Fountain en

The main focus of this disc is the complete ballet score for Orpheus in Town. But before we get to that there is the doom-laden Prelude to the ballet The Last Judgement. This was fashioned around Erik Axel Karlfeldt's cycle of paintings. For one reason or another the ballet was never produced and the music became known through an orchestral suite. The fate-heavy first section of the prelude gives way to a quick polacca. This disc carries the world premiere recording of Orpheus in Town, the complete ballet from 1938…………….

Rob Barnett @ musicweb-international.com

Rosenberg's musical language in this dreamplay of reaching out for the unattainable is tugged between the poles of Sibelian cool and warm Gallic impressionism. As an opera this is not another Pelléas. It is far too mercurial and word-responsive for that. If anything it has subject connections with other operas: Korngold’s Die Kathrin (CPO) and Schreker’s Die Ferne Klang (Naxos and Capriccio). It occupies a surreal littoral between Puccinian verismo and modernistic objectivity; neither one nor the other……Most warmly recommended.

Rob Barnett @ Musicweb-international.com

With the season 2005/06 Deutsche Grammophon launched its visionary initiative for recording and releasing orchestral concert performances - the DG Concerts series collaborates with some of the best orchestras around the globe, making their most acclaimed concert performances available to music lovers worldwide via digital download.