If you’re up for the challenge, this admirable collection, well played and directed by two intrepid conductors and a game ensemble of Hannoverians, delivers the...

If you’re up for the challenge, this admirable collection, well played and directed by two intrepid conductors and a game ensemble of Hannoverians, delivers the goods.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Krenek is not exactly an ingratiating composer, and these are works for hard-core collectors only. His style is for the most part harsh and acerbic, moving from the angular chromaticism with light popular music influences of his First Symphony, through serialism, to a kind of free atonality in the Fifth. Significantly, he composed no further symphonies after 1949, although he lived until 1991. This makes him a kind of avatar of the 20th century musical crisis, and an important figure historically, but is the music enjoyable? That of course is a purely subjective question, but without doubt one that will require a measure of concentration and endurance that I suspect may be too much for many listeners. That said, if you’re up for the challenge, this admirable collection, well played and directed by two intrepid conductors and a game ensemble of Hannoverians, delivers the goods.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com