Czeslaw Marek

[Wheesht]

Recently I listened to two orchestral discs (issued on the Koch label in 1996 and 1997) by Czeslaw Marek that for some reason I hadn't played for years, even though the works on them are really interesting. I was surprised to find that Marek has never been discussed in this forum. The recordings are still available, reissued by Guild in 2012, and they can also be found on Youtube, for example the Capriccio or the Sinfonia for which Marek won the third prize in the 1928 Columbia Schubert Competition.

[Alan Howe]

I haven't listened to them for years. Thanks for the reminder!

[Paul Barasi]

There was a reminder every time I posted, because Marek was of my six listed favs. His work is of high quality, sustaining interest by conjuring an appealing, lively magical sound world. Whilst others, like say Bax seem fellow travellers, even among the unsung Marek is little known and badly neglected.

[Joachim Raff]

Personally i find him hard work. Seems to be all over the place and i cannot a grip on a theme. Could be me though.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'm afraid I agree.

[eschiss1]

Still, meaning to give him a try- I remember Fanfare reviews of the Koch CDs some years back. (And a Fauré-like/Magnard-2-like - Proust-like? - elusiveness of phrasing* is wholly consistent with Romanticism. Especially in its original literary-musical meaning )

*don't know exactly what you mean until I hear the music, but when I think "unstraightforward and hard to get ahold of" (in some of their works - Magnard at the opening of his 2nd symphony for example, Fauré in many works, etc... -, without significant uninterrupted concentration at least), Fauré is one composer, and Proust is one author, who immediately spring to mind