Felix Woyrsch

[sdtom]

Does anyone have any experience with this composer?
Tom

[X. Trapnel]

Deadly dull, I thought. Which, of course, won't stop me from buying the new release of the 2nd Symphony...

[petershott@btinternet.com]

"Deadly dull" was far from the experience I had when I listened to the 2nd Symphony.

I'd suggest, with respect, that we should be wary of such dismissive comments. They must inevitably leak back to the record company and place a question mark over projects to record works of unsung composers. That would be our sad loss. Deadly dull or not did not prevent Woyrsch from gaining advance and prestige in the musical world in his own time, and there are so many from that late 19th early 20th century culture who have now been quite forgotten that we do not want someone of the calibre of Woyrsch to join them.

As for me, well I'd be delighted if CPO continued their welcome exploration of Woyrsch, gave us the remaining orchestral music, and uncovered the fairly extensive corpus of chamber music.

[Alan Howe]

Solid, well-constructed music of a serious demeanour. Need to be listened to carefully for its qualities to be revealed.

[X. Trapnel]

I will give another listen to the Woyrsch First. It took about three hearings of Tovey's symphony before its quality began to dawn on me. I love it now.

[Alan Howe]

That's not a bad comparison, actually. The same amount of work is necessary to come an appreciation of both!

[mbhaub]

I've listened to the cpo 2nd a couple of times now. Didn't do much for me.  Well written, well scored, and the man was obviously a talented composer. Just not great. I was hoping for more.

[Alan Howe]

Not a bad summary, actually. I too was hoping for more...

[sdtom]

Solid, well-constructed music of a serious demeanour. Need to be listened to carefully for its qualities to be revealed.

I'm in the process of reviewing the Hamlet Overture and I must say I'm very impressed with the work. I have a compulsion to want to have everything written about Hamlet so I have (4) film scores and several overtures. I'm in the process of reviewing so I'll post the link when I complete it.

[20th Century Limited]

Hadn't heard of him before we received the CPO CD at the station. Liked it enough that I'm broadcasting the 2nd as I write this. Check out "The 20th Century Limited" on WWUH-FM (91.3 West Hartford, CT and streaming live at WWUH.org). Every Friday from 4 - 7 pm ET, we play contemporary classical music and feature a lot of Unsung Composers.

By the way - UC's answers to the questions I've been asked are wrong!
- There are only 4 fingers (plus a thumb) on a hand;
- Beethoven wrote 10 symphonies, 1-9 plus Wellington

[Alan Howe]

By the way - UC's answers to the questions I've been asked are wrong!
- There are only 4 fingers (plus a thumb) on a hand;
- Beethoven wrote 10 symphonies, 1-9 plus Wellington

Huh? I hope you're not a spammer. If so, your days at UC are numbered! If you're not, welcome to the forum!

[sdtom]

http://sdtom.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/hamlet-overturefelix-woyrsch/

My take on the Hamlet

[JimL]

http://sdtom.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/hamlet-overturefelix-woyrsch/

My take on the Hamlet

Um, you might want to reword some spots in that review, Tom.  You say he studied counterpoint with Palestrina and Gabriel.  I'm pretty sure both had been dead for centuries before Woyrsch was born.

[sdtom]

Thanks for pointing that out to me. If you read the liner notes Dorsch isn't clear in my mind. Perhaps in the translation? Anyway take another look and it is much clearer
Tom

[Ilja]

I instantly loved Woyrsch' first symphony: a very accessible, exhilarating work. Would love to hear No. 2. At around the same time I got the Volbach B minor symphony, and it's uncannily similar to that in many respects - same time period, same scale and ambition.