Peter Palmer

OTHMAR SCHOECK'S SETTINGS OF GOTTFRIED KELLER

The Swiss author Gottfried Keller was 27 when he published his first volume of poems in 1846. His early poetry was partly influenced by the German battle for liberalism and the experience of those emigres who, like Wagner, found their way to Switzerland. The main literary impulses came from Goethe and the German Romantics, impulses finding expression in subjective, even mystical verses. At the same time Keller never lost touch with the here-and-now: a feature that would earn him the description of a poetic realist.

Swiss Cello Concertos

URS JOSEPH FLURY: Vineta ; Concerto for Cello and Orchestra; Sinfonietta for Strings. Biel Symphony Orchestra; Pierre Fournier (vlc), Vienna Volksoper Orchestra; Vienna Chamber Orchestra c. Urs Joseph Flury. Musikszene Schweiz MGB CD 6184. SCHOECK: Concerto for Cello and String Orchestra, op. 61; Suite in A flat for Strings, op. 59. Julius Berger (vlc), South West German Chamber Orchestra of Pforzheim c. Vladislav Czarnecki. ebs 6145 (www.EBSMusikproduktion.de).

Roberts, Sackman, Ingoldsby et al

BRIAN FERNEYHOUGH: Shadowtime . Nicolas Hodges (pno, speaker), Mats Scheidegger (gtr), Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Nieuw Ensemble, c. Jurjen Hempel. NMC D123 (2-CD set).