Search - Carl Michael Ziehrer, Christian Pollack, Razumovsky Sinfonia :: C.M. Ziehrer: Selected Dances & Marches, Vol. 3

If one has money, one is great.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 02/19/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Marco Polo exploration of the music of Carl Michael Ziehrer continues. Volume 3 was recorded in 2000 by the same players as are heard in the other volumes, but the conductor this time was Christian Pollock, who had a hand in orchestrating one or two of the items. Several pieces receive their first ever recording. Ziehrer, the slightly younger but chief rival of the Strauss brothers in Vienna, gave his dances and marches evocative and picturesque titles, just as they did. The piece I enjoyed most here is a march. Its title translates as "If one has money, one is great". Track 7 is a delightful set of Styrian dances. Besides regretting that Marco Polo rarely engage Viennese orchestras to record their surveys of Viennese dance music, I have a few specific reservations about this CD. The waltz "Gebirgskinder" originally featured a zither solo in the introduction and coda, and a humming male chorus. What we hear has no chorus, and a harp is substituted for the zither. I regret also that the marches slow down as they end. I wonder what suggested this to the conductor, Christian Pollock, who is also a musicological researcher. Robert Stolz, who knew the Ziehrer and heard him conduct, recorded his marches in strict time throughout."