Weber - Symphonies Nos. 1 And 2 - Turandot Overture - Silvana (1994)

01] Symphony 1 C Major J.50 / 1 Allegro Con Fuoco
02] Symphony 1 C Major J.50 / 2 Andante
03] Symphony 1 C Major J.50 / 3 Scherzo And Trio
04] Symphony 1 C Major J.50 / 4 Finale: Presto
05] Symphony 2 C Major J.51 / 1 Allgero
06] Symphony 2 C Major J.51 / 2  Adagio Ma Non Troppo
07] Symphony 2 C Major J.51 / 3. Menuetto And Trio
08] Symphony 2 C Major J.51 / 4 Finale: Scherzo Presto
09] Turandot  J.75 / 1 Overture
10] Turandot  J.75 / 2 Funeral March From Act 5
11] Turandot  J.75 / 3 March From Act 2
12] Silvana J.87 / 1 Tanz Der Edelknaben
13] Silvana J.87 / 2 Facel Tanz (Torch Dance)
14] Die 3 Pintos Anh. 5 / 1 Antr'acte

Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra
John Georgiadis – conductor

Naxos really are doing us proud. Here is yet another first-class disc of comparatively out of the way music, beautifully performed and recorded. I am very enthusiastic for Weber in general. He had a superlative melodic gift for one thing, he was a brilliant orchestrator and he is blessedly free of pretentiousness. Nobody would look to his compositions for lessons in intellectual techniques, but I will happily trade that to be spared laboured workings-out, twaddling `passages' and the whole baggage of second-rate 19th century instrumental music. All the music on this record is comparatively lightweight, but the symphonies less so than the incidental music. Being perfectly candid, I find them more interesting than the early symphonies of my beloved Schubert. There is a theatrical feel to them, but that is no bad thing in my opinion, and when the inevitable thoughts of Rossini came to the forefront of my mind I also found myself reflecting that Weber had a soul within him, a thing of fire and air, where Rossini had nothing but a vacuum.

The recorded quality is in some ways very striking indeed, with startling resonance in the bass - to start with I could almost have sworn that I heard a tuba. The Queensland Philharmonic play with real life, vigour and enthusiasm, and the conductor has to my way of thinking the right extroversion and sense of style and pace for this particular music. There is also a businesslike and helpful liner-note giving some information on conductor and orchestra as well as commentary on the music.

Right at the end we have something very different and very interesting indeed - an entr'acte put together by Mahler from material Weber had left from an unfinished opera The Three Pintos. Suddenly to hear Mahler's idiom and Mahler's scoring in a ghostly embrace with Weber's has real `tingle-factor` for me, something like the effect of the last bars of the Flying Dutchman overture, written by the Wagner of Tristan and Isolde. I am going to get very attached to this record. ---David Bryson, amazon.com

download:   uploaded anonfiles 4shared mega yandex mixturecloud zalivalka ziddu

back