Reznicek, Emil von
Emil von Reznicek was born in Vienna in 1860. I first encountered his name when, as a child, I found in a guest house a 78 rpm recording with an old wind-up gramophone (which I subsequently broke by attempting to turn the handle the wrong way). It was, I remember, a recording of the Donna Diana overture; but there is much more to him than that. He composed five grand symphonies, namely:
Symphony no. 1, "Tragic", in D minor (1902)
Symphony no. 2, "Ironic", in B flat (1904)
Symphony no. 3, "Im alten Stil", in D major (1918)
Symphony no. 4, in F minor (1919)
Symphony no. 5 (1924)
Recordings of the first four are easy to find at Youtube. I had some difficulty in finding the fifth, and was delighted when I finally succeded. It turned out to be a powerful and advanced forty-minute symphony. Here is a link to it:
A number of further works are available: such as operas,
symphonic variations, symphonic poems, serenades and overtures. Reznicek also composed five or six string quartettes, the first four of which are available at Youtube, as follows:
C minor (1882)
C sharp minor (1906)
D minor (1922)
E minor (1928)
[B major (1932)]
There is at present some confusion about the movements of number five and a possible number six.
Wikipedia has an excellent and very long description of Reznicek's life and work:
Emil von Reznicek was born in Vienna in 1860. I first encountered his name when, as a child, I found in a guest house a 78 rpm recording with an old wind-up gramophone (which I subsequently broke by attempting to turn the handle the wrong way). It was, I remember, a recording of the Donna Diana overture; but there is much more to him than that. He composed five grand symphonies, namely:
Symphony no. 1, "Tragic", in D minor (1902)
Symphony no. 2, "Ironic", in B flat (1904)
Symphony no. 3, "Im alten Stil", in D major (1918)
Symphony no. 4, in F minor (1919)
Symphony no. 5 (1924)
Recordings of the first four are easy to find at Youtube. I had some difficulty in finding the fifth, and was delighted when I finally succeded. It turned out to be a powerful and advanced forty-minute symphony. Here is a link to it:
A number of further works are available: such as operas,
symphonic variations, symphonic poems, serenades and overtures. Reznicek also composed five or six string quartettes, the first four of which are available at Youtube, as follows:
C minor (1882)
C sharp minor (1906)
D minor (1922)
E minor (1928)
[B major (1932)]
There is at present some confusion about the movements of number five and a possible number six.
Wikipedia has an excellent and very long description of Reznicek's life and work:
