North German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra - Graener: Orchestral Works II (2014)

The Symphony in D minor, subtitled “Schmiedt Schmerz” (or, “Sorrow the Blacksmith”) is a very typical, and very good example of traditional German Sturm und Drang in three well-wrought movements. Its thematic material is top quality, and happily Grainer does not equate the usual German enthusiasm for symphonic misery with dullness. The Adagio features a climax of Brucknerian grandeur without inflicting on us Brucknerian length (it lasts only six minutes). You can sample the coda of the tumultuous first movement below.

Aus dem Reiche des Pan (“From Pan’s Kingdom”) is a brief, four movement suite full of luscious tunes and glittering orchestration. Although clearly from the same era as the music of Strauss, Korngold, and Zemlinsky, the music reveals none of their decadence. Harmonically, Graener was a conservative and so he remained throughout his career–one of the qualities that endeared him to the Nazis. He wasn’t a very good Nazi though: a British citizen despite his return to Germany, he also had too many Jewish friends ever to impress them with his Aryan purity, try though he might.

The performances here under Werner Andreas Albert are stunning. He and the Hanover orchestra tear into the music with overwhelming power and bravura, and they are magnificently recorded. This disc is even better than the initial release in CPO’s ongoing series, and if you collect music of this style and period, I can’t recommend it highly enough.