Could I refer you to
Ian
Lace's excellent piece on Seejungfrau.
By way of background I can add nothing.
In relation to the music I would want
to highlight the gorgeous dazzle of
bird song and sea movement in the first
of the three parts at 4.43. The music
has the voluptuous inspirational confidence
of Korngold's Sinfonietta. There is
a distinctly Wagnerian melos at the
start of II with those wailing and groaning
horns. All the textures are captured
with breathtaking clarity (try at 0.40
to 1.10 in the second section). The
third episode is rather Sibelian in
a world of twilit sun - bleached and
ochre. The whole work is bathed in a
contented glow - wonderfully sustained.
The work is sub-titled ‘fantasy for
orchestra’ and that it certainly is.
This is the second
version of Seejungfrau that Chandos
have in their catalogue. I have not
heard the Dausgaard version but it was
well reviewed at the time and Ian Lace
thinks very highly of it. There is also
the Chailly (Decca) version from the
early 1980s. I know the Chailly. It
is a more opulently vigorous approach
than Beaumont's. Beaumont allows the
work to breathe the salt air and take
in the seascapes. You takes your choice.
The Symphony
is from another and earlier milieu showing
a delicate interplay of superbly orchestrated
melodic
lines. It is full of rhythmic intrigue
and a joyous spirit which places it
somewhere between Dvořák's Seventh
and Eighth symphonies (sample the lilt
and smile of the finale tr.7) and Tchaikovsky's
suites. The eminence given to the writing
for the woodwind registers strongly.
There is a hint of Miaskovsky in the
section from 5.02 onwards in the finale.
This is a lovely unassuming work majoring
on idyll rather than storm-clouds. It
pairs neatly enough with Fibich's Second
Symphony although Zemlinsky handles
his material with more transparency
than his Bohemian counterpart.
This disc forms a natural
complement not only to the Lyric
Symphony disc which is volume 1
on Chandos but also to the Nimbus CD
of NI 5682 which includes the later
early Symphony in B flat (1897), the
Prelude to the opera Es War Einmal
(1899) and the Sinfonietta (1934) performed
by same forces and recorded at the Dvořák
Hall, Rudolfinum in Prague on 18-20
Jan 2001.
Rob Barnett
see also review
by Ian Lace
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Antony Beaumont 