cpo continues its Louis Glass Symphony series - Symphony #4 is next up. Oddly enough, I saw this listing at Amazon USA but at none of the other usual suspects - unless I missed it, don't see it yet at Presto, Amazon UK, or Apple Music. Features Daniel Raiskin & Rhine State Philharmonic Orchestra - that team elicited raves around here with the Symphony #5 a while back.
(Would like to have posted album cover here, but I haven't been able to make the "insert image" button work for quite a while now. Anyone who has solved this problem....DM welcome! Will try to insert link to album cover image here (https://www.dropbox.com/s/vyydgauovxbfjfh/6-17%20Amazon.jpg?dl=0), maybe it will work & maybe it won't!)
Release date on Amazon USA (https://www.amazon.com/Symphony-Glass-Staatsorchester-Rheinische-Philharmonie/dp/B09ZRL58LX/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1653956717&refinements=p_32%3AGlass+%2F+Staatsorchester+Rheinische+Philharmonie&s=music&sr=1-1) is June 17. (and shortly thereafter I shall be able to cut loose the corresponding Plovdiv Philharmonic recording....from a series which has not exactly been showered with praise :o)
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/vyydgauovxbfjfh/6-17%20Amazon.jpg?dl=0)
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51V6e7W4PIL._SY300_SX300_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg)
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61RtSoPrjlL._SX522_.jpg)
Recorded 8 years ago!! Wonder what else lies unissued in cpo's vaults...
I thought that they recorded the Gernsheim Piano Concerto eons ago...............
So did I!!
Quote from: Alan Howe on Tuesday 31 May 2022, 09:33
Recorded 8 years ago!! Wonder what else lies unissued in cpo's vaults...
Tell me about it! Still waiting to hear the Conrad Ansorge PC which Oliver Triendl recorded for cpo 2-3 years ago. Guess I have to pitch a tent and hold still for the next five or six years for it.
Thanks for those reminders, but please let's not get into a list of cpo's unissued recordings - it'll take over the entire thread!
Glass''s Fourth symphony is probably his most problematic work; there are plenty of good tunes, but boy does he take his time with it. What didn't help was that the Todorov recording was also the worst in that series, with some seriously sloppy playing.
By the looks of this, Raskin shaves off five minutes compared to Todorov, which to me seems like not quite enough. Still, can't wait to subject this to a listen.
Judging from the piano duet reduction (I should check the ms full score, also now easily checkable from IMSLP with Danish library source) there's no first movement repeat to be omitted (nor is there one in the finale), but maybe Raskin just uses better tempi. Hopefully no cuts, though.
Still no sign of a release.....at jpc.de
Presto has the download:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9337500--glass-symphony-no-4-in-e-minor-op-43
No sign of the CD, though.
Here's the CD:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/louis-glass-symphonie-nr-4/hnum/4111657
I suppose this will stand head and shoulders above the old Danacord CD: after 20 years, a new recording is certainly overdue. Rob Barnett said little about the Danacord performance or recording but waxed lyrical about the music.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev//2001/Jan01/Glass4.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev//2001/Jan01/Glass4.htm)
Mine's on its way from jpc...
Quote from: Alan Howe on Friday 18 November 2022, 12:25Mine's on its way from jpc...
Mine too, along with the first two volumes in the CPO symphony series. I am jumping in almost blind. I did, however, track down used copies of the CPO recordings of the duo sonatas (999 548) and the Piano Quintet and String Sextet (777 062). This was an interesting exercise in exploring unknown territory. Were I to base my opinion on the duo sonatas, I would say Glass is quite a find, but if upon the quintet and sextet then I'd say Glass is best given a pass. In other words, as with so many forgotten composers, one shouldn't let a single exposure form your final opinion of a composer's worth.
I downloaded the MP3s from Presto as soon as I had the chance, and haven't regretted it. Raiskin's reading is a huge improvement over the Todorov, both in approach and execution. Most of all, he keeps things together much better and prevents the work from becoming the rambling behemoth that the older recording turned it into. Harmonically, it's a somewhat conservative symphony, but Glass does interesting things with rhythm (particularly in the opening movement), and under Raiskin's direction the effect is almost cinematic in places. Quite a re-discovery for me.
By the way, the recording has hit Spotify already, too (rather unexpectedly).
Amazon Music too, now you mention it.
Quote from: Ilja on Monday 21 November 2022, 08:22Raiskin's reading [...] keeps things together [...] and prevents the work from becoming the rambling behemoth that the older recording turned it into. Harmonically, it's a somewhat conservative symphony, but Glass does interesting things with rhythm (particularly in the opening movement), and under Raiskin's direction the effect is almost cinematic in places. Quite a re-discovery for me.
My copy from JPC arrived today. I agree with Ilja's judgment. It is a work with many grand cinematic moments. I do find it is something of a "rambling behemoth", but perhaps that will disappear with additional hearings. And it does suffer from the usual "finale problem", with a last movement that does not live up to the scale of what preceded it. Still, it made a favorable impression on one hearing.
I just linked to yet another version of Glass's 4th in the Downloads section, by Jorma Panula and the Aarhus City Orchestra from 2006. It shaves almost another seven minutes off the symphony compared to Raiskin's version, and although the recording isn't ideal (there is some tape echo, and it is a bit uneven overall) and the orchestra isn't in the same league as the Rheinische Philharmonie, I think overall I prefer this interpretation.
The time savings take place entirely in the two middle movements; the two outer ones are almost exactly the same length as in Raiskin's version. The Adagio is just played a bit brisker, which to me makes it just flow a bit better (although other people's mileage may vary). In the Molto vivace second movement, however, Panula just makes very different choices than Raiskin, and it works really well. Worth a comparison.
Quote from: Ilja on Saturday 10 December 2022, 17:51I just linked to yet another version of Glass's 4th in the Downloads section, by Jorma Panula and the Aarhus City Orchestra from 2006. It shaves almost another seven minutes off the symphony compared to Raiskin's version, and although the recording isn't ideal (there is some tape echo, and it is a bit uneven overall) and the orchestra isn't in the same league as the Rheinische Philharmonie, I think overall I prefer this interpretation.
The link to the download results in four .mp3 files with each movement equal to the cpo recording in timing. The metadata also indicate "Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie - Daniel Raiskin" and a copyright "©2022 CPO"
Thanks for pointing this out. I have deleted the download details and trust that Ilja will upload the intended performance.
Oops! Thanks, CelesteCadenza, for reporting this; I (rather obviously) uploaded the wrong set of files. Apologies. All should be well now.
Many thanks, Ilja.
Just received my copy of the new cpo recording. It'll please all lovers of large late-romantic symphonies, although it's hard to discern much beyond a sort of generic idiom typical of the period (1905-8). Up against his compatriot and contemporary, Nielsen, one can see exactly why his music hasn't really caught on.
The performance takes 54:38 and seems to be well played and recorded - no quarrels there. No doubt potential purchasers will know precisely what they're ordering. Recommended, but with only modified rapture. (Although they're obviously the work of a composer from a later generation, the early Langgaard symphonies knock Glass into a cocked hat - IMHO, of course.)
I have found #5 to be a much more enjoyable work, but I suppose that's the subject of another thread.