COMPOSERS: Schreker
LABELS: Naxos
WORKS: Ekkehard Overture; Fantastic Overture; Interlude from Act III of Der Schatzgräber; Prelude to Die Gezeichneten; Prelude to Das Spielwerk
PERFORMER: Slovak PO/Edgar Seipenbusch
CATALOGUE NO: 8.S55246 Reissue (1985-7)
Since this disc first appeared on Marco Polo in the late Eighties, Schreker's orchestral repertoire has been more widely recorded and by more prestigious orchestras than the Slovak Philharmonic. That said, this collection stands up well to the later competition from the BBC Philharmonic (Chandos) and Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra (EMI) and makes an attractive proposition at budget price for the yet-to-be-converted. The repertoire here ranges from the relatively four-square bombast of Ekkehard to the characteristic lushness of the Gezeichneten Prelude. Yet the performances don't have the knockout quality of Sinaisky's Chandos series, recordings that more than any other restore the music to the central place it had in Austro-German culture in Schreker's lifetime. Matthew Rye
Schreker: Ekkehard Overture; Fantastic Overture; Interlude from Act III of Der Schatzgräber; Prelude to Die Gezeichneten; Prelude to Das Spielwerk
Since this disc first appeared on Marco Polo in the late Eighties, Schreker's orchestral repertoire has been more widely recorded and by more prestigious orchestras than the Slovak Philharmonic. That said, this collection stands up well to the later competition from the BBC Philharmonic (Chandos) and Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra (EMI) and makes an attractive proposition at budget price for the yet-to-be-converted. The repertoire here ranges from the relatively four-square bombast of Ekkehard to the characteristic lushness of the Gezeichneten Prelude.
Our rating
3
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:15 pm