MARGA RICHTER (b.1926): Out of Shadows and Solitude (Seattle Symphony), Quantum Quirks of a Quick Quaint Quark, Spectral Chimes/Enshrouded Hills (Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra).
Catalogue Number: 03O077
Label: Ravello Records
Reference: RR7867
Format: CD
Price: $16.98
Description: A fierce, molten energy, aggressive and steely, fuels the 19-minute tone poem Out of Shadows (1977) and the half-hour long Spectral Chimes of two years later isn't a sunny day at the beach either: inspired by Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles", it has the unusual scoring of wind, brass and string quintets which sometimes play with the orchestra and sometimes a discrete quintets. Tess' toil and tragedy inspired a roiling, dark work with a few spots of evocative mystery and the general quality of the orchestral sound will likely make you think of the middle-period symphonies of Allan Pettersson. Richter's lighter side is on view in the five-minute Quantum Quirks of 1991. Gerard Schwarz (conductor).