Louis Glass (1864-1936)

[Mark Thomas]

 

[semloh]

Rather off topic, but just out of interest, Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria, after Sofia, and is the official tourism portal of that nation. In among the communist utilitarian style buildings there are some fascinating glimpses of its colourful past, and it boasts some truly spectacular Roman remains.

Seems like it deserves a good orchestra, but maybe there's more money to be made playing folk music ...

I still find it amazing that a composer like Louis Glass can generate such a vast output and yet so little is heard of him or the music (notwithstanding the few discs noted by Peter). Members may recall that his 3rd and 5th symphonies were available from this site, in ex-radio versions by the BBCPO under Edward Downes. I must have another listen.... 

[JimL]

I'd love to hear those concertante works, particularly the VC, Op. 65.

[eschiss1]

The piano fantasy is already available in that Danacord set (and has been digitized in score by the Danish Royal Library DKB besides); the violin concerto I was unaware of - hrm. (Ah. Manuscript autograph score, 1930, of his Op.65, dedicated to Julius Thornberg, is listed in the "REX" catalog of the DKB... - Louis Glass' samling IV,32 (C II, 6 b), mu 7806.2989 - (mu 6411.1901))

[flyingdutchman]

I see this composer hasn't been talked about for over 2 years.  The CPO cd series has started.  Any news about the next in the series coming up?

[eschiss1]

(Incidentally, just noticed he was the dedicatee of one of my favorite quartets (by Stenhammar). Did he know the latter well?...)

[regriba]

I've read Bo Wallner's huge (3 volumes, app. 2000 pages in all) biography of Stenhammar (in Swedish only, unfortunately), and I'm quite sure that Stenhammar introduced some of Glass's works in Sweden. I can't remember if it was as a conductor or a pianist. But they weren't close, as far as I remember. Carl Nielsen, on the other hand, was one of Stenhammar's best friends.

[eschiss1]

Since his 5th is nonetheless his most recorded symphony, for better or worse, I'd be more interested in preparations to record a work of his that's received less exposure, be it a chamber work (there's that trio for violin, viola and guitar? ), vocal cycle, dramatic vocal work...

Re violin concerto: oh, hrm, here's a thing. Oh, -neat.- (Will explain later)

[FBerwald]

I read somewhere that the Manuscript of the Violin concerto was digitlized by the Danish National Library but I can't find anything further on it.

[Wheesht]

Does this link help?

[M. Yaskovsky]

3 years ago cpo released a recording of Glass' 5th symphony. Volume 2 of 'The Complete Symphonies'... Is there any news about the progress of this project?

[FBerwald]

Vol. 1 was recorded in 2009 and released in 2014 I believe. Similarly Vol. 2 released in 2017 was actually recorded in 2013 so I guess we will see a full set in time...

[Ilja]

CPO rather pride themselves on their complete sets (and they're good sellers, apparently), so I trust they'll try to complete this. The first two volumes were quite good even if Raiskin made a few weird omissions in the fifth (percussion, mainly). But the Third is better than any I've heard (either Todorov or Grøndahl) and really makes it shine as (IMO) Glass's best symphony.

[Alan Howe]

We also need to remember that these are probably tied to radio broadcasts done over the course of several years - and that's always assuming that the conductor thinks the remaining symphonies are worth recording.

[Hamburger]

The violin concerto was recently published by the German music publisher AlbisMusic. It will be performed in 2022 in Copenhagen. Here's the 3rd Mvt (mockup with Sibelius&NotePerformer). https://app.box.com/s/oagu7rg8nadvnf8flhbt9flhasq22kt5 His "Tone Billeder" about the awakening of the big city can be seen and heard here. Charlie Chaplin would have had his joy! https://youtu.be/W2HWkdANwK4