ALOYS FLEISCHMANN (1910-1992): The Four Masters Overture, Sinfonia Votiva, An Cótín Dearg (Ballet Suite), Clare's Dragoons (Gavan Ring [baritone], RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, Pat Fitzpatrick [warpipes]).

Description: You've been asking for this ever since it was reviewed in the Sept. 2010 Gramophone so I'm pleased to finally be able to deliver it. Fleischmann was born in Munich to parents based in Ireland and was as Irish as anyone named O'Reilly (including speaking the language), so don't let the name fool you. The major work here is the Sinfonia which originally was written in 1960 as Introduction and Funeral March with the final Bacchanal added in 1977; it was inspired by the death of a friend from student days and achieves a remarkable, sustained intensity and, although its harmonic idiom is polytonal, its eloquence is that of late Romanticism. All the other pieces are lighter - a 1944 overture (Four Masters) evoking the romantic tales of a 17th century Irish monk for whose tercentenary the piece was composed; a ballet suite from 1951 ("The Red Petticoat") which more plainly uses Irish folk material only suggested in Masters and the 1944 Clare's Dragoons, for the centenary of the poet Thomas Davis, whose texts are set with the participation of an Irish equivalent to the Scottish bagpipes. RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; Robert Houlihan.