The German-born, Vienna-based Hermann Gradener (1844–1929) is yet another composer whose music, esteemed in its own time, has since slipped between the floorboards of history. Yet this first recording of his two violin concertos – substantial works both, downstream from Brahms, and with a hint of Sibelius – prove him to have been one of the more important Romantics, with a strong sense of drama, a sure hand for musical architecture and a natural flair for extended melody. The conductor of this recording, Gottfried Rabl, discovered Gradener’s scores in the second-hand section of a Viennese music-shop many years ago and now, joined by the American violinist Karen Bentley Pollick, they are releasing this first album in a series intended to put Gradener’s music before the modern public for the first time.
