Received a new recording from CPO of works by Witt and Hoffmann. It could very well have been released earlier in Europe. Not too familiar with either composer I found Undine overture of Hoffmann and the Symphony in A of Witt to be the most interesting to me.
Tom
The Symphony in A by Witt is available on a splendid new CD from Naxos:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Witt-Symphony-Patrick-Gallois-8-572089/dp/B003RCFCV0/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1424795243&sr=1-3&keywords=witt (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Witt-Symphony-Patrick-Gallois-8-572089/dp/B003RCFCV0/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1424795243&sr=1-3&keywords=witt)
I think an all-Witt CD makes more sense...
That CD is hardly 'new'. It's from 2010.
It's a great CD though.
Thanks for that correction.
There's a CD on Orfeo, I think?, of two Witt symphonies (nos. 6 and 9 of at least 15?) that came out some time back. Witt may be best-known for a symphony that received more performances when it had Beethoven's name attached, but which remarkably became, by the alchemy of such things, a rather worse piece when it was discovered it was by Witt (the Jena Symphonie).
Quote from: TerraEpon on Tuesday 24 February 2015, 20:29
That CD is hardly 'new'. It's from 2010.
It's a great CD though.
I think we're talking about a different recording. My liner notes indicate it was recorded in January of 2014. Could there be another recording?
Tom :)
Quote from: sdtom on Monday 23 February 2015, 19:40
Received a new recording from CPO of works by Witt and Hoffmann. It could very well have been released earlier in Europe. Not too familiar with either composer I found Undine overture of Hoffmann and the Symphony in A of Witt to be the most interesting to me.
Tom
The choice of using Hoffmann I too thought was a bit odd until I did further reading. Hoffmann among many talents wrote reviews and his first two were the symphony in a major and the jena symphony of Witt. Apparently Bamberg is close to Niederstetten and while they never met they knew of each other. There is a tie in. Both composers were of the Haydn school.
The Naxos recording is from 2010; the cpo is new. Apologies for having thought the Naxos was new too.
No apologies necessary.
Tom
I've had a listen to the Naxos and the CPO recordings and I definitely prefer the Naxos recording. The sound is brighter with more detailed revealed and Gallois seems to have a better understanding of the work. I think they could have chosen another filler piece perhaps an all Hoffmann CD.
Tom
http://www.radioswissclassic.ch/en/musicians/cd/10036636bf62ab3341ef42660811dfe6cf137a8 (http://www.radioswissclassic.ch/en/musicians/cd/10036636bf62ab3341ef42660811dfe6cf137a8)
Does anyone have any experience with this recording of Witt on the Gold label?
Tom :)
The label's MDG, Tom. I have the CD, but haven't listened to it for ages...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barner-Hamburger-Symphoniker-Witt/dp/B00092ZBH6/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1425130251&sr=1-1&keywords=witt (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barner-Hamburger-Symphoniker-Witt/dp/B00092ZBH6/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1425130251&sr=1-1&keywords=witt)
I had a listen to it on utube and enjoyed it poor sound and all. I may just get it. Thanks for the info Alan
Tom
https://sdtom.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/symphony-in-a-majorfriedrich-witt/ (https://sdtom.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/symphony-in-a-majorfriedrich-witt/)
My take on a most neglected work.
Tom :)
I'm now going to tackle the Hoffmann part of the CD. It includes his eflat major symphony and two opera overtures.
Has anyone ever read the reviews Hoffmann did of some of Beethoven's work. I understand there was a book printed of his reviews.
Tom
Here's the review of Beethoven's 5th symphony, in German.
http://85.214.96.74:8080/zbk/zbk-html/A1094.html (http://85.214.96.74:8080/zbk/zbk-html/A1094.html)
("Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus: Rezension der 5. Symphonie von Ludwig van Beethoven. In Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung 12 (1810), Nr. 40, Sp. 630–642 u. Nr. 41, Sp. 652–659.")
E.T.A. Hoffmann's Writings on Music, Collected in a Single Volume (2004).
This was the book I was talking about. My Minneapolis library doesn't have it. Wish I could read German.
Tom :)
Available on Amazon.co.uk here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hoffmanns-Musical-Writings-Kreisleriana-Criticism/dp/0521543398/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425583039&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=E.T.A.+Hoffmann%27s+Writings+on+Music%2C+Collected+in+a+Single+Volume (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hoffmanns-Musical-Writings-Kreisleriana-Criticism/dp/0521543398/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425583039&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=E.T.A.+Hoffmann%27s+Writings+on+Music%2C+Collected+in+a+Single+Volume)
It's not cheap though!
Will check it out and decide if it is worth the investment. Thanks for the info.
Tom :)
My public library does (restricted in various ways, depending- no CDs, only certain participating libraries,...) out-of-system interloans (through Worldcat searches)- maybe yours does too? Might be possible for you to borrow it instead of buy it... the 2003 edition (it's originally from 1989) has OCLC 52783394 , most of the 1989 ones are either out-of-country or Internet Resources and probably not ILL-able from within the US by a public library (I'm guessing) so I'd give a go to that last OCLC...
My curiosity is the driving force in this but I'm going to follow up on this for sure.
Tom
E. T. A. Hoffmann was not only a composer and musicologist, but - in first line - one of Germany's greatest Romantic/Fantastic/Grotesque writers! His novels inspired Offenbach, Lortzing, Templeton Strong, Tchaikovsky, Busoni etc. etc. For his own opera "Undine" he did not write a libretto himself, but commissioned Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, one of Germany's very first Romantic poets. Hoffmann's music is, actually, less crazy and hauting than his novels! There is a (German) Kindle edition of his study on Beethoven (only 9 pages):
http://www.amazon.de/Beethovens-Instrumentalmusik-E-T-Hoffmann-ebook/dp/B0057H0WCW/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425771006&sr=1-2&keywords=e.+t.+a.+hoffmann+music
Hoffmann was quite the talent. I always thought that Poe's "Murder in the Rue Morgue" was at least by some to be the first detective story until I found out that "Madame de Scudery" may have influenced him in his writing as well as "Fantasy, Irony, and the Grotesque." Would like to read some of his work.
Tom :)
@sdtom
If you search for English translations, have a look at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31377/31377-h/31377-h.htm (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31377/31377-h/31377-h.htm)
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hoffmann/eta/scuderi/ (https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hoffmann/eta/scuderi/)