The Symphony No.2 in E of 1908 by August Enna (1859-1939) is due out from cpo next month...
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/August-Enna-Symphonie-Nr-2-E-Dur/hnum/5817051 (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/August-Enna-Symphonie-Nr-2-E-Dur/hnum/5817051)
jpc sent me a "Happy Birthday" voucher a few months back (how did they know?) which today made a small dent in the cost of buying the Enna, together with three other recent cpo CDs which I'd failed to spot earlier: Kalliwoda's Symphonies Nos.2 & 4, vol.2 of Weingartner's String Quartets and piano music by Marxsen.
Enna's Symphony No.2 in E of 1908 turns out to be a richly enjoyable and superbly orchestrated 34-minute late-Romantic work (with plenty of Wagner thrown in) well worth anybody's attention. Not a masterpiece, I think, but well worth reviving. Another lovely release from cpo.
All three works on this CD are really enjoyable. The Symphony is as colourful and melodic a piece of early late romanticism (if you see what I mean) as you're going to find, but for me it's just outshone by the four movement Fairy Tale of about the same length - a sort of fin de siecle Danish Sheherazade. The Hans Christian Anderson Overture is cut from the same cloth as these bigger pieces and is surprisingly muscular, too.
Much as I enjoyed each of the the works on the CD, I did find the whole programme a bit wearing on the ear. Enna's orchestral writing is pretty "full on" and 70 minutes of it is just a bit too much. Listen to each in isolation and you'll get much more from them.
Makes sense. Classical Era concerts could be quite long (but this isn't Classical Era, either...) and I incline to doubt that the composer really was thinking of having those works performed all in a row like that. Still, considering some of the programs of turn-of-the-20th century concerts I recall seeing too, maybe I'm wrong. (Though cuts were more certainly tolerated then, and the "mechanics" of concert vs. recording ... ok, ok, hush Eric!!!)
This disc has just got a very positive reaction from Rob Barnett at musicweb (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Mar11/enna2_7770352.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Mar11/enna2_7770352.htm)). As far as I can, I'm making the most of the Presto offer on CPO at the moment (25% off until 23rd March) and have just ordered the Klughardt Symphony and Violin Concerto, Pfitzner Orchestral Songs and the Goetz set of 3 cds.
It looks as though the Enna will have to follow shortly as well - "full-on" orchestral ear-stretchers (not necessarily brain-stretchers) are right up my street! :)
P.S. 'Symphonic Pictures' or 'Symphony in disguise'? ;)
Well, my copy arrived yesterday but I've been stupidly busy so will have a listen in the car and report back!