More Karlowicz from Naxos

[Peter1953]

Well, I've ordered this CD. Conductor Antoni Wit has made fine recordings of Karlowicz's symphonic poems, so I'll guess his version of the symphony must be on the same high level.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Yes, the Wit recordings on Naxos are fine indeed, and no-one would regret acquiring them. But then, to my mind at least, they don't quite equal those exceptionally fine recordings on Chandos - Tortelier in Vol 1, and Noseda in Vols 2 and 3. And how I wish Karlowicz had not had that unfortunate encounter with a mountain. How his music might have developed is a very intriguing question. Anyone care to have a guess at that?

[Lionel Harrsion]

Yes, the Wit recordings on Naxos are fine indeed, and no-one would regret acquiring them. But then, to my mind at least, they don't quite equal those exceptionally fine recordings on Chandos - Tortelier in Vol 1, and Noseda in Vols 2 and 3. And how I wish Karlowicz had not had that unfortunate encounter with a mountain. How his music might have developed is a very intriguing question. Anyone care to have a guess at that?

An intriguing question indeed!  To me, Karlowicz's orchestral works have a very definite flavour of Richard Strauss; if one considers how much Szymanowski's op 12 Concert Overture is like Strauss as well, maybe Karlowicz would have developed in a similar direction to Szymanowski.  Then again, maybe he wouldn't!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I have more than a soft spot for the readings by Salwarowski and a Silesian orchestra, which were my first exposure to this wonderful music.

To me Karlowicz has affinities with Delius, Sibelius, Magnard, to mention only those three. How he would have developed is anyone's guess. Stanislaw and Anna is rather Straussian, but his final, unfinished, tone-poem, An Episode at a Masquerade (one of my favourites) strikes a balance between melancholy and ebullience which to my ears is something very new.