Major orchestral works newly recorded or recorded for the first time

Rainer Held is always good for a surprise. In this country, he is held in high regard as an original choral conductor who has also made a name for himself in orchestral concerts as the first permanent guest conductor of the Minsk Radio Symphony Orchestra (from 2003 to 2010). He has recently released two new recordings.

The Lucerne conductor has always been interested in Swiss music history. He spares no effort; large-scale works are particularly appealing to him. Nevertheless, people were amazed when, in 2019, he conducted the gigantic Symphony No. 4 in G minor op. 27 (2014/15) by Lucerne-based Alexander Brincken with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. This orchestra has never recorded anything this big, not even with Neeme Järvi, emphasizes the orchestra manager.

Brincken, born in St. Petersburg in 1952, openly draws on the late Romantic symphonies of Strauss and Mahler. Even if such an approach is generally unsettling nowadays, the composer knows something about instrumentation. The large orchestral apparatus is dense in sound but well balanced, and its wide-ranging melodies - such as the catchy horn solo in the slow movement - have a carrying power. Held's command of the orchestra and the combination of energetic rhythms and slow climaxes is also impressive.

The Capriccio for piano and chamber orchestra op. 11, which can also be heard on this CD, was written by Brincken in 1985 when he was still living in the Soviet Union. Focused entirely on the pianist Brincken, this decidedly "Russian" piano concerto unfolds a vital dialog between soloist and orchestra, impressionistic timbres alternate with Hindemith-style concertante joy of playing. Rainer Held knows how to realize the intentions of the composer and soloist Brincken with an alert spirit.

Shortly after the Brincken project, Held released his first CD with works by Heinrich Sutermeister (1910-1995) on the same label, Toccata Classics. 2020 marked the 25th anniversary of his death. Sutermeister became known primarily as an opera composer. He made his breakthrough in 1940 - in the middle of the war in Nazi Germany - with the world premiere of Romeo and Juliet at the Semperoper Dresden under Karl Böhm. The opera was subsequently translated and performed in several languages. Herbert von Karajan and Wolfgang Sawallisch also conducted its music.

Sutermeister was also interested in the then new media of radio and television. The melodrama recorded here The Alps. Fantasy on Swiss folk songs for orchestra and narrator was written for a radio production. What sounds "old-fashioned" at first glance, like pathos from home, turns out to be an impressive play of colors for orchestra that is hardly inferior to Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony. Bruno Cathomas recites the powerful nature poem by the author Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777) with pleasant simplicity.

Vivid and dramaturgically gripping is the Romeo and Juliet Suite for large orchestra, with which Sutermeister followed on from the great success of his opera in Dresden. The premiere of the suite took place on April 9, 1941 in Winterthur, with Karl Böhm and the Berlin Philharmonic. The light Divertimento No. 2 (1959/60) is a fine example of Sutermeister's French flair: dance-like and melodically inventive music with a varied use of percussion, reminiscent of the Groupe des Six.

The Toccata label specializes in major works by lesser-known composers and also works with London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This is how Held, who has long been involved with Sutermeister's orchestral and choral music, came to this well-known orchestra - once again an exciting "Swissness" project that Rainer Held has launched in London. Further CD recordings in this series are planned.