Moritz Moszkowski: Orchestral Music Vol.4 – Sinfonia Varsovia

The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it unperformed for a century or more. This fourth volume presents his only symphony, a strikingly assured work for a composer in his late teens. Unsurprisingly, it owes a good deal to Schumann in its dancing rhythms, heraldic bearing and orchestral colours – and the Scherzo might almost be by Mendelssohn on holiday in Poland. The ‘Six Episodes’ – charming, ingratiating and energising by turn – are all that remain of the lost full-length ballet Laurin. They were saved because Moszkowski excerpted them for concert performance, thereby creating a ‘Dance Suite’ in all but name.