Marco-Polo

Eduard Strauss I was the younger brother of Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss, and, as the graphics here note up front, his compositions "were unfavorably compared with those" of the other two siblings. This release was recorded in 2016 to mark the centenary of Eduard's death. It's true that based on the waltzes recorded here, no one would choose Eduard's over those of Johann II. But one aim of conductor John Georgiadis, leading the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of Pardubice, and the album's sponsor, the Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain, seems to be to remind listeners that the waltz, however iconic of Vienna it may have become, was not the whole story. Eduard Strauss excelled in the genres of the quite distinct polka schnell (fast polka) and polka française (French polka), as well as the polka-mazur (otherwise known as the polka-mazurka, and really a mazurka rather than a polka, with the latter term denoting the dance's national origin in this case), and, above all, the motoric galopp. Eduard followed his brother's practice of giving unusual names to his waltzes (Doctrinen? Hypothesen?), but sample instead the zippy polka schnell Mit Extrapost, Op. 259, whose high opus number indicates the success Eduard's compositions had along with those of his brothers. Most of these pieces are recorded here for the first time, making this an essential purchase for Strauss fans of any stripe. © TiVo