Symphony No. 4 Op. 50 & Pno Con Op. 90 CD

During her long life, Johanna Senfter enriched all classical genres. Within an impressive catalogue of some 130 works with opus numbers and a multitude of miscellaneous compositions, her nine symphonies stand out as a musical bedrock. The first of these had even received the approval of Max Reger, the private tutor of this comprehensively trained artist - undoubtedly an encouraging endorsement for further endeavours of the same kind. These works consistently reveal the courage to take on two giants at once - the sweeping scale of Anton Bruckner and the complex polyphony that Max Reger had personified. His influence is even more apparent in the second piece of this new production, her Piano Concerto Op. 90. With it's restrained yet compelling lyricism and powerful bursts of strength, it seems to be a distant tribute to the Opus 114 of her teacher, who died at a young age. In contrast, her Fourth Symphony, composed in 1924, bears the unmistakable hallmarks of a world-famous Romantic symphony. Even so, Johanna Senfter uses it's original motifs to create her own unique monumental structure - a fitting gift to mark the 100th birthday of the brilliant eccentric from Austria.