The Capriccio label, in cooperation with Southwest German Radio, has been exploring the music of Ernst von Dohnányi with impressive results, and the label's track record continues unbroken here. The musicians are not household names, but all are competent, and the performance of the Variations on a Nursery Song, Op. 25, by pianist Sofja Gülbadamova and conductor Modestas Pitrenas, leading the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Ludwigshafen, is extraordinary. None of these three works is called a concerto, but ...
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The Capriccio label, in cooperation with Southwest German Radio, has been exploring the music of Ernst von Dohnányi with impressive results, and the label's track record continues unbroken here. The musicians are not household names, but all are competent, and the performance of the Variations on a Nursery Song, Op. 25, by pianist Sofja Gülbadamova and conductor Modestas Pitrenas, leading the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Ludwigshafen, is extraordinary. None of these three works is called a concerto, but all are for a solo instrument and orchestra, and the Variations weave together a delightful variety of material, beginning, after a tumultuous introduction, with the tune known in English as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Dohnányi wrote on the manuscript that the work was "for the enjoyment of friends of humor, to the annoyance of others," and indeed, as the work careens from idea to idea, referring to various musical works and styles of the day, including a waltz, it's hard not to...
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