Julius R�ntgen – Cello Concertos (Gregor Horsch, CPO, 2013)

Julius R�ntgen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_R%C3%B6ntgen) (1855-1932) was a Dutch composer, roughly contemporaneous with late romantic composers like Carl Nielsen, Claude Debussy, and Richard Strauss. R�ntgen was so ridiculously prolific that even looking at his output (http://www.juliusrontgen.nl/en/werk/) is intimidating: which one of his 25 symphonies to begin with? Which of his 14 cello sonatas, 12 piano trios, 16 string trios, or 27 string quartets?

My advice is to start with this CD. It’s chock-full of melodies, with tunes so big you’ll curse that R�ntgen didn’t live long enough to write film scores (track #8, for example, sounds oddly like a Hans Zimmer track, albeit with thematic development). Stylistically, R�ntgen is definitely a late romantic, carrying on the Brahmsian German tradition, but more harmonically advanced, having absorbed and assimilated Debussy’s influence.

Bottom line: big heart-warming melodies, and extremely well-written. That these works aren’t in the regular repertoire is a shame!

()

()

Label: CPO
Artists: Gregor Horsch, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, David Porcelijn
Recorded: 2006
Format: FLAC
Scans: Yes
File Size: 286 MB

Link:

https://mega.co.nz/#!c8IknDiZ!FmBAW8X7w5ZQqlOxIgsVFSL1tNO5Cu2744pMksP GNQo

If you enjoy this music, I strongly encourage you to support the artists by buying a copy! Here’s the Amazon page (http://amzn.to/1dTqzmb). Remember: they can’t keep making this music without our support.