Hyperion has announced an amazing release for the new year Vol 18 of the Romantic Violin Concerto series - Joseph Jongen & Sylvio Lazzari
(http://i58.tinypic.com/15pjzlv.png)
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68005&vw=dc (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68005&vw=dc)
Joseph Jongen -
Fantasia in E Major, Op. 12
Adagio symphonique in B Major, Op. 20
Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 17
Sylvio Lazzari -
Rapsodie in E minor
Something to look forward to.
:o oooh now that's what I'm talking about! ;D
Excellent! I think that the violin concert by Jongen it's first time recorded! It's dedicated to Ysaye.
All his concertant works are recording! Cello, Harp, piano, organ..
I like very much Lazzari works, this Rapsodie is one Excellent rescue :)
Thank You FBerwald
This is much more like it! After a string of not-so-unsung works we at last have a release in the RVC series which is as mouth-watering as many in the RPC series. Hooray for Hyperion. I do hope that it's the start of a trend.
Great spot. Definitely one for the must-have list.
I rate the music of Jongen very highly indeed and this forthcoming release caught my eye immediately! I have just been listening to the Hyperion sound bites and can't wait to purchase the CD. Pity it's not available to 5 Jan. A must buy for certain!
Seems there is no worklist of Jongen. Surprising since his output is vast. Do we have any Jongen specialists in the house ? :) perhaps Hyperion might pick up his Piano concerto as well.
The only available recording of Jongen's PC is old and the sound not at all good. A new modern recording would be most welcome.
The French wikipedia article on Jongen is/contains a quite impressive - but not complete - worklist.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jongen (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jongen)
Unfortunately, the forthcoming CD omits his Poème héroïque pour violon et orchestre Op. 62 (1919)
in favour of Lazzari's Rapsodie of approximately the same duration.
(Of course, I am quite happy to get this Lazzari piece as well :-).
Wow! Did somebody have an originality of inspiration transplant in the Series planning department? Looking forward to this a lot.
A quick Google Images search confirms that the portrait photo of Jongen on the CD booklet cover is in fact that of Alexandre Guilmant. I've emailed Hyperion with the good news....
Your reward should be to get to suggest the next volume in the series. How about Gernsheim VC1 and Draeseke VC (orch. Müller-Steinbach)?
It is curious that they didn't include the Poeme Heroique and the Epithalme et Scherzo, which would not only have made for a complete edition, but a wonderful stylistic contrast as well. All of the Jongen works on this cd are very early, and they show no hint of the amazing stylistic growth to come. The Epithalme is a transitional work, whereas the Poeme is written in the composer's fully formed mature style. That just means i still have to do an integrale.
Or how about the Gustav Hollaender VC? http://imslp.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto,_Op.52_%28Hollaender,_Gustav%29 (http://imslp.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto,_Op.52_%28Hollaender,_Gustav%29)
or the Nicolaas Gerharz VC? http://www.muziekschatten.nl/action/work?id=1227 (http://www.muziekschatten.nl/action/work?id=1227)
or, or...
There's actually a thread somewhere on just such (violin concertos you'd like to see revived, etc.) - I think- but we (that'd be us- I'm not an admin here- though it is admin policy) recommend always that one provide something more than a name and a link- say, reasons why you think the work deserves a violinist's and other musicians' attention, etc.
Even among violin concertos one's heard (especially if one has access to this forum, YouTube, radio tapes, etc) there'll be those one believes deserves wider circulation (and it's easier to give reasons if one's heard a piece, though of course not impossible even if one hasn't, otherwise practically nothing would get off the ground past maybe a first performance by a violinist-composer or a violinist who knew the composer well... or... but actual revivals would be impossible, I agree. I'll point you to the upload on this site of Bortkiewicz's violin concerto e.g. ... not commercially available, but maybe it should be... or Erich Wolff's... :) in the meanwhile, a hurrah for Jongen is entirely appropriate, and Lazzari who we were speaking of in another context here just very recently anyway :)
Dear Mark: good eye for Guilmant identification!, :o, Hyperion answer You?
Dear Gareth: the PC And Harp concert And one Passacaglia are in the Cd. I don't remember well If the performance is since 1950's. I have these Cd. I will revise it.
No, no reply yet from Hyperion. I'll post when (and if) they do.
Dear Aramiarz,
The CD you have will almost certainly be of the recording by Eduardo del Pueyo with the Belgian Natonal Orcherstra under Fernand Quinet. It dates from 1955.
Musically and technically that recording still holds up very well today.
There is, unfortunately, considerable distortion in places of the sound on the PC - at least on the disk I have. The other pieces fare much better and have perfectly acceptable sound.
Wait, are we still talking about the Hyperion disc?...
What Hyperion disk, Eric? The Jongen PC has not been recorded by Hyperion - yet. It's the VC they've recorded! Sorry. This is my fault for creating a digression about Jongen's Piano Concerto. Let's forget about that and concentrate on the subject of this thread. Apologies again for leading folk up a blind alley.
well, if I didn't follow people up them so readily, I wouldn't have such high repair fees for my spectacles. Ouch. *bump*
Anyhow, agreed, agreed.
Some of the works on the disc have, I think, been uploaded here, thanks largely to minacciosa and his performances (also available sometimes on his Youtube channel); has anyone heard this particular Lazzari work somewhere, maybe in a broadcast?...
The Lazzari piece is very rare, I searched And never found where was the score. I think so that is one premiere in all sense!
Maybe the Jongen repertoire too are discoveries And there aren't anyone recording And broadcasting.
There are forgotten works until today!
The French national library has a violin/piano reduction of the Lazzari, anyways... see here. (http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb430984970/PUBLIC) (as does the Dutch Royal Library and a number of others). As to the full score, hrm. Let's see. Heugel may have only rented the parts. Now what became of Heugel again... ah, merged with Leduc. No results under Leduc for works by Lazzari...
It seems to have been premiered by Enesco in March 1923 after the violin/piano version was published in 1922, btw. From Le Figaro for 12 March 1923, as digitized by Gallica.bnf.fr : " Enesco a fait entendre aussi, à la même séance, et pour la première fois, une Rapsodie
pour violon et orchestre de M. Sylvio Lazzari" (séance here referring to concert or gathering, not spirituality... as in, the same appearance as the Bach A minor violin concerto performance by him that we (the writer for the Figaro, not _we_) just mentioned- or something like that.)
Dear Erick, very interesting your research! The Hyperion booklet surely has more interesting information about these works
And fortunately, Hyperion usually makes the booklet available for free online.
It's true, few labels, made it thus!
The forthcoming CD is now being advertised at MDT:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/jongen-lazzari-hyperion-romantic-violin-concerto-18.html (http://www.mdt.co.uk/jongen-lazzari-hyperion-romantic-violin-concerto-18.html)
The Jongen/Lazzari CD is one of the best in the RVC series. Two outstanding features: absolutely outstanding playing from Philippe Graffin and superlative support from Martyn Brabbins and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (of Antwerp). Brabbins must be one of our finest conductors these days. Nothing he does is ever routine - and he's a great advocate of the unsung repertoire.
The music itself is richly - and I mean richly - enjoyable. With Jongen's VC I suppose the debt to Franck is obvious, although Wagner looms everywhere too. However, somehow Jongen manages to make the idiom his own. I can't think of many VCs that sound like Jongen's, i.e. that pit the soloist against a quasi-Wagnerian orchestra with all the stops pulled out (as it were!)
Anyway, more comments as I audition the remainder of the programme. But do buy the CD...
Whilst the performances and production values are indeed of the highest standard, I'm afraid that most of the music on this recording came as a big disappointment. The central Andante of Jongen's Concerto has its fair share of lyrical melancholy, and the Animé finale is perky enough, but I don't think either is in any way remarkable. They certainly don't repair the damage done by the episodic, rambling opening Allegro which, despite its huff and puff, goes nowhere. Ysaÿe knew what he was about when (according to the booklet) he ignored the piece, despite it being dedicated to him. Both of Jongen's shorter works and Lazzari's Rapsodie also meander on self-indulgently. The debt of both men to Wagner and Richard Strauss is clear in their harmonic language and richly impressive orchestration, but neither seem capable of producing material with any melodic distinction, and I think that's why in the end I just got bored. The violin is perhaps the instrument which comes closest to the voice, and in the romantic repertoire strong melody is particularly important in solo writing for it, I think. Remove that and you're just left with sound. Grand sound, to be sure, but background music without any lasting appeal.
All that said, given the praise and excitement which the CD has generated from others whom I respect, I'm very happy to accept that it's my loss and that I'm in a minority of one. On a brighter note, I see that Hyperion heeded my warning and replaced the booklet's photo of Guilmant with one of Jongen. Not that they thanked me...
I understand all that you say, Mark - I suspect it's just that I like the idiom rather more than you do. But I certainly wouldn't make any great claims for the VC. I do think the performance is a fine one, though...
Being a violin afficionado myself - not as excessive as our member 'violinoncerto' - I am afraid that
I have to agree with every word Mark Thomas has just written.
Jongen has composed much wonderful music, especially for piano and for chamber ensembles,
and I like his Suite for viola & orchestra very much, but his early works for violin & orchestra are
quite dissapointing. The piece I like most from this album ist the Lazzari, but I wouldn't miss it.
QuoteI like the idiom rather more than you do
You may well be right, Alan. With some honourable exceptions I am no great fan of Franck and his followers, and I suppose Jongen does fall to some degree into that category. Neither do I respond very positively to what I regard as self-indulgent late romantic excess, and so I suppose he's on a hiding to nothing with me. Still, it wouldn't do for us all to like the same, would it?
Oh, quite. I'm afraid I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.
And again, Mark, wasn't it von Bulow who after hearing a piece by R Strauss said "There's less there than meets the ear"?......
I love VC's - stuff like Karlowicz and Moszkowski and especially the wonderful old Glazunov concerto. But this one doesn't cut it for me either.
Jerry
It simply doesn't have the melodic content of the VCs you mention, Jerry.
I think it's a fantastic concerto, though certainly a work of a youthful composer and certainly not up to the heights Jongen later reached. I can also tell you that it makes a tremendous impression in concert.
I've not heard the new recorded performance yet (only the excerpts), but will report back once I have.
A further listen has actually increased my appreciation for this grand concerto. Strangely - or perhaps not - I was often put in mind of Elgar, and certainly of Chausson, but overall I admired its passion much more this time.
Indeed, the first two movements have a great breadth and expansiveness, yet they do not wander.
Jongen's best piece for violin and orchestra is the Poeme Heroique. I don't know why that was not included. There is no recording of it; I recorded the piano part and played it with myself many times. It's written in Jongen's mature style, and in effect it is like an outgoing cousin to Chausson's Poeme.