CURT PROTZE (1891-1967): Symphonic Overture Münchhausen (Moravian Philharmonic), Rhapsodie for Orchestra, Concertino No. 2 for Orchestra (Czech Radio Orchestra Plzen), Prologue to the Opera Der Rutengänger, Music for the Documentaries Vorstoß ins Weltall, Hallischer Frühling and Emden (Banska Bystrica Youth Orchestra).

Description: There is very little information about this composer but it may be that his career after World War II was harmed by the work he did scoring Nazi "Kulturfilm" productions which promoted German town and country life in that best of all possible Reichs. Three of these are included here and contain much lovely, conservative Romantic music, some of which is almost pictorial (well, "Spring in Halle" pretty much lets you know what would be going on on screen, doesn't it?). But his Münchhausen overture is full of Richard Straussian bluster and bonhomie and the opera prologue is the best thing here - quasi-Expressionist in its vivid colors right out of Schreker and/or Zemlinsky. Manfred Müssauer (conductor).