cpo has announced a CD with Röntgen symphonies 9, 21 and serenade (https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/julius-roentgen-symphonien-vol-2/hnum/2727217). The former is not quite a world premiere if I recall- an earlier recording on Cobra was broadcast some years back on Concertzender. From the description I'm guessing one's reaction may depend on one's opinion of Liszt.
I am very glad to see that the cycle is continuing. I wonder how long ago these were recorded.
If I read the jpc page properly, 12 years or so ago (2005.) (I don't know for sure that that date reflects the recording date for all the items on the release, will have to check against cpo CDs I have vs. their representations on the website, e.g.)
An earlier-issued disc in this series, issued 2012, would by the same ("CPO, 2008") have been recorded later...
I just wondered if that date was correct, given that some older releases have later recording dates. I'm wondering if all the Rontgen symphonies and concertos CPO planned to commit to disk have in fact been recorded and are simply awaiting editing or release. Compare the latest in the Raff string quartet series!
Great news, though, whatever the delay. That said, as Gareth mentions, the first in the Raff string quartet series was issued in 2004 and the second (2 CDs) in 2015, so there's only another nine years to wait until the final CD is due... Patience is not only a virtue, it's a neccessity with cpo.
QuoteI'm wondering if all the Rontgen symphonies and concertos CPO planned to commit to disk have in fact been recorded and are simply awaiting editing or release
cpo's blurb:
QuoteThis month our extensive and successful Röntgen edition continues with a new symphonic production
(emphasis added)
Sounds hopeful, doesn't it?
And true hope involves confidence and patience, of course...
This is a fine CD. Particularly mouthwatering is the delicious Serenade in E major of 1902. Röntgen really was a marvel: music just flowed from his pen like water from an eternal spring.
The recordings were indeed made in November/December 2005!
Sorry about the 2005 then, I misunderstood :) Will try to get a listen to the disc (I think it's on NML...)
Eric, what's NML
Naxos Music Library- sorry!
QuoteSorry about the 2005 then
I apologise profusely. '2015' was a typo on my part; the recordings were indeed made in 2005!! (I've amended my earlier post.)
Well in a way that is even more encouraging as it suggests the series may well have been completed in terms of recording. We are just waiting for cpo to release the disks. Nice thought.
Thanks, Eric
Jerry
OK, neck well and truly stuck out here: Symphony No.21 in A minor (1931) is a truly great work. This is one of Röntgen's terse (19+ minutes) masterpieces - a veritable pocket-battleship of a symphony, quite mesmerising in its range of sonorities and inexorable in its progress. To give you some idea, it's as if Röntgen had carried on where the finale of Brahms 4 left off...
Magnificent! One of the few symphonies (e.g. Sibelius 7?) that packs into 20-odd minutes more than most composers could say in three-quarters of an hour. This is my discovery of 2017 so far.
Sounds terrific. I wonder how long I'll have to wait for the mp3s to appear so that I too can marvel...
If you get Naxos Music Library it's actually already streaming there. I think I've heard the Cobra recording of symphony no.9 also (broadcast on Concertzender) but in anycase this one's a very good performance; I'll listen to no.21 and the serenade soon. Looking forward to it.
Just listened to No.21. I agree wholeheartedly. Between this and some of the other works of his last few years like his G major piano quintet too I think we may have some of the best of his works I've heard.
QuoteIf you get Naxos Music Library it's actually already streaming there.
Thanks, Eric, I always forget that membership of IMSLP has the benefit of belonging to the NML too. What a tremendous resource.
I completely agree about Röntgen's 21st Symphony. I can't immediately think of a comparable work. It's a terrific piece: rather edgy, full of drama and utterly remorseless, you are left feeling as if you've just experienced some monumental 40+ minute epic - but not a note is wasted. Phew! Alan's "pocket-battleship of a symphony" is spot on.
I played it (No.21) three times yesterday and I'm still reeling from the impact. Every time I'm ready to relegate Röntgen to the ranks of the second-rate, I discover an absolute jewel. This is one of those, albeit more akin to a black diamond...