http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/august-enna-violinkonzert-d-dur/hnum/4963358 (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/august-enna-violinkonzert-d-dur/hnum/4963358)
Looks interesting.... ;D
Thanks!!
Wonderful news!
The works on this recording comprise a real wallow, although at a blind listen you'd never guess Enna was a Nordic composer. His lushly Italianate mid-to-late romantic idiom is paired with attractive (if not particularly memorable) melodies in three large scale works. The first track is the Overture to the 1893 opera Kleopatra, which I thought possibly the strongest piece on offer, boasting some fine moments. Its opening has a grand cinematic sweep, for example, which is instantly impressive, and isn't let down by the alternating vigorous and lyrically passionate material which follows. The Violin Concerto of 1897 has even more of a whiff of verismo about it, and the slow movement is nothing less than a sort of fantasy on Leoncavalli's aria "Vesti la giubba" from I Pagliacci! It's all a bit strange, but attractive nonetheless. It's the one work which has been available before - on an old mono recording from Danacord, I think. The final work, the 28 minute, three movement Symphonic Fantasy is much later (1930-31), and rather less individual to my ears. The booklet debates whether it was originally written as Enna's Third Symphony (he discarded a fourth movement), but concludes that it wasn't. That seems to me to be the correct judgement because, although the first movement is written on a symphonic scale, its material and structure, like those of the other two, is more characteristic of a suite. All three movements have moderato in their title and that's a good indication of this work: it's all rather "moderate". Pleasant melodies clothed in pleasant colours with no jarring harmonic adventures, making for pleasant but undemanding listening. Nothing to complain about, but not much to get excited about either. Buy the recording for the splendid Overture and the operatic Violin Concerto, and treat the Fantasy as a bonus.
Having already got a version of the VC with the (old) Danacord set of Danish VCs (by Kai Laursen), I'm reluctant to shell out for the CD just for the minor pieces, enjoyable as they might be (and probably a far superior version of the VC too). Does anyone know if they are available to purchase individually as a download instead?
Best wishes
Richard Moss
All tracks are available separately from ClassicsOnline (http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=2148588) here.
I must say that I found this a pretty insipid CD. Perhaps I was having a bad day...
I don't think Enna particularly gifted when it comes to melody, and there is a certain samey blandness to his style which can easily turn his music into aural wallpaper. As I said above, the Symphonic Fantasy can't really be rescued from this, but I thought the Overture rather good.