CD REVIEW
– STRAUSS/KORNGOLD/SCHREKER
ORCHESTRAL WORKS
Sinfonia
of London | John Wilson
CHANDOS CHSA 5292
[64:22]
'
If strings are
your thing, then this release
will appeal to you. Supposedly it
is a follow-up to the highly
praised 'English Music for
Strings', reviewed here
in 2021.
Richard Strauss
(1864-1949) came under a big
cloud for his association with
the Nazis during WWII –
although he never became a party
member. When the Munich opera
house was destroyed by bombing in
1943, he sketched a few bars of
"mourning for Munich"
and took these up again when he
began composing Metamorphosen
(Study for Twenty-three Solo
Strings) in March 1945. It is
reckoned to be the finest of his
later works with masterly writing
for strings.
The Austrian,
Franz Schreker (1878-1934), is a
name previously unknown to your
reviewer. It seems he was
primarily a composer of operas.
His six-minute Intermezzo,
Op.8 (for String Orchestra)
was completed in 1900 and
incorporated in his '‘Romantische
Suite' three years later. It
is quite a pleasant piece
deserving repeated hearings.
Erich Wolfgang
Korngold (1897-1957) will be
well-known to most of our
readership, many of whom already
having some of his music played
by John Wilson and his brilliant
band on Chandos in their
collection. His Symphonische
Serenade (Symphonic Serenade
for String Orchestra), at a tad
under half-an-hour, is the
album's longest work … just.
It was written during 1947-48 not
long before Korngold returned to
Vienna from the USA, where he had
achieved such great success as a
composer of film music. The
original orchestral line-up was
16 each first and second violins,
12 each violas and cellos, and
eight double-basses.
It, too, is an
agreeable listen with the
pizzicato playing being
particularly enjoyed. Musicians
will appreciate Gavin Plumley's
erudite programme notes. There is
not much doubt that the album
will deservedly attract another
host of favourable reviews.
Incidentally,
22-year-old Charlie Lovell-Jones
is leading the orchestra again as
Andrew Haveron – who has
held that position since the
resurrection of the SoL in 2018
– was in Australia and
unfortunately, due to the
pandemic, unable to travel for
the August 2021 recordings in
London.
© Peter
Burt 2022
|
