Brassy And Then Some

Here we have Claudio Abbado conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in three 20th century orchestral showpieces; Janacek's Sinfonietta, Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber by Hindemith and the suite from the ballet Chout by Prokofiev. The Janacek is every orchestral brass sections favourite I should imagine and it gets a rousing and detailed performance here in excellent sound. I don't have any other works by Hindemith, keep meaning to find a good recording of Mathis der Maler and may have to yield to duplicating the Metamorphoses in order to get one. Abbado brings out the underlying themes of Weber in this piece as well as rising to the challenge of the virtuoso orchestral expansions of Hindemith. It's probably not an original observation but I was struck by the similarity of the Turandot section to Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony's famous march. Chout is maybe a lesser known Prokofiev work, the ballet seems a grotesque tale of murderous buffoons and shape changing wives. The suite is an entertaining work though and while I'm in comparison mode, I was reminded here of Stravinsky circa Petrushka.