VIKTOR ULLMANN (1898-1944): Symphony No. 1 "Von meiner Jugend", Symphony No. 2 (both orch. Bernhard Wulff [b.1948]), Overture Der zerbrochene Krug, Don Quixote tanzt Fandango.

Description: These two symphonies stem from Ullmann's Fifth and Seventh piano sonatas, written in Terezín, whose notes suggest that he intended to orchestrate them. In 1989, conductor and composer Wulff did so for the Seventh (which was recorded in Brno in 1992 and released on disc by Bayer Records the same year) and he followed up with the Fifth in 1992-94, giving us the "First Symphony" which has its first recording here. These are works which both contain distant Mahlerian echoes but, unlike Mahler, are also bitingly aphoristic, suggesting a kinship with Shostakovich, with no single movement in either lasting more than eight minutes in these performances (both are in five movements or sections). The impression of the final movement of No. 2 (the last work Ullmann completed before being sent to Auschwitz): variations on a Jewish folksong in which the B-A-C-H motive and the Protestant chorale Nun danke alle Gott are also interwoven, is rightly haunting. Brussels Philharmonic; Gerd Albrecht. Glossa SACD hybrid