Symphonic Poems

One of the very greatest collections of Dvorák recordings in the catalog, this set contains the four late tone poems based on folk legends, all of the major overtures (including the In Nature's Realm, Carnival, and Othello trilogy), and the magnificent Symphonic Variations. That's over two and a half hours of the some of the most colorful, appealing music in the history of the universe, all magnificently performed and recorded. If you don't own this set, you haven't lived.

Liszt - Complete Symphonic Poems - London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink (1969-1972) {4CD Set Decca 478 2309 rel 2010}
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© 1969-72, 2010 Decca / Universal Music | 478 2309
Classical / Romantic / Orchestral / Symphony / Tone Poem

At one point back in the days of LPs it seemed that conductor Bernard Haitink was waging an Ormandy-like campaign to record all of the Western orchestral literature for Philips. Moreover, for many listeners this was a welcome pursuit because Haitink was so good at so many things; his 1973 recording of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps is still considered one of the most superlative readings of the work, even though Haitink's catalog ultimately grew to the extent that it became difficult to single out what was best within it.

Although Liszt’s thirteen symphonic poems exist in two-piano transcriptions prepared by the composer himself, it was his Czech student August Stradal (1860–1930) who transcribed twelve of them for solo piano – versions which demand almost superhuman virtuosity. Stradal died before he could tackle the last of the symphonic poems, Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe; Risto-Matti Marin has made good that lacuna with his own virtuoso transcription, and adds six of Stradal’s transcriptions of Liszt songs for good measure.

This is the fourth volume of the BBC Phiharmonic’s five-disc cycle of Liszt’s Symphonic Poems, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. This monumental survey continues to go from strength to strength through Noseda’s passionate conducting and innate Italian romanticism and has made possible a reappraisal of these unjustly neglected works. The Telegraph wrote, “…it is hard to imagine them ever sounding better than here. This is music-making full of rich colouring, refined shaping of melodic line and emotional power.”

François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles offer us a double-sided portrait of Saint-Saëns here. On one side, some of the most fascinating symphonic poems of French Romanticism are revealed in all the shimmering timbres of the period. On the other, we rediscover a composer who enjoyed a good laugh (The Carnival of the Animals also returns to it's original colors), when he was not involved in the early days of the cinema, with the very first music ever composed for a film.

No one could ever accuse Liszt of a lack or largesse. And listening to Vol 3 in Chandos’s recordings of the symphonic poems you are made more aware that ever of his role as an over-reacher, a towering figure who sought to loosen all formal constraints and allow the river of Romanticism to rush by in full spate… it says much for the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda that they once more temper drama with discretion. They achieve a special sense of exultance rather than bombast in Festklänge… and they are no less successful in the vast spans of the Héroïde funèbre… Fluent and eloquent as ever, Noseda and his orchestra have once more been superbly recorded.

Couplings of the two Balakirev symphonies are not uncommon. Naxos and Hyperion are examples although no doubt there are others. This set, which in terms of musical playing time is amongst the most generous in the BMG-Melodiya series, includes both symphonies and six other works, three tone poems and three overtures. Balakirev's dedication to folk music and the exotic orient is well known. It puts in an appearance to greater or lesser extents in all these works.

Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar is considered post-romantic, but this designation is appropriate only insofar as it applies to the time period in which he lived. Otherwise, Wagenaar's music was just straight up romantic, sounding largely like Richard Wagner but with not as dense a scoring palette. In this respect, his music is more like Brahms or Berlioz. Sometimes Wagenaar is compared to Richard Strauss, but this projection can be a little confusing as the ingredients in Wagenaar's dish are often part Wagner and even part Dvorák; the most significant thing about his fare, though, is that it doesn't taste quite like anything else.