Royal Grand Piano

RCO - Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vol 2, 1950-1960 (2003) {14CD Box Set Q Disc 97018, Limited Edition}
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© 1950-60, 2003 Radio Netherlands Music / Q Disc | 97018
Classical / Orchestral / Symphony

Again we are indebted to NM Classics for another volume (the second) in their Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra series. This one covers the period 1950-1960 and contains many unusual treasures as well as a number of performances that have already been issued: the fine Daphnis and Chloe with Monteux which currently is available on both Audiophile Classics and Music & Arts, Bruno Walter's Mozart, Mahler and Strauss all of which are available on Music & Arts, and the Brahms concerto with Monteux/Milstein, available on Audiophile Classics and Arioso (as well as a discontinued Tahra set). However, there are many fascinating items here including a number of major additions to Eduard van Beinum's discography. We have Beinum conducting music of Dutch composers Hans Henkemans (1913-1995), Anthony van der Horst (1899-1965), and Matthijs Vermeulen (1888-1967).

Born in 1765, the same year as Mozart, Anton Eberl also displayed great musical talent from an early age. Only his father’s bankruptcy saved him from a legal career, however, and he threw himself into the world of music with such success that even during their own lifetimes, pieces of Eberl appeared under Mozart’s name.

This is one of my favorite recordings with Ortiz's renditions of the Rachmaninov and Addinsell ranking with some of the best I've heard. For me, the real attraction of this recording, however, is Gottschalk's "Grand Fantasia Triumfal" (Variations on the Brazilian National Anthem). Although originally a solo piano piece, it was arranged for piano and orchestra by Samuel Adler, which I recall hearing on a budget recording from the 1980s that I've long lost. In all honesty, it didn't really grab me as worthwhile. However, on this recording, pianist Ortiz and Chris Hazell (the producer of this recording) re-worked Adler's arrangement into something far more exciting and noble.

Mozart composed some fifty symphonies, if we include works he adapted from opera overtures or serenades by adding movements or taking them away. The first dates from 1764-5, at the time of his childhood visit to London, and most are early works, quite short. Many are associated with his boyhood travels (his first trip to Italy in 1769-71, for instance) but his most prolific period as a symphonist was between 1771 and 1774 when, in Salzburg, he wrote no fewer than seventeen.