Othmar Schoeck

The Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra here performs works by Frank Martin, Arthur Honegger and Othmar Schoeck. This follows a series of discs from Poltéra that were dedicated to these three composers. His disc of Frank Martin’s music (BISCD1637) was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.

The brilliant young violinist Chloë Hanslip has recorded another volume of Hyperion’s Romantic Violin Concerto series, and displays her usual insouciant virtuosity and obvious delight in the music. Glazunov’s Violin Concerto, written for Leopold Auer, is a masterpiece of violin writing, including a brilliantly effective cadenza by the composer himself. As Hans Keller wrote, ‘Glazunov created an almost perfect concerto—instrumentally, the best I know amongst pianists’ violin concertos’.

Othmar Schoeck est né en 1886 à Brunnen (Suisse). Fils du peintre Alfred Schoeck, Othmar fut d'abord élève au Conservatoire de Zurich, puis passa quelque temps à Leipzig, où il étudia la composition avec Max Reger (1873-1916). À son retour en Suisse, il connut une intense activité pratique dans la direction d'orchestre, et fut en particulier le chef d'orchestre des concerts symphoniques de Saint-Gal, occupation qui fit peu à peu place à l'activité créatrice.