CD of Swiss orchestral music

[Alan Howe]

Excellent news!

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks Thomas, so have I. Good news.

[Mark Thomas]

I've just received an email confirming that "The discovery of unknown repertoire is an exciting challenge, but it also harbours surprises. So we had to decide in favour of the highest musical standards and the length of the compositions in the recording process, which cannot be precisely determined in advance, to concentrate our financial resources on two works" [excuse my translation]: Raff's orchestral song Traumkönig und sein Lieb and Walter's Symphony. Which means that in addition to Raff's two Op.199 songs which we already knew about, we've now lost Eschmann's Overture as well. "Length of the compositions" is hardly an issue as, unless incredibly slow tempi have been adopted, I doubt whether the two works will amount to much more than 50 minutes. It looks like the amount of rehearsal and recording time needed to record the CD was severely under-estimated - in my experience three days would be the minimum for a full CD of unfamiliar orchestral repertoire. This is a shoddy way to treat those of us who stumped up to crowd fund this project and I shall think very seriously about supporting future projects planned by the Swiss Orchestra, even if they include (as promised) more Raff recording premieres.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I agree, Mark. Given in all the recordings I have done the companies concerned have aimed at doing enough takes for 15 minutes of final music (unfamiliar or not) per session (3 hours with a 20 minute break), so the allocation of studio time ought to have been at least 5 x 3 hour sessions (2 and a half days). How much did they allow?

[Mark Thomas]

Someone told me it was two days, but my information is second hand as this isn't a project I've been involved with other than to contribute to the crowd funding, something which I now regret.

[Mark Thomas]

[Justin]

Do we have a release date?

[Justin]

Found a couple cool videos featuring the orchestra:

The first is Chappuis conducting both Cavatina from Six Morceaux for violin and piano op. 85, no. 3 and Die Jägerbraut» from «Zwei Scenen für eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des Orchesters op. 199 . Both were performed outside Raff's birthplace in Lachen, Switzerland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjBYZLxp1KA

The second features footage from the recording session for Raff's «Traumkönig und sein Lieb» op. 66.

https://vimeo.com/478401140

[Mark Thomas]

Do we have a release date?

"Very soon", apparently.

[Justin]

Which means that in addition to Raff's two Op.199 songs which we already knew about, we've now lost Eschmann's Overture as well.

The Eschmann Overture has been rescheduled to four concerts from June 6th to June 13th, 2021.

https://swissorchestra.ch/en/swiss-symphony-in-focus/

The two Op. 199 songs have been rescheduled to four concerts from August 27th to October 16th, 2021.

https://swissorchestra.ch/en/the-swiss-symphonic-treasury/

[terry martyn]

Despite the length of the CD, I shall definitely buy it , once jpc etc advertise it

[adcsound]

Dear Friends,

For some reasons we didn't have enough time to record what we were supposed to... and decided to prioritize quality over quantity.
The CD will arrive next week in Switzerland so I think it'll be soon available.
Please check Schweizerfonogramm.com in a few days.
Fred.

[Justin]

Thank you, Fred! You guys are doing great work. Your Lauber record is excellent, and I am looking forward to this new release.

Here is the website: https://www.schweizerfonogramm.com/en/

[eschiss1]

I am glad the Walter symphony is receiving a commercial recording

[Justin]

Album now available for sale from the label's website. Details have now been posted, along with audio excerpts.

https://www.schweizerfonogramm.com/en/cd/the-treasure-chamber-of-swiss-symphonic-music/