Symphonic Poems Vol. 1

I guess it is my opportunity to break the tie here between the two opposing viewpoints on this CD (and this composer...). It always important when you review a composer's music to remember to separate how you FEEL about the music and whether you believe the composer succeeded at what he was FEELING.... In other words, you may dislike late German Romantic music but the composer may be first rate what he is doing. So, with that said is Boehe a first-tier composer....well, no I must agree with some of the comments of both reviewers (excessive length and exposition etc.). However, Boehe is clearly a master not to be marginalized. I hear some Seejungfrau of Zemlinsky (who came later) in these works, which to my mind is a great compliment. Perhaps the biggest difference between Tone Poem and symphonic composition is the clear division of nee 'impressionistic' v. (greater tendency towards) concrete musical syntax. For German romantic music, let's remember that musicologists make a point to reference even in Brahms music that we must wait until the last movement of Brahms 1st Symphony until we get the "big tune". Overall, there is both a magical yet slightly turgid quality to this music that effectively draws us into Boehe's musical world.
I too am a big CPO fan for harvesting this huge treasure trove of lost gems. Bottomline: if you are a 3 'B's kind of person only and not particularly experimental give Boehe a pass. For the rest of us who love the art of discovery then give Boehe a listen (and I would recommend at least listening through BOTH CPO volumes at least twice before rendering judgement). Four Stars.

Having read the other review of this cd & the review of volume 2 of the Boehe tone poems I hesitated for months buying this music. Then I read a very good review on the Arkiv Music site & decided I'd give Boehe a try. Let me say first that I'm sick of the standard repatoire and am always on the look out for something new & interesting in Romantic music, and this music of Boehe's fits the bill. Very much in the line of Liszt, Wagner & Richard Strauss it is also in the style of the decades later film music of Korngold & Franz Waxman. Very atmospheric, dramatic, romantic, with very attractive melodys & outstanding orchestration that only a master composer could write. My only complaint is that the pieces are a little long winded & could use some editing, but a good find for anyone looking for something other than the same old thing over & over again.

Ernst Boehe (1880-1938) is another German late romantic who seems to have completely dropped from sight. While his music will probably never come to dominate concert programs, at least CPO's efforts on his behalf are very welcome. Boehe's idiom is relatively conservative, heavily indebted to Strauss and Wagner (and Reznicek, to take another composer revived by CPO) but also to Brahms, though there are individual touches and - more importantly - the music is written with complete confidence; there is no obsession here with formal problems (at least that is the way it comes across to the listener); rather we get uninhibited amassment of orchestral color and brilliance and an expressive range from the deepest reaches of tragedy to almost ethereal brilliance. So maybe some of the music is a little shapeless and meandering, but with such intoxicating colors as those Boehe deploys I am not really going to complain.

The Tragic Overture that opens the disc is the most Brahmsian of the works, and a pretty successful piece. At 18 minutes it is perhaps a little too long for its material, but when said material is as strong as it in fact is, it is not hard to stay engaged throughout. It opens with a stirring funeral march followed by a captivating allegro leading to a brilliant conclusion. Boehe composed four symphonic poems based on The Odyssey (we get the first three here; the fourth is given in the second volume of this series), splendidly brilliant late romantic dramas full of dazzling coloristic effects (they are truly marvelously scored) and containing a wealth of distinctive melodic material. The finest of them is probably The Island of Circe, which contains an absolutely ravishing part depicting Circe's charms, but all three are pretty impressive works, definitely worth checking out for anyone who enjoys the Strauss tone poems, say. The Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under Werner Andreas Albert plays with all the expected lushness, color, enthusiasm and attention to detail, and the sound is superb. In short, this is a truly recommendable release; quite a find, even.