Yes, yes I know Paul Graener is a debated composer, mostly because of his political views and not his music. cpo are now releasing the first volume in what I expect to be a series of discs devoted to Graener's orchestral output.
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Paul-Graener-1872-1944-Orchesterwerke-Vol-1/hnum/9386500 (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Paul-Graener-1872-1944-Orchesterwerke-Vol-1/hnum/9386500)
Morten
I wasn't greatly impressed by the recent CD of music on Sterling, finding it rather 'small beer', but it'd be nice to be proved wrong by this first release in cpo's new series...
The Graener orchestral works I've seen on IMSLP (Musik am Abend Op.44, Variationen Op.55, Waldmusik Op.60) have seemed somewhat promising; I look forward to hearing them (two of them in this first release, Waldmusik in a later one.)
I certainly enjoyed the Graener works on the Sterling disc :) Ok, they are frightfully old-fashioned but extremely lyrical and very pleasant on the ear ;D
Splendid news! And the hopes are aroused by the disc being called 'Volume 1' that other Graener discs might follow on CPO (although with CPO one might, of course, have to wait several years for Volume 2).
I recall from an earlier thread that Alan was a little lukewarm about the Sterling Graener disc. I was rather excited to have discovered this music, and decided that, with the greatest of respect, this Howe fellow wasn't always right! (I also remember an especially interesting article by Martin Anderson on Graener in the pages of IRR - so claim him on my side!)
So roll on the release of the disc in the UK. But, oh boy, there are so many seriously tempting issues planned for March and April (and others of course as yet unknown) that those months will see me, not listening to music, but washing glasses in the Railway Tavern to gain the loot to buy them! It's a hard life, eh?
Wow... Graener is one of my guilty pleasures. I also like his Piano Trios a lot. I don't want to discuss or be influenced by Graener's condemnable attitude during the Nazi regime. The music counts. I like Glazunov's music, despite the fact that he as a drunk conductor ruined the premiere of Rachmaninov's 1st symphony. To me Matthijs Vermeulen's music sounds disgusting, but not because he, as a critic, always wrote very negative comments about the person Röntgen and his music.
I'll order the cpo disc with Graener´s orchestral works.
Say what you like about David Hurwitz and his reviews, but I think this one of the new Graener disc from cpo sums things up pretty good. I purchased this disc a month ago or so out of pure curiosity, and this was my first encounter with Graener besides some excerpts here and there. I enjoyed this disc, the Musik am Abend is particularly beautiful, with quite a lot of impressionistic tendencies. Don't expect very adventurous music or orchestration, this is conservative stuff (the works recorded here were composed between ca. 1914 and the early 30's).
As Hurwitz mentions; you couldn't wish for any better than Werner Andreas Albert to cope with this kind of repertoire. This is a standard high-quality production from cpo, and it actually makes me eager to hear some more!
http://www.classicstoday.com/review/vintage-vibe-from-paul-graener-the-jolly-nazi/ (http://www.classicstoday.com/review/vintage-vibe-from-paul-graener-the-jolly-nazi/)
Morten