Bochumer Symphoniker - Antheil: Venus in Africa - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Following the first volume in this series, which charted Franz Schreker's developmental path up to the success of his dance-pantomime Der Geburtstag der Infantin (The Birthday of the Infanta; 777 702-2), this second album focuses primarily on the triumphant years that followed the premiere of his opera Der ferne Klang (The Distant Sound) in 1912. The Vorspiel zu einem Drama (Prelude to a Drama) from 1914 and the Chamber Symphony, composed in 1916, are among the gems of musical Jugendstil (Art Nouveau). Originating as offshoots of contemporary stage projects, these two captivating works display a mastery of sound, harmony, and melody that was unparalleled at the time. The Four Small Pieces for Large Orchestra (1931), which separate these older InchsiblingsInch on this recording, speak in a new language. These abstract contributions to film music, presented as a compact and multifaceted concert suite, hint at powerful new directions - plans that, sadly, Franz Schreker could never fully realize.

Russell Malone is one of the most commanding and versatile guitarist performing today. He can move from Blues to Gospel to pop to R&B and Jazz without hesitation, a rare facility that has prompted some of the highest profile artists in the world to call up him Diana Krall, Aretha Franklin, Christina Aguilera, B.B. King, David Sanborn, Harry Connick, Jr. to name a few. On his Maxijazz , LIVE AT JAZZ STANDARD (VOLUME TWO), Malone captivates from the opener and displays why he is one of the most in-demand guitarists today.

As a famous music authority and critic once wrote, the life story of the Austrian composer Franz Schreker and the reception history of his oeuvre would have offered fine material for a magnificent novel with a musician as it's protagonist - if not for the fact that everything had actually occurred in real life his childhood spent in poverty; the difficult initial path to local prominence in Vienna; the breakthrough to superstar status in German-language opera houses; his appointment as director of the Berlin College of Music; his failure to resist the seductive powers of flatterers; the gradual loss of favor among audiences and critics that many seeming friends followed with malicious spite; and then the final blow, when the new »master race« turned the world upside down - all of this was fact, not fiction. Following the of several operas by Franz Schreker during past years on cpo (some of them in premiere recordings), our tag now turns to the orchestral works of a man who in some circles continues to be dismissed as a mere »sound magician,« even though he was a melodist and harmonist of the first water and had learned his craft so thoroughly at the Vienna Conservatory that he himself became a sought-after teacher. The present program traces Schreker's path from his studies with Robert Fuchs to his first enduring success - the captivating pantomime The Birthday of the Infanta (1908) after the fairy tale by Oscar Wilde, which definitely numbers among the finest creations of the musical art nouveau.