Glazunov: Waltz in D major Op. 42 No. 3

The title, taken from the opening Gershwin track, says it all. Each of the gems presented here by Austrian violinist David Frühwirth tells its own unique and captivating Short Story. David takes the listener on a musical journey through Western and Eastern Europe with an intriguing collection of miniatures, many by virtuoso violinists of the 19th and 20th centuries who applied their personal touch to the range and idiosyncrasies of their instrument to create these small but perfectly formed masterpieces. Works by relative unknowns such as Joseph Achron, Ovid Musin and Hans Sitt mingle with popular transcriptions by Kreisler, and arrangements of works by Glazunov, Ravel and Weill, including several world-premiere recordings.

David Frühwirth garnered international attention with his Gramophone Editor’s Choice Avie debut, Trails of Creativity (AV 0009). On Short Stories, he applies the same ingenuity for seeking out unknown but deserving and striking repertoire.

This set presents a great opportunity to become more familiar with the charismatic Russian conductor, Alexander Gauk. He was also a composer but is probably better known for his orchestral arrangements, notably of Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Seasons’, included in this set.

Gauk also reconstructed the score of Rachmaninoff’s first piano concerto from the parts in 1945, thus enabling further performances after its disastrous première in 1897. He had a preference for Russian music which is shown here, eight out of the ten CDs being devoted exclusively to Russian composers.

Many of the most prominent Russian conductors of the twentieth century were once pupils of Alexander Gauk, for example, Evgeny Mravinsky and Evgeny Sveltanov. Gauk, who died in 1963, was one of those talented Russian musicians who rarely had the opportunity to experience the western lifestyle yet his fame did reach beyond his mother country.

Apart from featuring some of today’s better known symphonies by Shostakovich (Nos. 5 and 11) and the aforementioned ‘The Seasons’, the Gauk Edition comprises seldom performed works by Arensky, Balakirev (Islamey), Myaskovsky (Symphony No. 17) and Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov.