Release Date: 31 August 2001
Label: Marco Polo
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943517222
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: ZIEHRER
Description
ZiehrerOrchestral Works Volume 3Freiherr von Schönfeld-Marsch, Op. 422 (Schönfeld March)Ziehrer’s Freiherr von Schönfeld-Marsch has been an official regimental march of the Austrian Army since 1920 and is second in fame only to the Radetzky March of the older Johann Strauss. It often features as an encore in Austrian festival concerts and, like the Radetzky March, is accompanied by enthusiastic hand clapping from the audience. Almost every military band around the world has at some time or other included it in its repertoire. Ziehrer composed the march for Baron von Schönfeld, then Chief of the Austrian General Staff, almost as an afterthought. It seems that the Baron had submitted a request for a march to be dedicated to himself, as was often the case with eminent persons who wished to raise their self-esteem in this particular manner. When he enquired of Ziehrer after a prolonged silence what had become of the march, a colleague much later recollected that Ziehrer had exclaimed ‘Lord, I’ve completely forgotten about it’. Sitting at his piano, it seems, in a stroke of inspiration, Ziehrer outlined the themes and asked him to go away and orchestrate the piece for military band - and that is how the march was born. It was practised in the barracks square by the Hoch-und Deutschmeister, and the first public performance took place in the Stahlehner in Vienna on 16th October 1890. It was probably this piece, and his spells as a military bandmaster that has misled some musicologists into labelling Ziehrer as primarily a composer of marches.Auf hoher See, Op. 66 (On the High Seas Waltz)The Auf hoher See Waltz is a good example of one of Ziehrer’s earliest waltzes composed just two years after his début, and was dedicated to an Austrian naval commander who had just won a major victory over the Italian Navy. The victory, however, was a hollow one, as Austria lost Venice. He introduced the waltz with his orchestra on 10th October 1866 at a grand summer concert at the Neue Welt which also featured other military bands.Following an introduction reminiscent of the adagio from Mendelssohn’s Die Meeresstille (Calm Sea), the waltz introduces the rolling seas, rising to an appropriate climax. The present recording is the first to be made of this waltz. Descriptive waltz compositions of the sea were quite popular at the time, and examples include the younger Johann Strauss’s Wellen und Wogen, Op. 141, of 1853 and much later, his Nordseebilder Walz, Op. 390 (Marco Polo Johann Strauss Jr. Complete Orchestral Edition Volumes 6 and 7 respectively).Cavallerie Polka française, Op. 454 (Cavalry French Polka)The French polka Cavallerie was received with considerable enthusiasm at its première on 9th February 1893 at the famous Musikvereinsaal in Vienna, where Ziehrer, as bandmaster of the Hoch-und Deutschmeister Regiment, conducted a celebration concert for the Cavalry. The music clearly reflects
Tracklisting
Nishizaki:Nzso:Judd:Dou Dou
Tomlinson:Slovak Radio Symp Or
Tomlinson:Slovak Radio Symp Or
Soloists
Nizhizaki/Gumma So/Shek
Goodwin:New Zealand Symp Orch
Walter:Razumovsky Symp Orch
Pollack
