Nice pair of 20th century masters but short timing for full
Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 11/12/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Schreker Chamber Symphony and Krenek Violin Concerto
Music rating: 4 stars for well above-average performances
CD rating: 3 stars for good sound & short timing of less than 42 minutes
The late romantic Austrian Franz Schreker (1878-1934) composed in the era of German expressionism in the 1920s. His style fits between the late romanticism of Schoenberg and the post-romantic titan Richard Strauss. He is known chiefly for opera although a pair of recordings on the Chandos label earlier this century by BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vassily Sinaisky raised eyebrows about the quality and quantity of his orchestral music.
The delightful Chamber Symphony was written in 1916 from opera music the composer never completed or published. It is delightfully light, tuneful, engaging and altogether warmly romantic. The symphony is scored for 23 instruments and uses piano, harp, celesta and percussion, among others. It is similar in composition to the Schoenberg chamber symphonies but very different in temperament, being sunny and bright from beginning to end.
Ernst Krenek (1900-91)was an Austrian composer and author whose music was more adventurous than Schreker. He composed his Violin Concerto Op. 29 in 1924 in three movements (another violin concerto would follow much later in his career). The composition is serial-influenced but is tonal through and through, presenting no hardship to listeners that want to hear Schreker's sunny symphony. The composition is, to my mind, very similar to William Schuman's Violin Concerto of 1950 with Hanna Weinmeister performing as the soloist.
Heinrich Schiff, a cellist whose style is as elegant as his conducting here, leads the Musikkollegium Winterthur in this recording. Together they presents a fine pairing with the warmly engaging Schreker juxtaposed against the mildly dissonant concerto. The little-known Farao label has a winner in the recordings but they score few points by asking almost $20 for a CD of less than 42 minutes' duration. This is a good buy for anyone looking for music from the period if you can look past the obvious shorcoming or find a cheap used copy, like I did."
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1