Fritz Brun - Complete Orchestral Works (Adriano)

Information

Composer: Fritz Brun

CD1:

• (01) Symphony No. 1 in B minor
• (05) Overture to a Jubelee Celebration

CD2:

• (01) Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major
• (05) Symphonic Prologue for large orchestra

CD3:

• (01) Symphony No. 3 in D minor

CD4:

• (01) Symphony No. 4 in E minor
• (04) Rhapsody for orchestra

CD5:

• (01) Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major
• (05) Symphony No. 10 in B-flat major

CD6:

• (01) Symphony No. 6 in C major
• (05) Symphony No. 7 in D major

CD7:

• (01) Symphony No. 8 in A major
• (05) Othmar Schoeck - 3 Lieder for alto & piano (orch. Fritz Brun)

CD8:

• (01) Symphony No. 9 in F major
• (06) Aus dem Buch Hiob, symphonic poem

CD9:

• (01) Concerto for piano & orchestra in A major
• (04) Variations for string orchestra & piano on an original theme
• (13) Divertimenti for piano & strings

CD10:

• (01) Concerto for cello & orchestra in D minor
• (04) Verheissung, for mixed choir, organ & orchestra
• (05) Grenzen der Menschheit, for male choir & orchestra
• (06) 5 Lieder for alto & piano (arr. Adriano for alto & string sextet)

CD11: Historical recordings

• (01) Symphony No. 8 in A major
• (05) Variations for string orchestra & piano on an original theme

Bernadett Fodor, alto
Tomáš Nemec, piano
Claudius Herrmann, cello

Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Bratislava Symphony Orchestra
Adriano, conductor

Compilation: 2019
Label: Brilliant Classics
https://www.brilliantclassics.com/articles/f/fritz-brun-complete-orchestral-works/

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Review

Good yet unlikely things do happen and this boxed set is proof positive. Swiss composer Fritz Brun had an imagination rooted in tonality and melody. Just to place him in time he overlaps the century-straddling dates of Vaughan Williams. Among much else Brun wrote four string quartets (1898, 1921, 1943, 1949), a cello sonata (1952), a piano quintet (1902) and two violin sonatas (1920, 1951). However, it was his orchestral music that found discernment and justified valour in the recorded music world of the 2000s. I say valour not because of anything tough or rough in Brun’s creative make-up but because, like Huber and Flury, his overwhelmingly tonal music seemed to shrink away from the enthusiasm and affection of musicians and the public; and this even during his own lifetime. In general, concert performances remained obdurately resistant to presentation although I notice that one studio broadcast of the Second Symphony was aired in the “wee small hours” in the last decade by the Bern Symphony conducted by Dmitri Kitajenko. That was very much against the resistant spirit of the times.

The present set which derives from Guild discs, with one from Swedish company Sterling, has Swiss-born conductor Adriano at its pulsing heart. Its only drawback might come from that, at one time or another, all of these discs have been issued individually. That does not detract from a great enterprise, and one in which Brilliant Classics have worked with Adriano and the original labels to present a single compactly handsome Edition of all Brun’s orchestral works, now at bargain price.

[...]

The Moscow Symphony Orchestra play an overwhelming majority role in this set as does inspirational conductor Adriano. They (and the Bratislava ensemble) emerge well from the experience and have already shown from their work in recording Jaques-Dalcroze, Schulz-Beuthen, Pierre Maurice, Pilati, Suter, Juon, Malipiero (famously with Antonio de Almeida), Janis Ivanovs, Havergal Brian and much film music that they are adept at turning their re-creative energies to causes presumed lost but not beyond their or Adriano’s redemptive powers.

[...]

Perhaps one day Adriano’s work for Respighi and European film music will be similarly treated. I rather hope so. For now though, here, as BBC Radio 3 would have it, is a “complete immersion” in the strange and often invigorating waters.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Fritz Brun (18 August 1878 – 29 November 1959) was a Swiss conductor and composer of classical music. He was born in Lucerne and was a student of Franz Wüllner at the conservatory at Cologne. From 1909 until 1943, he led the symphony concerts of the Bernischen Musikgesellschaft, and was conductor of the choral society and lieder group in Bern. From 1926 to 1940, he was the vice-president of the Swiss music society Tonkünstlerverein. His compositions include 10 symphonies, a piano concerto, a cello concerto, a Symphonic Prolog, 4 string quartets, a piano quintet, and 3 sonatas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Brun

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Adriano (born July 10, 1944) is a Swiss-born conductor-composer. Adriano established himself as a specialist on Ottorino Respighi in the late 1970s, and has conducted many other recordings of obscure or neglected symphonic repertoire. He also initiated and recorded a series of fifteen CDs mainly of European film music composers, and created and directed a series of classical music videos. All of his recording projects (49 in total) have found wide recognition and his commitment is known to be uncompromising. Adriano has also composed songs, orchestral, chamber and incidental pieces.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/adriano-mn0001394381/biography
http://www.naxos.com/person/_Adriano_32351/32351.htm

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