Stöhr: Orchestral Music Vol. 3

Like so many prominent Austrian musicians forced into American exile by the Nazis, Richard Stöhr (1874-1967) found himself suddenly thrust from fame into obscurity. The optimism and energy, and even the defiance of these three works from 1942, suggest that he bore this with composure, while his musical language retained its Viennese accent in an individual amalgam of Bruckner, Mahler, Schmidt and Korngold. The echoes of Mahler in Stöhr's Second Symphony could be a conscious homage, if this score is a revision of a now-lost work written shortly after Mahler's death. Also included are the festival overture for concert band "Per aspera ad astra" and the musical poem "Two Roads to Victory (Through Arms - through Love)". The Sinfonia Varsovia is conducted by Ian Hobson. All works presented here appear as world premiere recordings.