HEINRICH BIBER (1644-1704): Trombet-undt Musicalischer Taffeldienst, 3 Arien, Harmonia Romana, 5 Balletti, 5 Balletti Lamentabili. This collection of some of Biber's less-known (but still wonderfully pungent) works has been put together as a cycle which might represent a Carneval day in the city of Kremsier (KromeÞiÏ): thus, we have an Intrada, music to greet the guests, dinner music and various types of dances. A drunken night-watchman bellowing in an abominable low Austrian dialect makes two appearances as well. A well-planned program which is great fun! Ars Antiqua Austria; Ginar Letzbor. Symphonia SY 95143 (Austria) 12-0AA $18.98
JOHN FERNSTRÖM (1897-1961): Symphony No. 6, Op. 40, Symfonisk prolog, Op. 88, Intimate Miniatures for Strings, Op. 2. Another fine Scandinavian symphonist appears! The son of Chinese misssionaries, Fernström became a composer, conductor, teacher and painter who had a lasting effect of Swedish musical life as a pedagogue. He also wrote 12 symphonies and his sixth, of 1939, is the first to appear on CD. The composer himself described his style as a "fusion of an impressionistically colored harmony with classical formal principles"; this four-movement work has an intensely combative opening movement with much vivd use of brass and low winds, a calm meditation for a slow movement and an incisive, polyrhythmic scherzo, again with much idiomatic use of the winds. The finale combines march rhythms and other motifs to end in a general uproar. The op.88 (1949) is in much the same vein - a sonata-form 10-minute work written for the Malmö SO's 25th jubilee. Malmö Symphony Orchestra; Cecilia Rydinger Alin, Musica Vitae; Wojciech Rajski. BIS 903 (Sweden) 12-0AB $17.98
GÖSTA NYSTROEM (1890-1966): Sinfonia espressiva, Sinfonia seria for Flute, Strings and Percussion. Nystroem is both better-known than his coeval Fernström and a little more distant in musical personality. The Sinfonia espressiva (1935-37) is a spare work, more "Scandinavian" in its quality of contemplation and inwardness; its two slow movements carry the majority of expressive weight while the scherzo and fugal finale exhibit a sharply chiselled tautness. From 1963, the Sinfonia seria is in two movements, each of which describes a journey from calm through force and tension back to calm again in an atmosphere of meditative austerity. Malmö Symphony Orchestra; Paavo Järvi. BIS 782 (Sweden). 12-0AC $17.98
MALCOLM FORSYTH (b.1936): Electra Rising - Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra, Valley of a Thousand Hills for Orchestra, Tre Vie - Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra. The cello concerto, written in 1995 for his daughter who plays it in this recording, is an expansive, half-hour work of multifarious delights in four movements. Two are subtitled "cadenza" although the instrument is accompanied - the first sings a romantic melody "With Gossamer Lightness" over a web of strings and harp while the other "Dramatic", is a forceful apostrophe. The second movement recalls the composer's birthplace of South Africa in an exuberant scherzo while the final movement "Paean" is a hymn-like song which concludes in outbursts of radiant virtuosity. Valley..., from 1989, depicts three South African landscapes while Tre Vie (1992) takes the three main roads of ancient Rome as an excuse for much striking, Waltonian-influenced (in his Mediterranean period) music, brilliantly written for the solo instrument and masterfully using the color possibilities of a large orchestra. Amanda Forsyth (cello), William H. Street (sax), Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; Grzegorz Nowak. CBC Records SMCD 5180 (Canada) 12-0AD $16.98
OTTO OLSSON (1879-1964): Introduction and Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 19, Klaverstykker, Op. 2, Nos. 1 & 4, 6 Scherzi, Op. 9, Nos. 1, 2, 4 & 5, Pianostyck, Op. 18b/2, Eligiska danser, Op. 34, No.s 1, 2 & 5. Olsson's only work for instrument and orchestra dates from 1905 and features the elegiac character which is present in so many of choral and organ works for which his is best known. All the character pieces for piano date from 1901-08 and are finely constructed, appealing examples of Swedish late Romanticism. Irène Mannheimer (piano), Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra; Gunnar Staern. Sterling 1024 (Sweden) 12-0AE $15.98
MOISEI VAINBERG (1919-1996): Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 61, Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 67, Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes, Op. 47/1. Vainberg's fourth symphony dates from 1957 and features a fast-moving toccata, a second movement, introduced by a waltz-like theme, in the manner of a serenade, a slow movement full of touching beauty building to a passionate climax and a finale of folk-like dance rhythms. The concerto, from 1960, is also in four movements, for massive orchestra and non-stop soloist which follows a pattern similar to the symphony, especially in its languorous, romantic adagio and its wild, dance-like finale. The Rhapsody (1949) is a richly-orchestrated (and politically safe) exercise in local color. Leonid Kogan (violin), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra; Kirill Kondrashin, USSR State Symphony Orchestra; Evgeni Svetlanov. Olympia OCD 622 (England) 12-0AF $16.98
LLORENÇ BALSACH (b.1953): Gran Copa Especial for Orchestra, Visions Grotesques for Orchestra, Rondó for Chamber Ensemble, Ritmes d'Ultramar for 2 Pianos, String Trio, Música-Màgica for Chamber Ensemble. Balsach is plainly a composer of considerable range, both of ambition and achievement. "Gran Copa Especial" suggests Sallinen trying to write "West Side Story", while "Visions Grotesques", the longest and most substantial work here switches genres and vocabularies with disconcerting fluency, suggesting a series of tableaux or pictures in different styles such as one might encounter on a random stroll through an art gallery. Hints of early Schönberg, of Shostakovich, and a kaleidoscopic juxtaposition of styles make this a fascinating trip through the composer's psyche. The "Rondó" begins in a less tonally based style, but this is a ruse of the composer's, and the piece soon finds its way and establishes a clearly defined melodic contour. The 2-piano works are uncomplicated Latin dances, harmonically appealing, and the chamber works are cogently argued and imbued with a strong element of fantasy. Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona; Joan Lluís Moraleda, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Caluna; Isaac Karabtchesky, Ensemble 2e2m; Paul Mefano, Maria Lourdes & Lluís Pérez-Molina (duo pianos), Trio à cordes de Paris, Música XXI; Miquel Gaspà. Ars Harmonica AH021 (Spain) 12-0AG $19.98
ANTHONY PAYNE (b.1936): Time's Arrow. An extended tone-poem lasting almost a half-hour, "Time's Arrow" tackles no less a subject than the creation, existence and destruction of the universe according to the oscillating big bang theory of cosmology (and may thus presumably be accounted remarkable for its brevity!) Payne is the composer who has recently done remarkable work in the reconstruction of Elgar's Third Symphony, and English Romanticism is certainly a jumping-off point in his music, which nonetheless strays into very advanced territory indeed. Structurally the piece begins with a slow introduction, representing the formless void, followed by en "explosive exposition" leading to music of powerful dynamism propelled by successions of block chords in complex metres and much use of tenor drums, suggesting an affinity with Panufnik. Increasingly the music slows its headlong "expansion" until a still centre of universal stasis is reached, after which the music quasi-palindromically retraces its steps to the final collapse into singularity. BBC Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Davis. NMC D037S (England) 12-0AH $8.98
MICHAEL FINISSY (b.1946): Red Earth. This may be one of Finnissy's most strikiing works, or at least, one that makes the most impact on first acquaintance and continues to fascinate after repeated listening. Part of the reason for this is its powerful visceral impact - inspired by the vast impersonal and inhospitable landscapes of Australia as seen from the air, and their inherent implications in terms of mankind's place in the world, Finnissy has created a vast teeming canvas in full orchestral colour. The music is complex, but does not primarily seem to belong to the "complexicist school" of which Finnissy has sometimes been designated a member - rather the effect is of a powerful and disturbing emotional response which disguises the means by which the composer achieves his ends. BBC Symphony Orchestra; Martyn Brabbins. NMC D040S (England) 12-0AI $8.98
MINNA KEAL (b.1909): Cello Concerto, Ballade. This disc couples two works from opposite ends of the remarkable interrupted compositional career of an extraordinarily determined woman. The Ballade is a transcription by the composer of a work originally written for viola and piano at the age of 19 while she was studying at the Royal Academy of Music. The work is tonal and romantic, and recalls Vaughan Williams. The Cello Concerto, completed in 1994, is a product of her renaissance as a composer, which began when she was nearly 70, with some private study with Justin Connolly and Oliver Knussen. Harmonically the idiom is far more modern, although the solo instrument is treated very expressively, from its sustained opening soliloquy against dramatic orchestral scene-setting to the final brooding adagio, finally interrupted by a more vigorous coda that is somewhat reminiscent of Shostakovich. Alexander Baillie (cello), Martina Baillie (piano), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Martyn Brabbins. NMC D048S (England) 12-0AJ $8.98