the composer's shortest and least problematical, and thus an excellent point of entry into his musical world. It is adapted from an earlier wind quintet, and its atypical five-movement format projects an easygoing and celebratory character. Though it opens with a near-Beethovenian motto-motif, which recurs in the finale and thus helps the piece from lapsing into a species of symphonic suite, the symphony quickly springs into an essentially joyous and eventful kind of momentum. With its relatively compact movements—a Larghetto Variazioni, Presto Scherzo, and Largamente Intermezzo framed by two highly charged Allegros— the work is suffused with Moyzes's very personal but also universalized distillation of the Slovak folk spirit.

The Fourth Symphony, however—initially written during the dark days of World War II and extensively revised in 1952—is a very different kind of piece. Scored for a large orchestra and running 40 minutes, it is among the longest and most elevated of Moyzes's 12. Utilizing once again an integrative motto-theme, it is usually interpreted as both a protest against war and a healing evocation of the Slovak past and countryside. The 16-minute opening Andante con moto sets the tone for the whole work: one of expansive breadth and slowly unfolding narrative where the heroic and epic strains generate a high level of majesty and grandiloquence. These moods carry over through the quasi-Impressionist textures of the Adagio (in which a brief scherzo flare-up is embedded) and reach fulfillment in the guardedly affirmative Allegro moderato finale. Although the annotator speaks of stylistic parallels with Sibelius and Mahler, to these ears the idiom remains tenaciously Slovak in sonority and personality.

The veteran conductor Ladislav Slovak has been identified with the Fourth Symphony over many years, having recorded an analog version in the early 1960s. That earlier performance was perhaps somewhat tighter and more forceful than this more relaxed approach of three decades later. Nonetheless, this is a most sympathetic reading that succeeds in melding Moyzes's tendencies toward the rhetorical and the episodic into a satisfyingly coherent whole.

Another illuminating installment in the reconstruction of the mosaic of 20th-century Czech music, and an essential purchase for those whose interest focuses on the modern symphony.

-- Paul A. Snook, FANFARE [7/2001]

Music of the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279)