Domenico Cimarosa
(1749-1801)

Oreste
Artasese
La Circe
Alessandro nell'Indie
L'Italiana a Londra
L'Armida immaginaria
La donna sempre al suo peggior s'appiglia
Il fanatico per gli antichi Romani
Giannina e Baerardone

Toronto Chamber Orchestra/Kevin Mallon
Naxos 8.570279 67:27

A CD to be dipped into occasionally rather than played through at a sitting. Several are little three-movement sinfonias. These are charming works, all but guaranteed to give pleasure.

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Ferdinand Ries
(1784-1838)

Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 2
Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 143

Mendelssohn Trio Berlin
cpo 777053-2 54:53

As with much of Ries' music, the influence of Beethoven is strong and in these two trios Mendelssohn also hovers. Nothing unusual here – just enjoyable, well-crafted music.

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Johan Halvorsen
(1864-1935)

Symphony #2
Symphony #3

Trondheim Symphony Orchestra/Ole Kristian Ruud
Simax PSC1062 62:15

Like many other Scandinavian composers, Halvorsen studied in Germany: his music reflects this, and inevitably, Edvard Grieg. These two rarely-encountered symphonies are well worth exploring.

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Bernhard Molique
(1801-1869)

String Quartet #1, Op. 18 #1
String Quartet #2, Op. 18 #2

Mannheim String Quartet
cpo 777149-2 58:29

Molique was this German composer's preferred French version of his name. Ludwig van Beethoven looms large over these quartets published in 1834. The first, like Beethoven's, is in F Major, Op 18 #1 which is probably no coincidence. The second, in A minor, is somewhat darker and has some of the character of a Felix Mendelssohn quartet.

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Granville Bantock
(1868-1946)
Overture to a Greek Tragedy ¹

Joseph Holbrooke
(1878-1958)
The Birds of Rhiannon ²

Cyril Rootham
(1875-1938)
Symphony #1 ²

¹ Philharmonia Orchestra/Nicholas Braithwaite
² London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon Handley
Lyrita SRCD269 62:30

A concert comprising Bantock's moody overture, Holbrooke's fairly gentle tone poem, and Rootham's engaging symphony. There are echoes of such composers as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax, a touch of Edward Elgar, even Ernst Moeran. The heart of the half-hour symphony is its beautiful slow movement with similarities to Vaughan Williams' Pastoral Symphony and occasionally William Walton's 1st.

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Arthur Foote
(1853-1937)

Piano Quartet in C Major, Op. 23
Nocturne and Scherzo for Flute & String Quartet
String Quartet #1 in G minor, Op. 4

James Barbagallo, piano
Jeani Muhonen Foster, flute
Da Vinci Quartet
Naxos 8.559014 71:05

Foote, American born and American trained, still was firmly rooted in the European Romantic period. His cheerful and rich melodies pour out in this chamber music.

His most famous and understandably most popular work in its day is the haunting Nocturne and Scherzo for Flute and String Quartet. Foote's biographer, Nicolas E. Tawa, (Arthur Foote: A Musician in the Frame of Time and Place) quoted in the liner notes, said this piece "makes a statement that is benevolent and compassionate, rather than passionate". This is an excellent observation and also holds true especially for the second movement of the gorgeous Piano Quartet.

Foote follows in the tradition of Mendelssohn and Schumann in his chamber music writing, (although in the Piano Quartet there are moments that are also reminiscent of Dvořák's American Quartet). There is a modal theme in the last movement, described as a hymn-tune, used as contrast with the march-like first theme.

The String Quartet No. 1 is pure pleasure!

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[ Sheet Music for the music on this disc: Silvertrust Edition
  and other Sheet Music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Siegmund von Hausegger
(1872-1948)

Natursymphonie

WDR Rundfunkchor Köln
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln/Ari Rasilainen
CPO 777237-2 56:37

Scored for a very large orchestra including organ, and a choir, this is an immediately attractive work. There are reminders of Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Franz Schmidt. The choir appears only in the last movement. Rasilainen has made something of a name for himself in less familiar music such as the symphonies of Kurt Atterberg and Sinding, and is the man for showing this late Romantic work at its best.

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Karol Kurpinski (1785-1857): Two Huts
Ignacy Feliks Dobrzynski (1807-67): Monbar
Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819-72): The Fairy Tale
Zygmunt Noskowski (1844-1909): The Steppes
Wladyslaw Zelenski (1837-1921): In the Tatra Mountains

Sinfonia Varsovia/Grzegorz Nowak
Accord 011369-2 66:31

This is an enjoyable collection of orchestral music by mostly little-known 19^th-century Polish composers. The standout is the Noskowski, a 20-minute symphonic poem with memorable themes and sweeping momentum. The mystery is the inclusion in the Zelenski of a theme familiar from Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto, which was written 25 years later.

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Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco
(1675-1742)

Concerti a Quattro da Chiesa, Op. 2 #1, 4, 5 & 7
Concerti a Più Instrumenti, Op. 5 #3, 5 & 6
Concerti a Più Instrumenti, Op. 6 #5 & 11

Concerto Köln
Teldec Das Alte Werk 3984-22166-2 78:15

The Veronese composer Dall'Abaco worked in Italy, Bavaria and France, all of whose music influenced his compositions. A wide variety of moods and dance forms is on display on this CD from the ever-reliable Concerto Köln. Lovers of Antonio Vivaldi, Georg Philipp Telemann or Jean-Philippe Rameau will find much to enjoy.

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[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Jean Sibelius
(1865-1957)

The Wood Nymph, Op. 15 - Ballade
A Lonely Ski-Trail (1925)
Swanwhite, Op. 54
The Wood Nymph, Op. 15 - Melodrama

Timo Keinonen, cello
Lasse Pöysti, narrator
Sakari Tepponen, violin
Pauli Pietiläinen, organ
Harri Karri, piano
Lahti Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä
BIS BIS-CD815 62:08

The Wood Nymph is early Sibelius but is a powerful orchestral work that had to wait until this 1996 CD for its first recording. Swanwhite is a delicate suite of incidental music with most movements lasting little more than a minute. If you dislike music with narration, the other two pieces are minor short works and it's these that include the narrator.

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