Two new Sterling releases: Graener and Sjögren

[Ilja]

Sterling have just released two new CDs:
- Paul Graener: Wiener Sinfonie, Die Flöte von Sanssouci, Turmwächterlied & Flute Concerto (PhO Altenburg-Gera - Eric Solén). Gorgeous late romantic stuff, and a very good recording (the only other one is by Graener and therefore from the 1930s)
- Emil Sjögren: Songs, by Katarina Pilotti and Kristina Balstedt. Not bad either; Sjögren should be placed among Scandinavian songwriters such as Rangström and Larsson.

Edit: Have spent yesterday and today listening to the Graener. Really a very good release indeed!

[eschiss1]

I've skimmed a bit of Graener's stuff and heard some of Sjögren's. These could be very good

[Alan Howe]

Try this link for excerpts from the Graener CD...

http://www.sterlingcd.com/catalogue/cds1090_new.html

[febnyc]

Gosh! The clip from the Wiener Sinfonie sounds gorgeous!  Where is the CD available for sale?

Thanks.

[Alan Howe]

Certainly in Scandinavia, but I expect the remainder of Europe will follow soon. I get my Sterling releases early from the very helpful Mr Harald Hoff at the Toccata Music Shop in Värmdö, nr Stockholm, Sweden...
http://www.toccata.nu/main.html
He can be mailed at order@toccata.nu: Mr Hoff will send you a link to a Paypal payment if you want to order that way and then send on the CD(s) ordered.

[febnyc]

Thank you, Alan.  I have bought CDs from Toccata before - but the cost, to the US, becomes high, especially when adding Mr Hoff's pretty steep shipping add ons.  I'll wait for MDT or someone else to stock the disc.

[JimL]

I've always had luck with CD Universe.  It usually takes them a couple of extra months to get the CD, but they have great discounts.  However, beware!  When you enter the name of the composer in your search you have to use the FULL name, and spell it correctly!

[febnyc]

Yeah, Jim, thanks -  I've purchased many a CD from CD Universe.  However, their search, as you intimate, is...well, it's lousy, to be honest.  Even entering the correct composer's name often results in a "no can find" situation.  I have gone around this by either using the "artist" field or the one for "label."  Their prices usually are very good - but many times I simply cannot find the item I am seeking.

[TerraEpon]

Using Google is often a good way to find things on a retailer's site. Just add site:www.cduniverse.com (or whatever) to your search.

[febnyc]

Using Google is often a good way to find things on a retailer's site. Just add site:www.cduniverse.com (or whatever) to your search.

Many thanks!, TE.

[Alan Howe]

The Graener CD turns out to be a fine release of some lovely music - not great music, but certainly lovely. The Wiener Sinfonie, first performed in 1941, is in a deliberately backward-looking style which may remind listeners of late Strauss: it is modest in scope (24+ minutes), but  often quite beautiful.

Of course, Graener had joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and so he remains one of the figures tainted by that particular association...

[Alan Howe]

As a postscript, possibly the most impressive piece on the Graener CD is the powerful tone poem, Turmwächterlied, first performed in 1939 and written in a late-Romantic style which encompasses both sound and fury as well as a lovely (closing) chorale. Very meaty stuff indeed!

[JimL]

I'm not sure I'd blame anyone for joining it back in 1933.  Nobody knew then how things were going to turn out later.  I'd consider his subsequent conduct much more important.  After all, a lot of musicians joined up early on.

[Mark Thomas]

A couple of points. First to agree with Alan that the stand-out piece on the very attractive Graener CD is Turmwächterlied. Seriously impressive music.

Secondly, and a bit off topic, to gently disagree with Jim over the question of whether joining the Nazi Party in 1933 carries less subsequent approbrum than joining it later on. My take is that, if Graener joined it in 1933 when it had only just gained power, he is much more likely to have been a dyed in the wool believer than if he had joined it later when the party had established its dictatorship. By then it might be argued  that it was defensible as an expedient thing to do, either because membership brought career benefits or at the very least protection. We shouldn't forget that many ordinary and decent Germans welcomed the advent of Nazi power as promising a return to the strong pre-WWI Germany which they looked back to with pride. Just my two penn'orth.

[Kriton]

Secondly, and a bit off topic, to gently disagree with Jim over the question of whether joining the Nazi Party in 1933 carries less subsequent approbrum than joining it later on. My take is that, if Graener joined it in 1933 when it had only just gained power, he is much more likely to have been a dyed in the wool believer than if he had joined it later when the party had established its dictatorship. By then it might be argued  that it was defensible as an expedient thing to do, either because membership brought career benefits or at the very least protection. We shouldn't forget that many ordinary and decent Germans welcomed the advent of Nazi power as promising a return to the strong pre-WWI Germany which they looked back to with pride. Just my two penn'orth.

Dear Mark, I hope you let me be slightly (...) off topic as well - without ever being "on it" - and gently state that you actually disprove your own point; the Nazi party gained power in 1933, as you write, but had been existing for over a decade. If the composer joined in 1933 after the party gained power, it was probably because of the "benefits". If he joined it between 1919 - 1933, then he would probably have been a "dyed in the wool believer". Oder?