Berwald – Symphonies Volume 2
Performing with: Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
It is difficult to know why the music of Franz Berwald has never caught on in a big way. As a near-contemporary of Mendelssohn and Schumann, e was often more forward-looking that either, though his surviving body of work is much smaller. This conclusion to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR’s cycle sets the seal on what is perhaps the finest of the lot, with playing that sparkles, and conducting from Thomas Dausgaard that captures both the energy and idiosyncrasies of Berwald’s creative imagination.
What is of much greater moment is the excellence of the Danish orchestras response to this sparkling and original music which Dausgaard shapes with fine musical imagination… in short, quite the best Berwald disc we have had for some years.
…Performed with startling precision by Dausgaard and the DNRSO
This is one of the finest Berwald recordings I have ever heard… easily recommendable to anyone still unsure about Berwald.
TRACKLISTING
Berwald: Symphony No. 1 in G minor ‘Sinfonie sérieuse’
1. I. Allegro con energia
2. II. Adagio maestoso
3 .III. Stretto
4. IV. Finale: Adagio – Allegro molto – Un poco meno allegro – [Allegro molto] – Un poco meno allegro – Tempo I [Allegro molto] – Meno allegro – [Allegro molto]
. Erinnerung an die norwegischen Alpen (Memory of the Norwegian Alps)
Berwald: Symphony No. 2 in D major ‘Sinfonie capricieuse’
6. I. Allegro
7. II. Andante
8. III. Allegro assai