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WUORINEN: Eighth Symphony; Fourth Piano Concerto – Peter Serkin (p.)/ Boston Symph. Orch./ James Levine – Bridge

WUORINEN: Eighth Symphony; Fourth Piano Concerto – Peter Serkin (p.)/ Boston Symph. Orch./ James Levine – Bridge

by | Apr 27, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

Two beautifully conceived and highly expressive works. Charles WUORINEN: Eighth Symphony, “Theologoumena”; Fourth Piano Concerto – Peter Serkin, piano/ Boston Sym. Orch./ James Levine – Bridge 9474, 59:39 [Distr. by Albany] *****: It is a quote from Neo-Platonist commentator Maximus of Tyre (2nd – 3rd c.) that first inspired Wuorinen to create the tone poem Theologoumenon, a work with a distinct ebb and flow in a fantasia-like manner, lending itself to the “non-dogmatic theological opinion” that defines the term. The material in this symphony, from 2007, is closely related to the tone poem (2003), but is not the same, even though the composer has indicated the two can be performed together as a large 50-plus minute work. Here we have only the three-movement symphony, clocking in around a half an hour. Wuorinen has often been described as the inheritor of the compositional methods of Milton Babbitt, and an arch-serialist, even though he has said that the word has lost any meaning. Perhaps to him this is true, but to the public at large it is an apt description. Having said that, anyone hearing this Eighth Symphony with open ears (and hearts) is going to be quite surprised at their reaction. […]

Erik Then-Bergh – The Complete Electrola and Deutsche Grammophone Recordings, 1938-1958 = Works of HANDEL, BEETHOVEN, BACH, SCHUMANN, CHOPIN & REGER – APR (2-CDs)

Erik Then-Bergh – The Complete Electrola and Deutsche Grammophone Recordings, 1938-1958 = Works of HANDEL, BEETHOVEN, BACH, SCHUMANN, CHOPIN & REGER – APR (2-CDs)

by | Oct 30, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Mark Obert-Thorn and Appian Records restore Erik Then-Bergh to prominence. 
Erik Then-Bergh – The Complete Electrola and Deutsche Grammophone Recordings, 1938-1958 = HANDEL: Suite No. 4 in e minor; BACH (arr. BUSONI): Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in d, BWV 1004; BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101; Bagatelles, Op. 33: Nos. 1 and 4; SCHUMANN: Piano Sonata No. 2 in g, Op. 22; CHOPIN: Nocturne in B Major, Op. 62, No. 1; REGER: Silhouettes, Op. 53: Nos. 2 and 6; Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Telemann, Op. 134; Piano Concerto in f, Op. 114 – Erik Then-Bergh, p./ Southwest Radio Orch., Baden-Baden/ Hans Rosbaud – APR 6021 (2-CDs) 77:39, 76:52 (10/28/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Erik Then-Bergh (1916-1982) for years has remained a “singular success,” his reputation having embraced one recorded work, the Piano Concerto of Max Reger – born, co-incidentally, the same 1916. Then-Bergh, however, deserves a wider acknowledgment of his singular powers – as several YouTube videos attest – as both performer and pedagogue, a long-awaited homage that Mark Obert-Thorn has managed to achieve. Erik Then-Bergh received his first piano lessons at the age of five from his father and a further […]