Turina's take on Spanish folk idioms is unmatched, and showcased quite nicely on this CD. The "Danzas fantasticas" are the highlight, but the romantic flair of all the works on this recording is not to be missed. The orchestra is brilliant throughout, and the technical aspects of the recording are lacking nothing. Absolutely no complaints, only pure enjoyment. You can't go wrong with this one.
This MDG Gold disc Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 brings four pieces of Antonio Rosetti (or, if you prefer, Antonín Rösler) to the CD catalog that have never been recorded. This isn't much of a stretch of the imagination, as Rosetti's orchestral output is enormous; the contents of this disc include only three out of his 44 symphonies and a single flute concerto out of the 12 composed by Rosetti. Most of this music is neglected, so the automatic question that comes up is whether there is actually something to look forward to in further investigating Rosetti, or if he is to remain one of those marginal figures in the classical era that only scholars seem to know or care about.
Antonio Rosetti was one of the most popular composers of his time and in this special edition MDG presents two recordings of orchestral works by the Bohemian master featuring the Rosetti specialist Johannes Moesus in performances with the Hamburg Symphony and renowned soloists.
Leave it to the classical music biz to issue three discs of Kalliwoda orchestral music at exactly the same time! Between Orfeo, CPO, and this newcomer, we now have four of his seven symphonies available in excellent performances (a previous release of Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 on Centaur isn’t at the same level as these). The four works on the present release give a fine idea of the composer’s wide-ranging inventiveness and ready appeal. The Overture Op. 145 (No. 12 out of a total of 24) was composed around 1843 and has a main theme with almost exactly the same shape as that of the first-movement allegro of Schumann’s Spring Symphony. It’s an ebullient, celebratory work that also contains a popular anthem related to its dedicatee: you can check out the booklet notes if you’re curious.
The Symphonic Prologue to Dante's classic 'La Divina Commedia' is indeed quite brilliant, a very emotionally charged piece full of tragedy and victory in a rich orchestral garb. The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra play with superb conviction and intensity, and are quite admirably conducted by Gomez Martinez. The same goes for the First Symphony, an intensely personal work all round that shows Woyrsch's admirable sense for long symphonic breadth that is uncannily prescient of Mahler and his contemporary Rott, whose First Symphony is one of the gems of late romantic expressionism. Again, both orchestra and conductor are completely immersed in the beautiful music that permeates the symphony and their performance is certainly one of the best that one could hope for.
Franz Schmidts Apokalypsen-Oratorium ‘Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln’, seine letzte, 1937 vollendete Komposition, ist laut dem Komponisten ein Werk über die « fundamentale Antithese” von Gut und Böse, zusammengestellt aus Texten, die Schmidt aus der Offenbarung des Johannes selbst ausgewählt hat. Dass er kurz vor dem Anschluss ein solches Weltuntergangswerk komponierte, zeigt das Zeitgespür des Komponisten.
Masterpieces of classical music by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.