Orchestral Masterworks from Switzerland : R.Held / Royal Scottish National Orchestra

This CD, with four world premiere releases, offers a representative slice of 20th-century Swiss music, ranging from Othmar Schoeck's late-Romanticism via the neoclassicism of Adolf Brunner to the Modernism of Ernst Widmer. Nearly fifty years separate Schoeck's first and last major orchestral works, recorded here - but his commitment to the German Romantic tradition remains undimmed. Brunner's neoclassical Partita betrays the influence of Hindemith, but has a Brahmsian meatiness to it's piano part, while Widmer's influences in his exuberant concerto range from Bartk to Brazilian street music.