Röntgen: Symphonies 7, 11, 12, 14 & 22 - 24

Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Porcelijn, David

CPO 777309

Röntgen’s Impressive One-Movement Symphonies

We now once again can continue our comprehensive and successful Röntgen Edition with a new production containing two CDs dedicated to his last symphonies. And these works also once again show that Röntgen was one of Holland’s most highly imaginative composers during the second half of the nineteenth century. The focus is formed by six one-movement symphonies, each with a length of a mere ten to fifteen minutes, that leave behind an intensive impression, both musically and in view of the instruments employed. In the one-movement symphony In Babylone, for example, the wind ensemble differs from those in most of Röntgen’s other orchestral works. While he otherwise generally follows Schumann’s instrumentation, here he employs three wind instruments each. The symphony begins with a stately succession of chords in the full wind apparatus with flanking by broad string tones. »Turkish music« consisting of timpani, side and bass drums, cymbals, and triangle is also heard, reinforced by the grand organ. The Edinburgh Symphony in four movements, this in keeping with time-honored tradition, celebrated its premiere in the Usher Hall on 4 December 1930. On the following day The Scotsman wrote that it had made Röntgen even more popular with the audience of the Reid Concerts.

CD x 2

CPO

02.11.21

761203730926