Kralik von Meyrswalden: Hymnic Symphony / Piano Trio

It was nothing short of a sensation: In the autumn of 2021, the Female Symphonic Orchestra Austria (FSOA), under the direction of its founder and chief conductor Silvia Spinnato and featuring Jacquelyn Wagner, one of the most sought-after and successful sopranos in the lyrical and youthful dramatic soprano repertoire, gave the posthumous premiere of the "Hymnic Symphony" by Bruckner student Mathilde Kralik von Meyrswalden at the International Bruckner Festival in Linz – more than 80 years after the final version was completed. The Oberösterreichische Nachrichten headlined a 'sensational symphonic rediscovery', and the concert audience cheered. This live recording is now being released, along with the Piano Trio in F major, also composed by Mathilde Kralik. Her early chamber music at least met with approval from Eduard Hanslick, the universally feared critic-pope, and her lieder, which make up the bulk of her output, were gladly sung. The few symphonic works from her pen, however, ended up almost without exception in a drawer and, following her death in Vienna in 1944, fell almost entirely into oblivion until today. The musicians performing the Piano Trio in F major are Chanelle Bednarczyk (violin), Alba Hernández Cárcamo (cello), and Heghine Rapyan (piano).