Composer: Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek
Performer: Alexander Vassiliev
Orchestra: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Großes Opernorchester Parlophon
Conductor: Michail Jurowski, Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: CPO
Catalogue: 7770472
Release: 2007
Size: 270 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Eine Lustspiel-Overtüre
Thema und Variationen nach Chamissos “Tragische Geschichte”
02. Theme
03. Variation 1: Allegro a la chasse
04. Variation 2: Andante quasi allegretto
05. Variation 3: Allegro con brio
06. Variation 4: Tempo di notturno
07. Variation 5: Allegro
08. Variation 6: Tempo di marcia funebre
09. Variation 7: Allegretto giocoso
01. 0Variation 8: Poco animato pesante
11. Variation 9: Allegretto molto moderato
Symphonische Variationen über “Kol Nidrey”
12. Variation 1: Largo religioso
13. Variation 2: Allegro larghetto
14. Variation 3: Allegro con brio
15. Variation 4: Adagio
16. Variation 5: Agitato
17. Variation 6: Andantino
18. Variation 7: Tempo di Ländler – Lento
19. Variation 8: Alla marcia
20. Variation 9: Allegro moderato
21. Eine Lustspiel-Overtüre
Donna Diana
22. Act I: Overture
Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek’s name used to live on through the overture to his opera Donna Diana; it used to faithfully show up on German-language light music programs and served as the theme song for the radio show Sgt. Preston of the Northwest Mounted Police. When that show went off the air in the early ’50s, his name all but died.
When the digital age came, it brought a tiny Reznicek revival in the shape of a pair of mediocre recordings of a few orchestral works with Gordon Wright leading the Philharmonia Hungarica. These were all but ignored and quickly forgotten. When the millennium came, it brought another tiny Reznicek revival in the shape of a series of recordings on the Austrian CPO label, among them this disc with Michail Jurowski leading the WDR Sinfonie Orchester Köln. It contains three works: Eine Lustspiel-Ouvertüre (A Comedy Overture), Theme und Variationen nach dem Gedicht “Tragische Geschicte” von Adalbert von Chamisso (Theme and Variations after the Poem “Tragic Story” by Adalbert von Chamisso), and Symphonische Variations über Kol Nidrey (Symphonic Variations on Kol Nidre).
Each is granted a polished and professional performance by Jurowski and the Köln musicians, and each succeeds according to its worth, which, as it happens, is directly proportional to its length. Thus at nine minutes, the slapstick nonsequitors of Eine Lustspiel-Ouvertüre work better than the improbable juxtapositions and maladroit vocal conclusion of the almost 20-minute Chamisso Variations, which likewise work better than the endless extravagance and bottomless bombast of the almost 25-minute Kol Nidre Variations. As bonus tracks, CPO has appended a pair of 1922 recordings of Reznicek himself leading a drastically reduced orchestra in Eine Lustspiel-Ouvertüre and, naturally, the Donna Diana Overture. Despite the obviously antique sound and the necessary but unfortunate re-orchestrations — an extremely energetic tuba, for example, stands in for the whole bass section — these performances have more life than any subsequent recordings, and for anyone who wants to know how Reznicek sounds at his best, this is the place to start. CPO’s digital sound is big, bold, and colorful.