Gruber: Frankenstein!!/ Perpetuum mobile/Charivari/Dancing in the Dark - [in English] Orchestral & Concertos Chandos

Gruber: Frankenstein!!/ Perpetuum mobile/Charivari/Dancing in the Dark - [in English]

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CHAN 10404

Gruber: Frankenstein!!/ Perpetuum mobile/Charivari/Dancing in the Dark - [in English]

Running Time: 70:16

CD UPC: 0095115140420

Release Date: February 2007
Originally recorded in 2006

Composer (b. 1943)
Heinz Karl Gruber

Orchestra
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor
HK Gruber

Venue
Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester

Producer
Brian Pidgeon

Producer
Mike George

Engineer
Stephen Rinker

Engineer (Assistant)
Celia Hutchison

Genre:
Orchestral & Concertos

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HEINZ KARL GRUBER

(b. 1943)

premiere recording in this version

Frankenstein!!

31:51

A pandemonium for chansonnier and orchestra after children's rhymes by H.C. Artmann

Spoken in English

Fanfare, Prologue

1:21

a) Dedication

1:10

b) Miss Dracula

1:58

a) Goldfinger and Bond

1:54

b) John Wayne

2:03

c) Monster

1:50

III

A Mi Ma Monsterlet

2:03

Fanfare, Intermezzo (Werewolf's Serenade)

2:03

Frankenstein

0:58

10.

Rat Song and Crusoe Song

4:44

11.

VII

Mr Superman

2:12

12.

VIII

Finale

1:06

13.

a) The Green-haired Man

2:12

14.

b) Batman and Robin

0:26

15.

c) Monsters in the Park

1:29

16.

d) Litany

0:28

17.

e) Hello, hello, Herr Frankenstein

2:22

18.

f) Grete Müller's Adieu

0:22

19.

Fanfare, Epilogue

1:05

Perpetuum mobile/Charivari

13:45

20.

Perpetuum mobile, Op. 257

2:50

[by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)]

21.

Charivari

10:54

An Austrian Journal for Orchestra [HK Gruber]

premiere recording

Dancing in the Dark

24:47

A concert piece for large orchestra

22.

Andante pesante

16:58

23.

Allegro moderato

7:48

70:48

Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: HK Gruber

25 & 27 February 2005

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Reviews

Gruber directs an absolutely gripping account, ably supported by the BBC Philharmonic, and Chandos’s first-rate recording manages to prevent even his most overloaded tuttis from congealing into an undifferentiated mass. Warmly recommended to all fans of this extraordinary composer.

Viennese modernism, with its clash of high ideals and decadence, always carried profoundly subversive traits. Those remain alive and well in the character of HK Gruber, whose defiantly unpredictable compositions also hook into German Expressionism, Weimar cabaret and Austrian irony. Does his work speak to Anglo-Saxon audiences? Memorably I’d say, not least because his craziness is universal. Gruber made his name with his ‘pan-demonium’, Frankenstein!!, in 1978. He’s in mesmerising form as singing narrator and conductor in this brilliant, mad, totally inspired BBC Philharmonic production. Definitely one for the adventurous!

Classic FM Magazine

A corker of a disc, splendidly played and recorded.

The Telegraph

Gruber secures an unsparing response from the BBC Philharmonic, superbly recorded, and those new to his music will find this an ideal disc to start their exploration.

Gramophone

Gruber himself takes on the role of chansonnier with lip-smacking relish. Artmann’s witty poems about Dracula, Superman, James Bond, Frankenstein et al are actually performed in English, but sometimes it’s hard to tell as Gruber rolls his r’s extravagantly and has a Viennese accent you could cut with a knife. The BBC Philharmonic plays Gruber’s Jazz-cum-Sachertorte music with remarkable delicacy, which makes the raucous moments such as the deliberately vulgar trombone solo in the Finale and Gruber’s mock-romantic kazoo solo stand out all the more vividly… In all this is a CD of sumptuous orchestral and compositional virtuosity.

BBC Music Magazine

Gruber is both the conductor and the soloist, with his unique, mangled Sprechstimme (half-sung, half-spoken vocals) enunciating a mad children’s verse over a dazzling orchestral score that recalls both nightclub and nightmare. The BBC Philharmonic follow with an effervescent account of Johann Strauss’s Perpetuum Mobile, which melts with grotesque steps into his Charivari.

The Times

The full-on, madcap antics of H.K. Gruber are at once disorienting, charming, fascinating and perhaps above all utterly addictive. Gruber’s most famous piece, Frankenstein!, acts as the mainstay of this disc… A fascinating and rewarding disc. Although Frankenstein!! Remains Gruber’s most popular piece, it is to Dancing in the Dark that I, for one, will be returning to most often.

Fanfare

…a virtually uncategorizable work, a zanily bedazzling collage of different influences and styles, ranging all the way from bar-room cabaret to operatic declamation … great fun.

Classic CD

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