Edmundo ECKHART (1935)
Symphonic Poems:-
Beatus Ille (1963) [18.52]
Anastasis (1970s?) [33.13]
Moldavian RTVSO/Christian Florea
rec 1994? DDD
GALLO CD-841 [52.05]

Gallo website
e-mail

Two discursive neo-Straussian tone poems from a living composer. Now there's an odd thing!

Eckhart was born in Barcelona of a German family. He studied at the Barcelona Conservatoire. He is also a medical doctor. His works have been performed in Moldova, Mexico, Spain and Germany.

Beatus Ille is based on the Horace Ode of the same name. It praises country life, the pristine joys of working one’s own land free from exploitation. In this it has some parallels with Thoreau’s Walden. Eckhart is into a rather dense Straussian melos. It rather lacks vigour but has a Brahmsian surge about it and a dash of Eulenspiegel. There is a capricious solo violin (à la Josef Foerster, the Czech composer). There is also a sense of the high alpine regions. This is a flowing work which does not avoid the shallows and reefs of meandering blandness.

Anastasis is founded on the resurrection of Christ. Its optimism is spaced over five separate tracks. I Brahmsian; II a touch of Don Juan’s horn calls; III a harp and strings andante takes us back to the high pastures of Beatus Ille; IV echoes of Dvoøák ’s Eighth and Rosenkavalier with solo violin to the fore; V: serene and silvery strings teeter on the edge of Hollywood and Moon River.

The Moldavian orchestra is splendid except in one department; the lack of juicily ample string tone.

If your taste runs to rhapsodic Straussian neo-romanticism then this is for you.

Rob Barnett

 

Return to Index