COMPOSERS: Reznicek
LABELS: CPO
ALBUM TITLE: Reznicek
WORKS: Der Sleger
PERFORMER: Beate KoppWDR Cologne Radio Chorus & SOMichail Jurowski
CATALOGUE NO: 999 898-2
Here’s an intriguing story. According
to most reliable reports, the Austrian
Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek and his
contemporary Richard Strauss were
the best of friends. Yet in Der Sieger
(The Victor), a mammoth orchestral
work which was premiered with
considerable success in Berlin in 1913,
the lesser-known Reznicek appears to
have taken a vicious side-swipe against
the perceived shallow and materialist
outlook of his famous colleague. How
else could one explain the underlying
narrative of the first two movements
of Der Sieger, subtitled ‘Ascent and
Female Companion’ and ‘The Dance
around the Golden Calf’ in which
a plethora of the Bavarian master’s
stylistic trademarks are subjected to
such sarcastic mimicry? But if irony
predominates in the first half of the
work, the long finale subtitled ‘The
Death’ presents a rather different and
much darker perspective, culminating
in a heart-rending, almost Mahlerian,
lament for alto solo and chorus.
Whatever intentions may have
driven Reznicek to compose Der
Sieger, there’s little doubt that it’s
a brilliantly orchestrated score,
brimful of memorable ideas,
wit and pathos. With superbly
committed playing from the WDR
Symphony Orchestra under Michail
Jurowski and a fine recording,
CPO has clearly unearthed a major
discovery that should delight
all devotees of extravagant late-
Romantic orchestral music. Erik Levi
