JULIUS ROENTGEN (1855-1932): Symphonies No. 9 in C Sharp Minor & No. 15 in F Sharp Minor, Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song.

Description: Two of these three works of 1931 and 1932 have Norwegian, or to put it more precisely, Griegian, inspirations. The Ninth symphony is a single-movement work of 18 minutes, written under the spell of late 1890s walks through the Norwegian region of Jotunheim with Grieg and Frants Beyer and its lovely, pastoral quality is punctuated in its second half by several appearances of a wordless soprano singing a Lokk like Roentgen heard from a goatherdess on one trip. The 25-minute Variations, on a harmonization by Grieg of a folk-song, were Roentgen's conscious attempt to produce something like the orchestral variation works of his friends Brahms and Grieg. The Fifteenth symphony (don't forget - he wrote 21 of them in his last five years of life!) is in the traditional four movements, lasting just over 26 minutes. North German Radio Philharmonic; David Porcelijn.