"Onder tijdsdruk werken was Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) niet vreemd. Deadlines werden soms niet eens gehaald, maar in dit geval besteedde hij de hele herfst van 1913 aan een stuk waar hij niet eens echt achter stond: balletpantomime "Scaramouche", op dit album van het Oulu Sinfonia te horen onder leiding van Rumon Gamba. Tot overmaat van ramp bleek het niet om een paar dansjes te gaan, maar om ruim een uur aaneengesloten muziek. Toch is de muziek, die nu nog maar zelden het podium haalt, de moeite waard. Zeker voor Sibelius-fans, vanwege zijn handelsmerken: tweestemmige houtblazerskoppels, dwingende ritmische figuren, een broeierige strijkersatmosfeer en motieven die langzaam veranderen. Daarnaast krijg je nog een beeld van het Finse muzieklandschap van na Sibelius, waarvan vooral Einar Englunds (1916-1999) soundtrack van de horrorfilm "Het witte rendier" (1952) fantastisch is." (Volkskrant, 3 uit 5 sterren)
"As a search of this site under the composer's name will reveal Gossec has not been ignored. This reissued disc further establishes and enhances his standing. It would be easy to spoil Gossec with a heavy flat-footed approach. That is not what he is treated to across these four symphonies. Take the Symphonie à grand orchestra "La Chasse". It's full of rhythmic surprises along the way as in the lively first movement which sounds Beethovenian. The skilled Concerto Köln under Werner Ehrhardt search out its serene dignity. The progress of this music reminded me of another neglected French contemporary figure: Etienne Méhul. Pre-echoes of Beethoven - this time The Pastoral - return in the delightful countryside finale of La Chasse. The Allegro of the "Mirza" Symphonie concertante - a work with solos for violin and flute - is Mozartean. Its invention is gracious and even doffs its hat in the direction of Mozart's K364. None of these symphonies is long-winded. The two central works, each in three movements, are exceptionally compact while remaining gently amiable. This affable geniality is even sufficient to lift the spirits in the fugal finale of the Sinfonia à piú stromenti. The disc ends with the most grand and Beethovenian of these works and also the latest: the Symphonie à 17 parties. It returns to the four-movement schema. Not quite as fresh as its companions it still sports a witty and youthful third movement harking back to Gossec's earlier years. Gossec rounds things out with a regal finale. While the note in English only by Michael Stegemann is pretty brief it serves its scene-establishing purpose rather well. This lively music heard in lively music-making. It draws on an amiable personality who mines both serene dignity and regal grace." (Music Web International)
"Behind this release is brilliant archival work by John D. Wilson at the University of Vienna, who demonstrated by paper analysis that Reicha wrote several extremely ambitious orchestral works while he was still at Bonn, where he played in the orchestra with Beethoven (they were lifelong frenemies in a sense). The D Major symphony has been recorded before--except not really! The first movement is the same as recorded by the Prague Chamber Orchestra several decades ago, but the rest of the movements are completely different. Anyway, if you're curious who else was thinking, "where can music go after the genius of Haydn and Mozart?" alongside Beethoven, the first answer is Anton Reicha. Also on the album are a D Major overture with a strange long introduction followed by a sonata form movement in 5/8 tempo, which Reicha said was the first substantial piece ever composed in that tempo. This was recorded by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, with Wilson's work also an inspiration for that album, but the more the better!" (Reddit.com)
"Ferdinand Hiller’s music went out of fashion after his death and is not well-known today, but the cpo label has already released a recording of the Symphony op. 67 and Symphony in F minor (555 625-2), alongside further discs with chamber and piano works. It seems he was a key figure in 19th century musical life in Germany, being close friends with the likes of Rossini, Liszt, Berlioz and particularly Mendelssohn. Hiller was the son of a wealthy industrialist from Frankfurt, and he had the good fortune to be a pupil of Johann Nepomuk Hummel in Weimar from the age of ten. He lived for several years in Paris and finally settled in Cologne in 1850, taking over directorship of the Gürzenich Orchestra and the municipal conservatory, becoming organiser of the Lower Rhine Music Festival and generally playing a leading role in the Cologne music scene. Following on from their recording of the two middle symphonies in this set of four, Howard Griffiths and the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt (Oder) can be very happy with this framing of the set with the first and last of Hiller’s surviving symphonies. The orchestral playing is very good and set in the suitably resonant acoustic of its home venue, a space that suits Hiller’s orchestration perfectly. Griffiths brings out the best in his musicians who, for the most part, sound as if they have been playing these works for donkey’s years." (MusicWeb International)
Klik hier om cookies te accepteren zodat de vertaalmodule kan worden geladen. Het kan zijn dat je de pagina moet herladen.
