Marek Stilec - Fucik: Dances & Marches - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Mcalpine / Katchen / Solti - Orchestral Works [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/01/2015

To mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Russian born arranger Paul Struck has arranged two of the composer's great mid-period chamber masterpieces for soloist and string ensemble. Expanding the sonorities of the 'Kreutzer' Sonata - Beethoven's most important chamber work for violin - allows the sonata's concertante quality to emerge in a new light. The Cello Sonata No. 3 equally succeeds in conceiving the piano part for ensemble, while exploring fullness of sound and maintaining transparency of texture.

In the last decade of the 18th century, the Moravian composer Paul Wranitzky was Vienna's leading symphonist. As orchestral director of the court theatre he also composed many works for the stage. The ballet-pantomime Das Waldmädchen ('The Forest Maiden') proved one of his greatest successes, enchanting the Viennese public with it's tuneful score and the charming story of a feral girl found in the forest by a Polish prince out hunting. It's enduring popularity sparked numerous productions across Europe and inspired works by Beethoven and Weber. The delightfully rustic Pastorale and Allemande was written for Empress Marie Therese, an important musical patron who favored Wranitzky as composer and concertmaster.