Overtures: December 2008 Archives

Zoltan Kodály
(1882-1967)

Theatre Overture (1927)
Concerto for Orchestra (1939-40)
Dances of Marosszék (1923-7)
Symphony in C Major (1961)

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Yan Pascal Tortelier
Chandos CHAN9811 71:18

The Dances of Marosszék are fairly well-known but the remainder of the works on this disc are heard much less often. Other than the dances, the music does not draw on Kodály's folk song collecting, but there are indications within the music that he was a Hungarian composer. The overture and the Concerto are each in one movement running about 15 minutes. Although not completed until towards the end of his long life, the symphony had its gestation in the 1930s and to a large extent is a product of that era.

[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe ]

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

Dag Wirén
(1905-1986)

Symphony #2, Op. 14 (1939)
Symphony #3, Op. 20 (1943-4)
Concert Overture #1, Op. 2 (1931)
Concert Overture #2, Op. 16 (1940)

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Dausgaard
CPO 999677-2 65:38

The Swedish composer Wirén is one of those known mainly for one work, in his case the march from his Serenade for Strings. The two symphonies, the second a rather genial and breezy work, the third more serious, have slight connections with Nielsen and with the music Wirén would have heard during his time in Paris in the 1920s. The overtures make attractive fillers. The fourth and fifth symphonies and a ballet are available on another CPO CD. The first, an experimental work, was withdrawn.

[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe ]

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

John Gardner
(b. 1917)

Overture: Midsummer Ale, Op. 73 (1965)
Piano Concerto #1 in B Flat, Op. 34 (1956-7) ¹
Symphony #1 in D Minor, Op. 2 (1946-7)

¹ Peter Donohoe, piano
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/David Lloyd-Jones
Naxos 8.570406 71:54

Gardner is yet another composer to have emerged from relative obscurity in recent years and this CD was a 90^th birthday tribute in 2007. The compositions presented here, which work quite well as a concert, are in different styles. The breezy overture is succeeded by the piano concerto which has stylistic affinity with Britten's concerto. Although the CD is titled as one of Naxos' British Piano Concerto series, the main work is the symphony which runs about 41 minutes. Conceived during World War II, it is a dark work in the manner of Bax as in, for example, the slow movement of the first symphony or November Woods. There is much further information at the composer's website.

Read the Classical Net Review

[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe ]

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