This CD is quite an international project, from its extremely striking cover art of the famous gold headdress of King Tut’s mummy, to the excellent playing of what used to be called the Stalingrad Symphony, and the fact that this is Volume 1 of a series on Swiss Symphonic Composers, released by the record label Gallo – situated in Lausanne, Switzerland. Denereaz, who lived until 1947, was very active in Swiss musical life, organist at a church in Lausanne, and a professor of organ and theory – one of whose students was Ernest Ansermet.
The symphonic poem At Tutankhamen’s Tomb – a mighty exotic subject for a Swiss composer – was completed in 1925, which was just three years after Howard Carter’s famous discovery of the pharaoh’s tomb from the 14th century B.C. The quarter-hour-length work of 1911 seeks to represent the composer’s emotional reaction to the discovery, and has some appropriately exotic melodic material, though no telling how authentic. The Dream is a shorter intermezzo full of very romantic orchestral expression. The Scenes from Circus Life is the longest work on the program, and continues the Swiss interest in things exotic. As the liner note writer points out, for a country with almost 100% Caucasian population, the circus was the only opportunity to see people of different races. The suite ends with two symphonic variations having to do with Africa, and in front of them we are entertained by jugglers, athletes, the snake man, a beautiful horsewoman, and a clown. Recorded in the Central Concert Hall of Volgograd, the sonics are excellent. The music is a bit exotic itself and quite accessible without being corny, and the disc’s packaging is most attractive.
– John Sunier
