The MusicWeb Message Board: Re: Johann Nepomuk David Symphonies 3&7: Rob Barnett's Review

You are quite right. And I hope cpo will, despite my too-easy and mistaken ... whatever and wossname... do things well and without delay.

It will be nice, by the way, to have for the first time in ... 45 years (Composed 1951/53, recorded by Audite in 1980 in the David-Edition conducted by Erich Schmid- recordings made in June and July 1980 for the 4 items on the LP set) - symphony no.5 Op.41-, and also symphony no.8 Op59 (1964-5) (which I have in a recording conducted by the late Karol Stryja/Munich Phil., from somewhen.)

I myself shouldn't mind if a 5th volume coupled the Sinfonia preclassica Op.44 and/or Sinfonia breve Op.47 - there's also a symphony for strings, I see, Op.54, and to fill out a disc (that would be at most... 40 minutes I'm guessing- and I forget if either of those works were included in volumes 1, 2 or 3). Or maybe, if these volumes have some relative success (ok, dream on...), perhaps the 3 concertos for string orchestra (true, none of them is as long as Pettersson's 3rd same, I'm almost positive*, but... :) )

*That sounds like a gratuitous swipe at Pettersson, but wasn't meant to be; I'm very much a fan of his...

Previous Message

No, Eric. CPO are capable of releasing a "well-done" series "quickly"(ie in timeous instalments).Their excellent Panufnik series was a case in point. It does not take 10-11 years from the date of recording to "prepare" a cd for release. There may be some delays in receiving the booklet notes but not of such length.

Previous Message

For my own part I have found there to be three alternatives - quick and sloppy, slow and sloppy, and slow and well-done. cpo/jpc tends towards the slow and well-prepared product much of the time, I'd say (there have been exceptions, e.g. program notes where the tempo indications of two different works have turned out flipped with each other- looking at you, Pejacevic's chamber works.) Other labels, more toward the first. I'm unaware of quickly made and well-done (in this context)...

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In his enthusiastic review of the CPO issue of J.N.David's Symphonies Nos.3 and 7 Rob Barnett commends the company's "stalwart adhesion to a project". I would certainly endorse that comment.
However there is a serious caveat.
There have been three releases in this project: in 2014 Symphonies Nos. 1&6, recorded in February and March 2011; in 2018 (ie 7 years later) Symphonies 2&4, recorded (as far back as September 2008); and now (after another gap of 7 years) Symphonies Nos.3&7, recorded in March 2014 (ie 11 years ago).
It is, to my mind, inexplicable that a series like this should be strung out over in excess of a decade and that recordings made well over a decade ago should sit on CPO's shelves for such an incredibly lengthy time. CPO has loyal customers but those who would wish-as do I- to collect a complete series should not be required to wait for a quite ridiculously extended time. In plain but sadly inevitable circumstances some of us who started collecting this series may not live to enjoy its completion! Does this not occur to those responsible for these extraordinary release scheduling decisions?