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Here's an interesting find and quaintly surprising and remarkably rare discovery which constitutes somewhat of a musical curiosity from the stylistic standpoint. Legendarily renowned Czech virtuoso violinist Jan Kubelik (1880-1940) and father of eminent conductor Rafael Kubelik composed a singular symphony, apart from 6 violin concertos (of which his 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th are best known and have been recorded), alongside other violin recital pieces. It's somewhat intriguing that for a composer who performed and for the most part composed works in the standard to late-romantic repertory, this symphony which was written towards the end of his life is, in sharp contrast, couched in a densely chromatic semi-rhapsodic meandering style, albeit rather colourfully orchestrated, and intermittently infused with brief violin solo and woodwind passages of fleeting tender lyricism. Its compositional language is eclectically enmeshed with elements hailing from the transitioning end-phase of post-romanticism intermingled with early modernistic flavours of polytonality and some degree of expressionistic dissonance. Perhaps Kubelik was trying to keep up to some extent with the contemporaneous musical trends of the pre-WWII milieu. In this regard, perhaps this piece resides at the outer borderlands and edgy fringes of Unsung Composers' obscure repertoire domain. One wonders whether recording companies like Naxos, Supraphon, Arco Diva, Tocatta Classics, Chandos, Hanssler Classics, Capriccio, and CPO would find it worthwhile commercially championing this piece.  Perhaps it could be coupled alongside the equally obscure Symphony in E minor "Reminiscences" by fellow Slovak contemporary composer Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5-Et14ohsg > or Jaromir Weinberger's equally underrated "Lincoln" Symphony < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSmKb4BiYPE >.   

Jan Kubelík (1880-1940): Symphony in A minor (1937)

Plzeňská filharmonie / Pilsen Philharmonic
řídí / conducted by Chuchei Iwasaki
23/9/2021 Plzeň, Měšťanská beseda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z_y3Y0DT0o         

Greetings everyone. This upcoming Naxos issue featuring the violin sonatas of Noskowski and Zelenski, due for release in early December, should interest lovers of Polish late romantic chamber music repertory and will surely make a nice accompanying disc to the Polish violin sonatas of Paderewski and Stojowski already released on the CPO label. Rather intriguing that this was announced on the Chandos website instead of Naxos upcoming release section as is usually the practice. 

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/NX%204220

Best wishes to one and all, JP.

 

Greetings everyone. Here's Capriccio label's latest release. Boldly, albeit belatedly, treading where Sterling label used to traverse...

Z. NOSKOWSKI
SYMPHONY NO. 2 'ELEGIAC' (1875) · SYMPHONY NO. 1 (1874)
DEUTSCHE STAATSPHILHARMONIE RHEINLAND-PFALZ · ANTONI WIT
C5509 PC: 21 UPC: 845221055091

http://www.capriccio.at/zygmunt-noskowski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3Q6l2JGCNc

The 2-part division of this delightful work appears to conform to the loosely structured framework of an extended symphonic poem such as Liszt's Dante Symphony (Inferno, Purgatario-Magnificat) not forgetting Suk's Asrael Symphony which is similarly partitioned into 2 sections (Movts I-III, IV-V) as notated by the respective composers, ending either on a resolute affirmative note or consolatory mood. In terms of programmatic material, they also seem to be touching on themes revolving around the ethereally angelic and nefariously fallen realms of netherworldly despair and damnation from a literary or autobiographical standpoint and symbolically derivative perspective. What's also especially noticeable from Napravnik's Third Symphony is the pleasant alternation between dramatically swift paced and lyrical passages which is similarly evident in the Suk and Liszt compositions, as well as of Tchaikovsky's tone poems like Hamlet, Fate, Francesca da Rimini, Romeo and Juliet. Indeed the influence of the Mighty-Five Russian Nationalist School is particularly evident in the Allegro giocoso - Poco a poco accelerando segment from the first section of this symphony which is brimming with melodic shades of Balakirev, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov.

It is therefore earnestly hoped that either CPO or NAXOS, especially with Maestro Marek Stilec currently championing the symphonic obscurae of V. Novak and JB Foerster, would seize the initiative and take the lead in resurrecting Napravnik's glossed over 4 symphonies and other orchestral works from virtual oblivion. Nonetheless, one ponders whether significant challenges and obstacles might be faced in trying to obtain the orchestral performance scores of Napravnik's symphonic works from Russian musical libraries and conservatories (unless they can be sourced and reproduced elsewhere from the original reference scores) amid the present set of dire circumstances whereby cross-cultural collaboration in the performing arts between Central, East-Europe and Russia has been brought to a screeching halt. Meantime, we very much look forward to < taxus_mre > uploading more digital synthesizer renditions of Napravnik's other symphonies onto YouTube. This will greatly enthrall fellow lovers of these musical gemstones eagerly waiting to lap up these unearthed repositories of unsung composer repertoires consisting of un(der)performed and un(der)recorded works.  Much appreciated in this regard. 

Hi everyone, Naxos' follow-up Vol.2 release of Novak works under the Maestro Stilec's ongoing anthological survey is soon to be out next month with the orchestrated version of the Wallachian Dances being the key premiere recording highlights. 

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.574369

https://www.naxos.com/MainSite/BlurbsReviews/?itemcode=8.574369&catnum=574369&filetype=AboutThisRecording&language=English

All good wishes to one and all for the onset of springtide.

Actually I think that the densely contrapuntal, polyphonically overlaid and chromatically sonorous texture of Petersen's third symphony is more akin to the compositional language of Alexander Brincken's fourth symphony, which falls squarely in the post-Schmidt/Pfitznerian mould, and was issued not too long back by the Toccata label.

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/orchestral-music-vol-1/hnum/9558435

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8704513--alexander-brincken-orchestral-music-volume-one

On the same note, it would be intriguing to discover whether the "Florianer" and "Goethe" symphonies composed by Otto Jochum (brother of Eugen Jochum) belong to the same neoromantic symphonic tradition as those cited above and whether labels like Profil-Hannsler, Capriccio and Gramola would take up this endeavour to record these yet to be unearthed works which might very well turn out to be another revelatory pair of rarefied musical gemstones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Jochum

https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/jochum-otto

New release from Capriccio label featuring the orchestral works of a mid-to-late romantic Austro-Germanic composer. The excerpted sound clip conveys the distinct impression that this repertoire hails from the era of the more conservative leaning Bruch-Reinecke-Gernsheim-Draeseke-Raff genre... 

http://www.capriccio.at/georg-goltermann

I suppose when the Great American orchestras, such as the Chicago, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, NYPO and LAPO, which have yet to venture into such repertoire as far as I know (I stand corrected on this), start programming this work on a semi-regular (bi-to-triennial) basis. 

Happy 2023 everyone. There's yet another recent performance of Suk's Asrael Symphony performed by the Swedish RSO on the 9th of December last year  under the direction of another longtime persuasive advocate of this work, Maestro Daniel Harding. The 2nd link contains a video recorded live concert performance of this event which is due to expire by 7th Jan tomorrow. So do have a quick listen before it's removed.   

https://www.operabase.com/productions/harding-and-beethovens-triple-concerto-168967/en

https://www.berwaldhallen.se/play/harding-beethovens-trippelkonsert/

Jakub Hrusa, another ardent champion of this composition, is scheduled to conduct this work in Prague (Spring Festival?) and Zurich in late April and end-June of this year respectively and also tentatively planned for Vienna sometime in February of 2024 with the Bamberg SO performing there.

https://www.ceskafilharmonie.cz/en/concert-detail/27481-daniil-trifonov-czech-philharmonic/

https://www.operabase.com/productions/jakub-hrusa-mit-hosokawa-und-suk-175151/en

https://www.vienna-concert.com/en/event/bamberger-symphonic-orchestra-10994?date=01-02-2024

Best wishes to one and all.

 

« Reply #4 on: Friday 12 November 2021, 23:39 » By the way, Asrael is also played on May 20 and 21 of next year by the excellent Sinfónia de Galicia in A Coruña, led by Dima Slobodeniouk.

It's now uploaded on their YouTube channel in a vivid concert recording that sonically captures the orchestra's vibrantly clear woodwind timbre and crisply defined brass intonations backed up by a rivetingly propulsive performance of the work which accentuates its underlying dramatic tension. 

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnpYi5tvZuc >

And here's David Hurwitz long awaited though somewhat none-too-complimentary (in fact rather critical) review, albeit with just a hint of charitable empathy, for this reissued MDG collection.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtkqX_q-j84

Will make a good coupling with the Moscheles symphony.

Greetings everyone. Here's an advance sampling of the piano quartet's first 2 movements from other live performances: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61BVADRQW48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQIOvZOLVk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOs13L1nZ7o  (16:20 - 23:27) - Sounds like the 2nd movement, a real tour-de-force played with more propulsive verve, gusto and sense of spirited urgency as compared to the 2nd movement excerpted track of the CPO recording featured on the JPC website...

Happy listening.

As advertised on Naxos label's publicity bulletin YouTube channel for its upcoming October releases:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liDTNhPg99g

Best, JP

Haha, much thanks to my fellow music compatriots for updating us on this development. Naxos-Arco Diva did not bother to respond to my queries when I last enquired about the status of the impending release of their new cycle of JBF and V. Novak orchestral recordings earlier this year.

https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,8188.msg85761.html#msg85761

https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,8216.msg86033.html#msg86033

Regards, JP