Schelb's life was marked by early sorrow, two world wars, the Nazi dictatorship, and the destruction of almost all his works up to 1942 in a bombing raid.
Performer Biography
Paul Mann, a conductor on this album, gained international attention by winning the 1998 Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, leading to his appointment as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Schelb never considered himself part of any aesthetic movement, combining Neo-Classical polyphony with elements from late-Romantic, Impressionist, and Expressionist music.
Composer Biography
Josef Schelb, born in 1894, was the fifth son of a music-loving country doctor and the last pupil of Bernhard Stavenhagen, who was Liszt's last disciple.
Performer Biography
Pavel Baleff, another conductor on this album, was voted Bulgaria's 'Conductor of the Year' for his performances of Wagner's 'Ring des Nibelungen' at the National Theatre in Sofia.
Compositional Technique
Schelb's later orchestral works, such as 'Musik für Orchester' and 'Movimento', use simple, numbered titles because he believed eye-catching titles impede the listener's imagination.
Compositional Technique
Schelb's compositional technique, particularly in 'Musik für Orchester Nos. 3 and 4', involves superimposing a symmetric formal model onto the traditional sonata-form structure.
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