I am very pleased to report that a second recording of the orchestral compositions of Ignatz Waghalter (1881-1949) will be released by Naxos in the early spring of 2014. In fact, conductor Alexander Walker completed today several days of recording sessions in Moscow. We spoke over Skype earlier today, and Alex told me that the recording sessions had gone extraordinarily well. The recording will open with the overture and intermezzo from Waghalter's 1914 opera Mandragola. The CD will also include a lengthy 10 movement Suite for Orchestra, which Alex considers to be a masterful composition. As always with Waghalter's music, there is a surfeit of wonderful melodies. But the Suite, composed after the highly romantic Violin Concerto, reveals a Waghalter who was sensitive to and willing to participate in the on-going experiments in musical idiom. What is most remarkable is that Alex Walker discovered the Suite this past spring, when he visited my home in Detroit and examined the archive of my grandfather. He found in several parts a 200-page manuscript, fully orchestrated, in my grandfather's hand! And now that manuscript, which had not seen the light of day for more than 80 years, has been recalled to life and will soon, I hope, be heard by and bring joy to a new generation of music lovers.
This is excellent, exciting news, David. Thank you such much for giving us such an early heads up. Definitely a must-buy.
A must, must, must-buy. Wonderful.
I will certainly be supporting this!..............
I will most definitely be buying this CD as well. I am very much looking forward to its availability next spring!
Intriguing, very much looking forward to. Thanks/thanks in advance to all involved!
Any news on the search for the symphony?