Moritz Moszkowski: Orchestral Music, Volume Three
The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it unperformed for a century or more. This third volume presents his very first orchestral work, a strikingly assured Overture in D major, written when he was seventeen, and his last, a sombre, dignified and deeply felt Prelude and Fugue for strings, composed on the death of his mother in 1910. Between them comes Moszkowski’s First Orchestral Suite, from 1885, a joy from start to finish, with one delightful inspiration following another in a daisy-chain of dance-rhythms, memorable tunes and instrumental colour.
Sinfonia Varsovia
Ian Hobson, conductor
Andrzej Krzyżanowski, flute (Track 8)
Listen To This Recording:
- Overture in D major (1871–72)
- I Allegro molto e brioso
- II Allegro giojoso
- III Tema con variazioni: Andante
- III Tema con variazioni: Var. 1: Un poco più mosso
- III Tema con variazioni: Var. 2: Un poco meno mosso
- III Tema con variazioni: Var. 3: Allegro con spirito
- III Tema con variazioni: Var. 4: Allegretto con moto
- III Tema con variazioni: Var. 5: Lento maestoso. All’ongarese – Allegro fuocoso, poco a poco ancora più animato – Tempo primo
- III Tema con variazioni: Var. 6: Andante tranquillo
- III Tema con variazioni: Var. 7: Allegro scherzando
- III Tema con variazioni: Var. 8: Un pochino più lento del tema
- IV Intermezzo: Allegro con moto
- V Perpetuum mobile: Vivace *
- Prélude
- Fugue
Première Suite d’Orchestre, Op. 39, in F major (1885)
Prélude et Fugue pour Orchestre à Cordes, Op. 85 (1910)*
ALL EXCEPT * FIRST RECORDINGS
MusicWeb International :
‘The recording is very clear, the conducting is well attuned to the music and the playing is excellent. […]
The recording quality and general production values are up to Toccata’s usual high standards.’
—Jonathan Welsh, MusicWeb International
Gramophone :
‘Hats off to Ian Hobson and his players, a team that is confidently and stylishly immersed in Moszkowski’s instantly recognisable idiom. […] for those with a sweet tooth and a taste for music of sunny exuberance, high spirits and optimism, this third volume is unmissable.’
—Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone
Infodad :
‘Hobson knows that a work like this needs to be presented with verve and style but without attempting to make it into something more substantive than the composer ever intended it to be. And he and Sinfonia Varsovia do just that: the suite flows pleasantly and with ease throughout, the individual movements disconnected from each other and from the whole but no less enjoyable and entertaining as a result of their distinct lack of profundity. There is certainly a case to be made for lighter music of this sort, and Hobson and this orchestra make it very well indeed.’
—Infodad