MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 REVIEW
 RECORDING OF THE MONTH


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: Crotchet


Julius RÖNTGEN (1855-1932)
Symphony No. 8 in C sharp minor (1930) [18:27]
Symphony No. 15 in F sharp minor (1931) [25:49]
Variations on a Norwegian Folksong (1932) [25:08]
Carmen Fuggiss (soprano)
NDR Radiophilharmonie/David Porcelijn
rec. GroBer sendesaal des Landesfunkhausen Niedersachsen, 27-29 March 2006; 6 October 2006. DDD
CPO 777 307-2 [69:29]
Experience Classicsonline

The Dutch composer Julius Röntgen grew to maturity under Brahms’s influence. He was feted by Donald Tovey in Edinburgh and was on intimately friendly terms with Grieg. Certainly Grieg’s music left its mark on the style and feel of his music as much as Brahms. He continued to write music until his death - for him there was no silence from Järvenpää.

As we know from earlier reviews he was impressively productive of symphonies both light and profound. He also produced more than few sets of variations and at least five piano concertos. As this disc shows he had a predilection for works of a more modest compass than the typical Brahms symphony. Many of his substantial works are between 20 and 30 minutes length. One of the exceptions amongst those recorded so far is the lyrical-dramatic cantata From Goethe’s Faust (see links below).

His single movement Eighth Symphony combines the Grieg and Brahms influences. Brahms provides the gravamen and some of the surface treatment. Grieg adds a transparency and endearingly folksy influence. The result is not an impenetrable fug but a buoyancy and lightness of expression that lifts the writing - it has a sense of floating that bears it aloft and keeps it there. It is a remarkable work that also features a wordless vocalisation alongside writing that recalls Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto (15:10). The former is magnificently carried with complete security by Carmen Fuggiss; not a tremor despite cruel demands. The solo voice is backwardly placed and adds to the morning mists fjord atmosphere. This is quite magical and is recorded with truly exemplary results by Björn Brigsne. I should mention that the symphony includes a discreet role for orchestral piano.

The Fifteenth Symphony is Brahmsian certainly but here the influence is the Fourth Symphony. There is more storminess and drama in this work which in its outer movements has its share of rugged determination. This contrasts with the airily dancing flute and solo violin-led delights of the second movement. The melancholy soulfulness of the cello-priest third leads to the roundedly solid, poetic and ultimately imperious finale. This brings the work to an end with a blitz of grimly confrontational brass and timps barks - tragedy in the ascendant. The extensive Variations on a Norwegian Folksong is lovingly and smoothly rounded with more than a touch of Delius, Grieg and perhaps Berlioz about it. The writing and the ideas are quite beautiful. There are none of Siegfried Wagner’s clodhopping folkdances and none of Reger’s fugal infatuations. Allowing for an isolated hint of Henry Wood’s Sea Song Variations everything is most delicately put across (16:15).

Burkhard Schmilgun will have been pleased with the results and I fully expect that the composer’s shade would have been also.

Three deeply romantic yet not extravagant works of the 1930s without a scintilla of dissonance; all enlivened and made transparent by Nordic folk voices.

This is the place to begin your exploration of Röntgen. If you appreciate the symphonies of Stanford but perhaps hanker for a lighter even impressionistic hand then Röntgen is certainly for you.

Rob Barnett 

Other reviews of Rontgen recordings
Symphony 3, Jotunheim suite - CPO 7771192
Symphony 10 & other orchestral works - CPO 7773082
Aus Goethes Faust - CPO 7773112
Chamber music - RCA 88697 158372
Quartettino - Challenge Classics CC72137
Cello concertos - Etcetera KTC1329
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.