Utwory na płycie:

• cda67788_01.mp3
• cda67788_02.mp3
• cda67788_03.mp3
• cda67788_04.mp3
• cda67788_05.mp3
• cda67788_06.mp3
• cda67788_07.mp3
• cda67788_08.mp3
• cda67788_09.mp3

Overture ‘Der Fall Babylons’ WoO63
Symphony No 3 in C minor Op 78
Symphony No 6 in G major Op 116

Howard Shelley’s enchanting series of Spohr’s symphonies continues to inspire interest and delight in this underrated composer. By the time Spohr came to write his Third Symphony he was established in the top rank of contemporary composers. It is a richer, more romantic work than its two predecessors, both through its orchestration and the more plastic quality of its themes with their stronger flavour of poetic fantasy. It also moves a step further away from the classical ideal and nearer to a romantic freedom of form. The Sixth Symphony was written in an entirely new form each movement in a different historical style which baffled contemporaries. Today we accept compositions which work with musical styles from earlier periods such as Tchaikovsky’s Mozartiana, Grieg’s Holberg Suite, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella or Richard Strauss’ Dance Suite after Couperin but when Spohr pioneered the process with his ‘Historical’ Symphony contemporary listeners and critics completely failed to comprehend this concept. But it is in fact a very effective work. The styles imitated are filtered through Spohr’s imagination so giving the symphony its enduring fascination and providing it with a phoenix-like attribute of revival after each critical cremation.

'Howard Shelley and his admirable Italian players have reached a curious landmark in their continuing exploration of Louis Spohr's symphonies for Hyperion: the 'historical' sixth … It reflects Spohr's Mendelssohnian fascination with earlier music and his complete mastery of form' (The Observer)

'These are lively performances of rewarding works by an unjustly neglected master of quintessentially Romantic music' (NewClassics.com)

---

Recording details: March 2009; Auditorio Stelio Molo, Lugano, Switzerland; Produced by Ben Connellan; Engineered by Michael Rast; Release date: February 2010;