Along with Lars-Erik Larsson and Dag Wirén, Erland von Koch was part of a generation of composers who all made their débuts during the 1930s. Active until the end of a very long life (1910–2009), von Koch became one of Sweden’s best loved composers, himself describing his artistic goals as follows: ‘I aim for a simple, clear, melodic style, often with elements of folk tone and with a definite rhythmic profile... The older you get, the more aware you become of the importance of melody.’ One of von Koch’s most frequently performed orchestral works is Nordiskt capriccio, which was inspired by a folk tune from Dalecarlia, and which forms the festive finale on the present disc. The compositions which precede it here are less well known, however – Impulsi (the first part of a triptych later completed with the works Echi and Ritmi) was taken up by conductors such as Sergiu Comis­siona and Walter Weller, but the two symphonies appear for the first time on disc. Especially in Symphony No.3, influences from Bartók and Hindemith can be detected – composed in 1948, it is a work which in its thematic material contrasts defiance with lyricism and, finally, a feeling of release. Sinfonia seria, von Koch’s fourth work in the genre, followed a few years later, undergoing a final revision in 1962. As indicated by the title, the underlying mood of the work is grave and bittersweet – possibly this is reflected in the composer’s own words regarding the thankless task of writing symphonies: ‘They are rarely played – especially if they are Swedish – and it takes a long time before they are “discovered” and accepted, if indeed they ever are.’ With this disc, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Per Hammarström are making their case for a hoped-for, and long overdue ‘discovery’ of Erland von Koch’s symphonies.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

This is the best Liszt orchestral recital to come along in many a moon, and it's all the more enjoyable given the involvement of Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, a fine conductor and a real trooper who has not received much attention since he ended his association with EMI several decades ago. Hopefully, this release signals an extensive new partnership with BIS, because Frübeck has the potential to become a major musical voice given half a chance. My, but this man knows his Liszt! Les préludes has grandeur, athletic vigor, and a genuine rush of excitement in the closing pages, with nary a trace of gratuitous bombast. Anyone who knows these works understands just what an achievement this represents. Take, for example, the concluding phrases for lower strings and trombones at the end of Tasso's allegro sections: Frübeck conjures an ideally rich, dark sound, perfectly balanced, never crude. Similarly, the much-maligned Festklänge displays nobility without excessive weight or rhythmic ponderousness. Best of all, Orpheus' sweetness avoids any hint of tackiness, thanks in large part to sensitive phrasing applied to warm, cultivated string sonorities.

Frübeck secures marvelous playing from the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he has been Music Director since 1994. The solo winds sport fresh timbres and excellent intonation, the brass cut nicely but never overpower, and the strings attack their parts with great confidence and rhythmic security. Add to these qualities first class recorded sound, which gives the percussion excellent impact without undue spotlighting, and if you have ever doubted the quality of this music, here's a disc that should dispel any qualms. Incidentally, Festklänge sports a tune that sounds remarkably like the Canadian national anthem, which I always thought was stolen from the opening of Act 2 of Mozart's Magic Flute. Go figure. Recordings such as this are all too likely to be dismissed because of the repertoire, or lost in a torrent of new releases arriving monthly in the shops, particularly as Frübeck isn't the "name" he once was. So don't make the mistake of passing this one by.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

HARTMANN: Overtures

Classical Music

RUBINSTEIN Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 94. Caprice russe, Op. 102. Der Thurm zu Babel, Op. 80: Overture • Grigorios Zamparas (pn); Jon Ceander Mitchell, cond; Bohuslav Martin? PO • CENTAUR 3204 (74:55)


The fifth and last of Anton Rubinstein’s piano concertos was composed in 1874. Dedicated to the French pianist and composer Charles-Valentin Alkan (misspelled “Arkan” in Centaur’s notes), it is by far the longest of Rubinstein’s works in this genre, comparable in duration if not stature to the concertos of Brahms. The first movement alone lasts over 22 minutes in this performance, with a total timing of 50 minutes. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that Rubinstein chose the same key for this work, E?-Major, as did Beethoven for his “Emperor” Concerto. That lengthy first movement is a grand, expansive, often rhapsodic statement, although as is usual with Rubinstein, there is too much repetition. The slow movement strikes me as rather perfunctory, but the brilliant, exuberant finale, at 17 minutes nearly as long as the first movement, offers considerable pleasure. The performance by Grigorios Zamparas is straightforward, crisp, fluent, and technically proficient. He does not quite match the brilliance, forcefulness, and spontaneity that pianists such as Joseph Banowetz and Marc-André Hamelin have brought to other Rubinstein concertos, although he does contribute some pretty impressive rapid passagework. Hamelin, however, has not recorded this concerto, and the Banowetz reading, on Marco Polo, is currently available only as an MP3 download. I have not heard it, but the Marco Polo catalog is gradually being transferred to Naxos, so Banowetz may eventually be available again on CD. On the other hand, the Centaur recording, although a bit dry and unreverberant, is better focused and balanced and more realistic than the Marco Polo series, and the piano sound is solid and well defined. Peaks have plenty of impact and are free from strain or harshness. No other recordings of this concerto are currently available.


The Caprice russe , an appealing 20-minute fantasy for piano and orchestra on three folk or folk-like themes, was written in 1878. Zamparas once again offers a straightforward and proficient performance, perhaps lacking a degree of the flamboyance that Rubinstein’s music seems to demand. The only other recording of this piece in the catalog is that of Banowetz, also coupled with his performance of the Fifth Concerto and therefore available only as an MP3. Rubinstein’s “sacred opera” Der Thurm zu Babel (The Tower of Babel), one of several he wrote on biblical themes and to German librettos, dates from 1869. Its brief overture is deliberate and brooding but uneventful. No other recordings of the overture and none of the opera itself are available.


Under Jon Ceander Mitchell, the Bohuslav Martin? Philharmonic shows itself to be a capable and proficient ensemble, although lacking the tonal opulence of some more famous orchestras. The violins, at least as recorded here, can sometimes seem thin and steely, but the winds are reliable, more so than in the Slovak orchestra used in the Banowetz recordings of the first four concertos. (A different Slovak orchestra performs in the Fifth Concerto.)


In the absence of any current competition on CD, I can recommend these accomplished and well-recorded performances to anyone interested in Rubinstein’s music.


FANFARE: Daniel Morrison

SUITE FROM PELLEAS ET MELISSAN

A new addition to Centaur's Complete Recordings of Anton Rubinstein Piano Concertos, this release features Grigorios Zamparas, Jon Caender Mitchell and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra. Anton Rubinstein was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor where he ranked among the besth 19th-century pianists. Grigorios Zamparas has received worldwide acclaim for his astounding musicianship and versatile performances. He has performed with prestigious orchestras such as the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra, Indiana University Symphony Orchestra and many others.

Classical Music

VICTORIA Sancta Maria succurre miseris. Salve Regina. Super flumina Babylonis. Seniores populi. Vidi speciosam. Q quam gloriosum. Misericordiae Domini. Lux aeterna. Congratulamini mihi. Kyrie • Harry Christophers, dir; The Sixteen • CORO CORDVD 6 (DVD: 60:00)


This hour-long program was produced for BBC together with Spanish and German television to mark the anniversary of the composer’s death. The singing was filmed in the Church of San Antonio de los Alemanes in Madrid, a lavishly ornate Baroque church built by Philip III soon after coming to the throne and before Tomás Luis de Victoria’s death. Simon Russell Beale narrates the life of the composer and Harry Christophers has some comments to add. The video format allows the integration of music, painting (El Greco), architecture, and spirituality into one presentation. St. Teresa of Avila was also born in Victoria’s home town, where he knew her as a boy. She reformed the Carmelite order along with St. John of the Cross, and both contributed immensely to the spirit of the times by their writings in mystical theology. We also see the chapel of the Carmelite convent where Victoria spent the last 25 years of his life as chaplain to the dowager empress Maria, Philip II’s sister, and the chapel of El Escorial, the palace that Philip II built outside Madrid.


The music is a sampling of Victoria’s output, including excerpts from his two masterpieces, the Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae and the Officium Defunctorum . Christophers argues that Victoria is the greatest composer of the Renaissance, a claim that has been made for Palestrina and Lassus, but one that has led him to a fervent interpretation of the composer’s music on six CDs (including the Tenebrae Responsories on Virgin). There are several video features added to the main program. Sometimes the music seems subsidiary to the unfolding story, but the whole is greater than its parts. This disc is a worthy tribute to mark the quatercentenary of a great composer.


FANFARE: J. F. Weber


NTSC, Region 0, 16:9 (Widescreen), Color, English w/ Spanish Sub (Stereo), Not Rated, Run Time: 60 min.

ARGENTA: ZARZUELA AND SPANISH

Despite charitable funds raised by the Fortune and Viennese Kreutzer polkas revolutionary Habsburg insurgencies became a dangerous fact of life in the Vienna of 1848. Strauss (the Elder) demonstrated solidarity through his Austrian National Guard March lampooning the old order with his March of the Legion of Students. Heard on this recording in it's original more transparent orchestration and without the drum roll the irrepressibly festive Radetzky March celebrated military victory in Italy and became his most famous work. Viennese citizens filled the carnival season ballrooms and the escapist Stress Relievers waltzes which conclude this recording roused frenzied cheering.

Du Mingxin: Violin Concerto, The Goddess of River Luo & Autu

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Standards strongly maintained– giving a budget price injection to a notably well curated series.

This is another emigrant from Marco Polo [8.570184] and joins the Naxos Film Music Classics series, a burgeoning one that reflects well on the company’s steady devotion to the art on disc. The music is by Max Steiner and was written for two Bette Davis vehicles, All This, and Heaven Too and the post-War A Stolen Life.

One thing that distinguishes the series, apart from the purely musical values embodied by the Moscow Symphony’s performance under the experienced John Morgan, is the nature and quality of the supporting notes; you won’t necessarily want to plough through the purely theatrical-dramatic ramifications, nor – if you’re not much of a cineaste – will you much be exercised by what Bette Davis thought, or didn’t think about her roles in these films; but it’s good to know that these details are here.

All This, and Heaven Too has a hundred minutes of music, which is here condensed to under half that length by means of eliminating repetition and such like. The orchestration is by Hugo Friedhofer, whom Steiner held in the highest professional esteem for his work – and no wonder. The result is a kind of through-composed Wagnerian approach, rich, vibrant, exciting and fully up to the expected Steiner Standard.

There are twelve cuts and some run scenes together. The Carriage Ride scene, for instance, lasts a mere 1:32 whilst track eight holds All Hallows Eve, the Lotis Song, Springtime and the Carousel and consequently lasts 5:42. The Duke’s Dying and finale lasts an even longer 7:28. In other words there is plenty of variety both musical and in terms of cutting.

That Carriage Ride is written in Steiner’s best light and airy style whereas A Night To Remember for Louise is full of rich, verdant and gorgeous lyricism. A feature of the writing is the opposition between the open-hearted lyricism of the love music and the more eerie, malevolent writing; for such things Steiner reserves percussion and here we find him using two pianos and celesta and more besides. Romance and portent hover over the final scene before the End Cast – always a good feature of the series in presenting an "authentic" listening experience.

The companion work is a more sparsely and simply orchestrated affair lasting twenty-six minutes in this reconstruction. Best to pass over the note’s reference to a "sea chanty" and better to concentrate on the precision of the writing and its effective realisation. A Stolen Life has a central storm scene which is the opposite of grandiose in its orchestration – instead the clever use of the piano effectively evokes the hubbub without undue exaggeration. There are some splendid little dance moments and some cod Nauticalia that amuses.

Standards are strongly maintained in this release – giving a budget price injection to a notably well curated series.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Glazunov never published his incidental music to Lermontov’s Masquerade, perhaps because it consists of so many very short numbers. There are a couple of larger bits: a mazurka, a gallop, a polonaise, and a Valse-Fantasia. The music is typically tuneful, beautifully crafted, and the use of the chorus, both wordless and normally, adds immeasurably to the effect. The remaining items have been recorded previously on occasion, and they are also more substantial than their titles might otherwise suggest (the Romantic Intermezzo particularly). These are excellent performances, warmly and vividly played, and boldly engineered, though as usual from this source the sonics are a touch “studio bound”. This is volume 18 in Naxos’ ongoing series of Glazunov orchestral works, and it’s certainly one of the most interesting. Give it a shot, if you’re curious.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The Naxos mission to record all of Glazunov’s orchestral legacy has reached volume 18. Almost by definition that fact alone makes this review redundant. If you are a Glazunov acolyte you will have pre-ordered this disc as soon as it was advertised, but if you are new to his music I cannot imagine this disc being a point of entry of choice. Even though it proves to be a hugely charming disc few would claim that this music is central to one’s appreciation of the composer – there are other places to start for that. As with many of the other discs in the series Naxos make use of their Russian ‘house’ orchestra – The Russian Philharmonic this time under the baton of Dmitry Yablonsky. This is an orchestra whose playing can range from the inspired to the positively pedestrian so I’m pleased to report that on this occasion it is neat and alert with some aptly characterful solos taken when required. The recording too is clear and warm without some of that glassy resonance that occasionally afflicts the engineering from this source. Most interestingly added to the mix is the Gnesin Academy Chorus. More of their role in the music later but enough to say that they sing well and blend into the musical textures effectively.

The main work here is the thirty-six or so minutes of incidental music Glazunov wrote for a 1917 staging of Mikhail Lermontov’s 1835 play Masquerade. Keith Anderson’s detailed liner-note explains that this significant score by Glazunov existed only in manuscript. Confusion is compounded by the fact that the exact musical sequence and how they relate to the play is unclear. Hence we have a detailed synopsis of the play and in parallel a musical sequence that is satisfying in itself but not necessarily one that follows the action of the play. The problem arises from the fact the much of the score provides music for the various balls that constitute many of the scenes. Glazunov has composed a score that is both practical – as in the dance sequences above and emotionally illustrative, seemingly underlining the prevailing mood or emotion of a scene. The score is divided into twenty-six tracks running from a miniature fife and drum march lasting just seventeen seconds to a full blown Valse-Fantasie at five and a half minutes. The latter is authentic Glazunov, very much in the style of the similar movement from Raymonda or the Concert Waltzes. It could be argued that this continuity/similarity is both Glazunov’s strength and his weakness. Really it could date from any point during his compositional career and certainly as a piece dating from 1917 breaks no musical frontiers – although why should it if the requirement is for a romantic waltz. Glazunov’s fabled orchestral mastery is on display throughout – the previously mentioned fife and drum is a perfect example how just two instruments are used to perfect effect (track 14 – Pantomime 8). Elsewhere the greatest musical interest is provided in the movements featuring the chorus. The very opening track is instantly atmospheric and full of foreboding - the synopsis makes it clear that this is a dark and tragic play with echoes of Eugene Onegin and Othello. This is sung to great effect by the Gnesin Academy Chorus with a definite Russian colour to their sound that feels absolutely right although lacking that last ounce of deep implacable resonance. Apart from the cantatas used as fillers on Valery Polyansky’s cycle of the Glazunov Symphonies on Chandos there have not been many opportunities to hear Glazunov’s writing for voices. I particularly like the way he uses them colouristically on occasion. Elsewhere they sing a text in traditional style. Act IV of the play depicts the final descent into madness and death of the Othello-like character Arbenin. The music accompanying Act IV Scene 1 here (track 22) is a marvellous unaccompanied chorus. Sadly there is no text given in the liner notes. It is sung with a beautiful tonal blend and sensitivity – a real highlight of the disc – but I have no idea what they are saying. The tracks have been well sequenced so that the movements flow one to another – very important with many short cues. This is an excellent addition to the Glazunov discography. One interesting and diverting thought; Khachaturian’s suite Masquerade is also incidental music written for a 1941 production of the same play. Given the synopsis outlined by Keith Anderson I am even more at a loss as to how Khachaturian’s riotously good humoured music - at least as far the suite is a sample - fits!

The rest of the disc is filled with judiciously chosen pieces. Naxos has consistently shown considerable care and imagination with the couplings in this series and this disc is no exception. None of the music is revelatory or startling but in style and mood they match well. The two pieces forming Op. 14 are slight and charming and beautifully played here. Likewise the dance fragment that is the Pas de caractére Op.68. The largest single piece on the whole disc is the Romantic Intermezzo Op.69 which in turn is also the most familiar piece. It has appeared as a filler for part of Gennadi Rozhdestvensky’s symphony cycle on Olympia as well as Evgeny Svetlanov’s similar traversal on Melodiya. The title says it all – a lyrical slow movement in all but name it receives another sympathetic performance here although one that tends to the lugubrious. It runs about a minute longer than either of the other named versions.

To summarise: an automatic purchase at this price for anyone with an interest in this composer or the byways of theatrical music. The comparison with Khachaturian’s suite is quite fascinating – two such varying responses to literally the same text. It is better engineered than some in this series and is conducted and played with sympathy and insight.

Appealing yet very rare music performed with great aplomb.

-- Nick Barnard, MusicWeb International

Praised by the New York Times for his "polished orchestration" that "glitters, from big-shoulders brass to eerily floating strings," Michael Ippolito's music has been performed by leading musicians in venues around the world. Drawing on a rich musical background of classical and folk music, and taking inspiration for visual art, literature and other art forms, Ippolito has forged a distinctive musical voice in a body of work spanning orchestral, chamber and vocal music. This recording highlights works for string quartet by Michael Ippolito, a composer who has risen to the challenge and has honed his distinct musical voice through a broad array of experiences. These experiences range from studying Croatian folk music, influences of which can be heard in the circle (scored for string trio); to absorbing and being inspired by diverse literary sources, as exemplified in his String Quartet No. 3 "Songlines" and Smoke Rings. An iconic Ansel Adams photograph serves as the inspiration for big sky, low horizon, while trace builds off of a series of crescendos to a wild conclusion.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

It takes an impressive performance for Elgar to come alive for me, as he does in this recording by Edo de Waart and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, both subtle and fiery. The First Symphony, in particular, burns under a surface sheen, and “The Dream of Gerontius” is intensely played and firmly sung.

– New York Times

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Production values high, recordings full and spacious, performances totally committed.

Just when you thought it was safe to leave the shelter of the world behind the sofa here come not one, not two, but three monsters – Dracula, The Wolf Man and the Frankenstein Monster! And with them comes the most preposterous plot of all! Mad scientist Boris Karloff escapes from prison thanks to a thunderstorm; with a hunchback assistant he takes the persona of the owner of a travelling chamber of horrors. Within days he has got his hands on the three monsters already named, finding the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolf Man encased in ice in a cave, and he punctuates his desire for revenge with experiments in brain transplants! In the end, everybody dies.

Whether or not the plot is silly, to say the least, the music is superb!

Hans J Salter was another refugee from Nazi Germany, a man who studied with Alban Berg and Franz Schreker, who made his career in Hollywood. His collaborator, Paul Dessau, had arrived in America in 1939 after a career in Europe as both composer and conductor. He was made more politically aware through wartime collaboration with Brecht and joined the American Communist Party in 1946, returning to East Berlin two years later. His collaboration with Brecht continued, and after the writer’s death took to writing using Schoenberg’s twelve note technique and supporting the growing West European avant-garde.

This disk gives us the complete score for the film – 55 minutes of the most eerie and atmospheric music, with the most evocative titles – Rendezvous with Dracula, Death of the Unholy Two and Liquefying Brains. What a score it is and what marvellous work John Morgan has done in his reconstruction from a three line piano score – Universal having destroyed all their old horror film scores. The orchestration is fully 1940s horror and the music sounds incredibly modern – so much so that when the Moscow musicians were recording the score they wondered if it was from a modern film. This is music for film which was truly ahead of its time.

Having already written about seven of these disks in the Naxos Film Music Classics series there is little new I can say. The production values are high, the recordings full and spacious, the performances totally committed, the booklet helpful and detailed and the standard of scholarship without peer.

How about giving us some David Raksin? I’d put The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), The Big Combo (1955) and Al Capone (1959) on the list for a start. Am I being greedy? Of course I am, but Naxos cannot, after what we’ve already heard, stop giving us such quality recordings.

-- Bob Briggs, MusicWeb International

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

"PentaTone has done it again. It's another splendid SACD reissue in Direct Stream Digital of a quadro recording from the 70's. Eliahu Inbal - to my mind, a much-underrated conductor - leads the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in persuasive accounts of Camille Saint-Saëns' Symphonies No. 1 & 2, under-recorded works that deserve a hearing."

--Dr Phil Muse, Atlanta Audio Society