Ries: Overtures

Griffiths, Howard, soliści, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln

CPO 777 798

The Beethoven pupil Ferdinand Ries continues to hold surprises in store. Whether we consider his symphonies, chamber compositions, or vocal works (with cpo having first made such consideration possible on the larger scale), the immediacy of his imaginative powers, his formal mastery, and his talent – indeed a genial one – for repeated pursuit of original paths for the musical language of his times never fail to inspire our enthusiasm. And now we turn to Ries's overtures. His overture to Schiller's Don Carlos ranks him as one of the first composers to pen an overture linked to a specific subject and originally and exclusively intended for the concert hall. The concert overture must have been the first musical genre formed in response to special needs that had come about during the course of the development of the concert as a public event. Works were needed that were suitable to open a concert effectively and to attract attention without straining the audience's concentration too much or too long. Ries wrote five enthralling and fascinating exemplars in this genre, and so we may very much lend credence to his own report after one performance: »Everybody was completely captivated – my new festival overture with a victory march electrified the public as I have never seen before. Everything was in a storm.«

CD x 1

CPO

4/2/15

761203760923