Grant Park Orchestra and Carlos Kalmar - Kurka: Symphonic Music (2000)

The death of Robert Kurka in 1957 ended a promising career on the verge of success, which came posthumously with his acclaimed opera The Good Soldier Schweik. Kurka's music abounds with muscular counterpoint and dissonant but tonal harmonies, transparently orchestrated with a strong emphasis on brass and martial percussion. His style often resembles Shostakovich or Nielsen in mood and coloration, and might be mistaken for either except for his syncopated rhythms and jazz-inflected melodies, which put his robust music in the American tradition. The Symphony No. 2 is the most substantial work here and its tension is sustained over three balanced movements, alternating between dynamic development and melancholic lyricism, then resolving in the boisterous Presto gioioso. The three shorter works are less engrossing, but still reveal aspects of Kurka's fertile imagination. The brash and ominous tone poem Julius Caesar vividly captures the import of Shakespeare's tragedy, though without an explicit program. The Music for Orchestra is more jovial, and its folk-like melodies and bustling activity reveal Kurka's exuberant side. The Serenade for Small Orchestra is less lyrical than its title suggests and seems instead an energetic symphony in miniature. Carlos Kalmar conducts the Grant Park Orchestra in lucid performances, sometimes with remarkable power and authority, and Cedille's recording is fine.© TiVo