...i.e. the Symphonic Variations on a Children's Song "Aufklänge","Wieland der Schmied" and the "Dionysische Phantasie":
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/siegmund-von-hausegger-aufklaenge/hnum/3097605 (https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/siegmund-von-hausegger-aufklaenge/hnum/3097605)
At last!!!
Well if it's even almost as good as the Nature Symphony, I'll be all over this.
You'll be all over it, then. :) The Dionysische Phantasie is, to me, very reminiscent of the Natursinfonie in that it is gorgeously orchestrated, but rambles a bit and could do with a good edit. Aufklänge I don't know, but Wieland der Schmied is a cracking piece, comparatively compact by Hausegger's standards and up to the standard of his magnificent Barbarossa.
Well, very great news! And played by the Bamberger, what a great orchestra that is! I don't mind if Hausegger's music rambles here and there.... as some commentators try to convince me (Gramophone review of the Natursymphonie); it's a fine addition to the repertoire!
This is good news! The
Dionysische Phantasie I absolutely adore from beginning to end, and I feel the "rambling" serves a purpose in this piece. At about 25 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome at all.
Aufklänge is of a somewhat different breed than the rest of Hausegger's oeuvre, and sounds almost Mahlerian at times. It's much more elegiac and even introverted than we're used to from Hausegger, and from what I gather he intended it to be a bookend of sorts, opposite the
Natursymphonie.
From
O'Connor, Don (2014). Siegmund von Hausegger, pan-German Symphonist, p. 59. Self-published (and available online for who's interested (http://www.vonhausegger.com/files/Pan%20German%20Symphonist.pdf)):QuoteAufklänge reflects the "dream-like optimistic and deeply reverie-like feelings of a father beside his child‟s cradle." (The work is dedicated to his son, Friedrich.) The general layout of the piece is a theme and eight variations, followed by an elaborate scherzo-like section Hausegger describes as "the roaring song of a visionary view of life". The music concludes with a return to the musing of its beginning.
Wieland is just a bowl of fun.
I did like Natur-Symphonie very much. The Star wars/Kings Row "quote" really caught me by surprise!
The CD will be released on April 24th, 2017. I've ordered it yesterday (or perhaps 'reserved my copy'), and I'm very curious about what's heading in my direction soon.
I found his Natursymphonie such a genius piece, that I just had to do it!
My copy's on order too...
Gosh, and only 2 years after the original release date........heehee......
Ordered the CD today, because jpc.de offers their 'postage free-weekend' today. On their website they inform us a third Hausegger volume - with Barbarossa! - is under way!
Now that's another thing to look forward to! What else will they have in store for us, I wonder...
Please don't hold your breath waiting.......
Insipid, there's the cpo bashing again! Be glad there're still CD's produced by zealots like B. Schmilgun!
Agreed - but it's not 'cpo bashing' to wish for a more prompt release of recordings made, in some cases, nearly a decade ago (e.g. Raff's String Quartets Nos.2-4, etc.)
... agreed with some reservations or rather confusion.
I have the greatest sympathy for cpo's mission and products, particularly after interviewing Burkhardt Schmilgun for MusicWeb a few years ago. But their prominence is also a double-edged sword.
The problem with cpo's long production times isn't so much the wait as the fact that once they've recorded a piece and it awaits release, no one else will invest in a recording of it. And because of cpo's reputation in producing complete cycles of symphonies or concertos, no one will touch the same composer's other works either. For example, Sterling gave up their Atterberg series once cpo concurrently started one.
Their releases are usually very rewarding once they're available, but it can be frustrating up to that time and I can make out no logic in their release schedule. Sometimes recordings are available within a year or so (e.g., the Van Gilse symphonies), and sometimes it can take up to a decade. And sometimes they just seem to be sitting on their material (e.g., the Sträßer symphonies).
That is not cpo-bashing. Quite the reverse: it is an honest desire to hear more from them.
I didn't know CPO had recorded the Sträßer symphonies.
I'm not sure if we know that they have, but the lineup of artists in the broadcasts available of symphonies 1 & 2 suggests that there might be a forthcoming commercial release at least of those 2 symphonies from cpo, which often cofunds and records with those artists/orchestras/radio/etc.
Thanks, Eric. I see what you mean.
QuoteI didn't know CPO had recorded the Sträßer symphonies.
@ Mark Thomas:
Could you perhaps be so kind an reupload (or provide a new download link for) the Sträßer symphonies?
That would be great!
BTW: I would consider recordings with the Nordwestdt. Philharmonie conducted by W.A.Albert much more likely to originate from the 1980s rather
than being new productions for cpo.
QuoteCould you perhaps be so kind an reupload (or provide a new download link for) the Sträßer symphonies?
That would be great!
I've posted mp3s of the off-air recordings of the first two symphonies (and the Concert Overture for good measure) in the Downloads Board here (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,6471.msg68346.html#msg68346).
Quote
I've posted mp3s of the off-air recordings of the first two symphonies (and the Concert Overture for good measure) in the Downloads Board here.
Thank you, Mark!
Quote
BTW: I would consider recordings with the Nordwestdt. Philharmonie conducted by W.A.Albert much more likely to originate from the 1980s rather
than being new productions for cpo.
While Albert's tenure as a principal conductor with the NWR ended in 1971, he has made various recordings with them afterwards (with works by Pepping, Nicodé, Korngold, Volkmann and others) until the 2000s. From what I heard, the two Sträßer symphonies were recorded in the late 1990s, and were always intended to be released on CD.
It should perhaps be emphasized that cpo doesn't "order" recordings from radio orchestras. I have read amazement that "cpo recordings" are broadcast by radio stations, but that is part of the agreement. These regional orchestras' missions usually include recording the work of regional composers, and they work together with the radio station that they're associated with, and cpo, on recording projects. Something like this is the case for other labels, too, and cpo can be regarded as a "house label" for most of these regional broadcasting stations. This explains how some cpo recordings are available on streaming services, or as downloads, and others aren't – the licensing agreements differ. And some situations are beyond cpo's control. But they might be a bit more open about it from time to time.
...and with that, back to Hausegger. My copy's on its way...
One thing we must be grateful for is to have a thoroughly first-class orchestra playing this unfamiliar music, in this case the wonderful Bamberg Symphony. The depth and range of sonority of which they are capable are absolutely right for this spectacular late-romantic music. I'm not (yet) sure about the staying power of the music, but it couldn't be better presented than here...
Listened to Aufklänge first - often subtle, often sonorous music, beautifully orchestrated - and utterly unmemorable. I can see why it hasn't 'stuck' - it's not a patch on, say, Richard Strauss. Anyway, full of hope, I'm moving on to the other pieces on the CD...
Well, not immediately memorable perhaps. I've owned the radio dub of this performance for a year or so, and Aufklänge has really grown on me. Having said that, it's certainly doesn't possess the catchiness of the Dionysische Phantasie, which may be my favorite Hausegger piece now.
Can't wait for a decent version of Barbarossa, though.
Oh dear. I so wanted to like this music. And in a way, I do. I admire the orchestration, the sonorities conjured up, the ambition. Hausegger doesn't just huff and puff, he can also be very subtle. But I just don't warm to his actual material. He doesn't draw me in - the themes are mediocre, there's barely a hint of a memorable tune. There's plenty of incident, but it's all too generic sub-Wagner/Strauss for me. I prefer the genuine articles.
So, what have I missed?
You don't like it. Nothing wrong with that, is there?
Personally, I've had more instances where I don't get the appeal for music everyone tells me is great, or at least interesting. Marx is a good example. Hausegger, I would say, isn't for everyone, even if I love almost everything I've heard from him.
While I don't subscribe to the "personal taste is everything" mantra (it would negate the need for this forum, for starters), it is vital that your aesthetic sense allows you to appreciate a piece of art.
Does anyone have any idea when cpo's Hausegger disc will be available in the UK? I keep expecting it to pop up on "a well-known online store" but, so far, to no avail. cpo's UK distributor, Select Music, have yet to list it in their new releases either. The label's Pfitzner opera has still to get a UK release too. Does cpo usually have this delay time between Germany and UK?
It'll be soon. I order mine direct from jpc.de in Germany. There's usually a delay of a couple of months before cpo releases come out here.
It hasn't shown up on NML yet either. Nor has the Mayer Piano Trios. Or the Holbrooke 3rd Symphony. Or the Graener Cello Concerto.......
Ah. Yes, Symposium SYMP1130 with the Holbrooke symphony no.3- the only recording listed- is not available on NML in my country (the USA) "due to territorial or copyright restrictions" according to the link from the Holbrooke "biography and discography" page at the Naxos website. So that yet, anyway, may be a while yet. Other yet-i (plural, of course, of yet) may be sooner.
Graener's Cello Concerto hasn't been released in Germany yet either (c/w his Violin Concerto and Flute Concerto).
The beautiful Flute concerto [Graener] has been issued on Sterling.
The cpo recording of Holbrooke's 3rd symphony hasn't been released yet in Germany or anywhere else. Don't expect it before next year.
FBerwald: re Graener a-fluting- different recording, different recording. No worries, no worries. (Or to translate the brick joke more literally, "without care"...)
Aufklänge etc now advertised on Amazon (available 30 June), with a reference to a future release of Barbarossa, and the cryptic line "There is still a rich supply of mighty symphonic music to be discovered." Dare we hope for more?
There isn't that much more, I'm afraid: with Barbarossa we've reached the end of Hausegger's oeuvre for orchestra; there are some rumors of a symphonic poem Odinsmeeresritt (Odin‟s Ride Over the Sea), but it is likely that never in fact existed. There are a couple of works for orchestra and chorus, though, including Schmied Schmerz (Pain the Blacksmith) and Neuweinlied (New Wine Song)
His choral music includes an a capella Requiem, Six Folksongs for mixed chorus (done in 1915 at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II) and Gesang der Geister über den Waßern (Song of the Spirits Over the Waters) of Schubert for 8-part choir with orchestral accompaniment.
Anyone wishing more information could do worse than download Don O'Connor's Siegmund von Hausegger: Pan-German Symphonist (PDF file (http://www.vonhausegger.com/files/Pan%20German%20Symphonist.pdf)), which treats these works in more depth and which I pilfered for the information above.
I heartily endorse Ilja's recommendation to read Don's short and very accessible treatise on Hausegger. It's well worth it if you are at all interested in his music.
Yes, having seen that essay on Hausegger, I was a little surprised that there might be more. Unless cpo know more than we do, of course. Still, Barbarossa is a colossal great work that I'm happy to wait for on cd, though after hearing all these symphonic pieces that the Natursymphonie is his greatest work.
There was a publication of songs of his (possibly around 1910?) by Ries & Erler that has not, I think, been recorded in whole or part (recently?) either. (A partsong of his may have been recorded back around 1994 or so.) Apologies for digression...
(I do see the vocal score of his opera Zinnober, at Free Library Philadelphia and other places - would that the former had the full score. If that has a standalone prelude maybe cpo might record that, if not the whole thing... assuming the orchestral parts exist...)
Austrian National Library does have 2 songs for chorus and orchestra though, fwiw.
I might take a peek at the Zinnober score in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek when I'm there. Of course, there's also the equally wagnerian Heilfried (1890), which someone told me also has an overture and quite a few orchestral interludes. But that is all still from Hausegger's faux-Wagner days; I much prefer his later, more individual works.
The new Hausegger and Mayer CD streams are -now- @ NML for what it's worth...
Barabarossa can be pre-ordered for a release of 25th of July:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/siegmund-von-hausegger-barbarossa/hnum/4963361
Discussion of the latest release flagged up by Adriano should take place here:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,6531.0.html (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,6531.0.html)