Messages

It seems to me rather odd that no one has as yet mentioned the obvious model for this symphony, which is Mendelssohn -- it could at times almost be Mendelssohn No. 6. Sure, there's some Beethoven here and there in the workings-out, but Mendelssohn is the Big Daddy. And it is, as you have all said, a remarkably fine work.

Don't worry: the Moszkowski symphony is in the can. We're just not sure when the album will be ready for release.

It is Paul Mann, indeed, but this time with the Kodály Philharmonic, Debrecen. The first recording will feature the Overture No. 3, Jacta est Alea, the Romance for Violin and Orchestra (soloist Ana Török) and the five-movement symphonic poem Palamon and Arcite. (BTW, pace an earlier comment, it's not the first symphonic poem by an English composer: that was Henry Pierson's Macbeth (1859), performed at Crystal Palace in 1875.)

It's an August release, which means I should have stock by mid-July.
Martin

Can you drop me a line at martin@toccataclassics.com, please, Killikyjones? I would like to get a Toccata Classics recording project of David Wooldridge's music off the ground, and it may be that you have some music that survived the fire at his home but is not available elsewhere. And Archimus, I would love to hear the Fantasia Concertante, if you would be so kind...Many thanks.

My pleasure -- literally! In fact, having heard the Schumannesque music of Mielck's that was previously available, I was surprised by the direction taken by the Finnish Suite -- looking forward rather than back. He's plainly one of the major what-if composers.
Cheers
Martin

The booklet note with one of the MDG CDs of Bargiel's piano trios about fifteen years ago quoted a contemporary reviewer to the extent that "these trios are the best things in the genre since those of Friedrich Lux" (or similar). And I thought: who the fux Lux? Having since discovered a bit more about him, I have him among my targets for Toccata Classics, but I haven't managed to do anything about him yet.
Cheers
Martin

Forgive me if someone else has already mentioned it, but I see that the US label Centaur is releasing a CD with Röntgen's oboe sonatas and more. The Centaur website is not very helpful: go to www.centaurrecords.com and do a search on 'Rontgen' (i.e., no umlaut) and it will surface.
Cheers
Martin

Eric, I have here the scores of number of the Ashton chamber works with piano, and I do hope that Toccata Classics will be able to record some of them before too long. No concrete plans at the moment, but they have been on the horizon for years.
Cheers
Martin

That project was being lined up for Toccata Classics some six or seven years ago but then the trail went cold. Ah, well: you win some.... And there's plenty Boyle left to be recorded still.
Cheers
Martin

I forgot to return to say when the Medins (I can't do the diacriticals here) CD was available. And it has been for a few weeks now, I'm afraid: apologies for my forgetfulness.

As for revealing recording plans, I can do so for the immediate future, of course. The Ashton cello sonatas you already know about. The other November releases are:

• Alnæs songs TOCC 0124 (not yet samplable at http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0124 but should be shortly)
• Farwell piano music Vol. 1 (likewise, coming soon to http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0126
• Françaix music for string orchestra: Symphonie d'archets, Ode à la naissance de Vénus, Die Kamelien (now up at http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0162)
• Granville-Hicks opera Sappho (will soon be up at http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0154_5)
• Shebalin Orchestral Suites Nos. 1 and 2 (sound up at http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0136)

The December releases will be the third volume of Sherban Lupu's and Ian Hobson's complete Ernst (TOCC 0163) and the first of Peter Sheppard Skærved's 30 Piccole sonate of Tartini.
Cheers
Martin

Those of you interested in Irgens-Jensen might like to know that the translation of Arvid Vollnes' book of the composer is already being corrected in proof and, all being well, should be published by Toccata Press before the end of the year.
Cheers
Martin

Thanks for the encouraging words about Toccata Classics. Anyway, re the Ashton cello sonatas: I'm told that the stocks were leaving the factory yesterday (Friday) and so they should be in the warehouse early next week, and I should therefore have some copies in London in perhaps ten days for anyone who wants to order through the Toccata Classics website. (I've no idea, I'm afraid, how quickly Amazon will be able to supply it.) To my mind, gorgeous though the Second Sonata is (and you can be sure that I had no idea that Centaur were bringing it out as well), the real glory on this first disc is the Arioso which opens the programme -- it's knee-weakeningly lovely. You can catch the opening on our website.
Cheers
Martin

I come rather late in the day to the exchange about David Wooldridge. I too was at that Prom concert in 1979 and concur on the sheer beauty of the music. I happened to mention them to Robin Holloway at a BBC Christmas bash a few years ago and he agreed on their quality. So re-assured that my response hasn't been youthful enthusiasm, and having started Toccata Classics not so long ago at that point, I decided that perhaps I could do something to promote Wooldridge's music. The first step, of course, was to contact the composer -- whom I remember taking a bow at the 1979 Prom -- and I managed to obtain his number through the American Musicological Society mailing list (to which I belong). When I rang, a woman's voice answered the phone and so I asked if I could speak to him. "Who is that calling?" the voice asked, guardedly, and so I explained my purpose. "Oh, David would have been so happy to speak to you" she said, and explained that her husband had died a few weeks earlier.
There was more bad news to follow. He was self-published (Hitchinbroke, or whatever the name is -- I can't see the earlier posts as I write this -- was his own undertaking) and there had been a fire in the family house not long before and much of his music had gone up in smoke -- and as he was self-published, there weren't copies safely sequestered elsewhere. I've since been in touch with his son, who lives in Vienna, and I would still like to record the Five Italian Songs for Toccata Classics, plus whatever other Wooldridge orchestral music I can get hold of.
Cheers
Martin

I'll let you know when we get the recording off to the factory and when we can expect stocks.
Cheers
Martin (Toccata Classics)