Takes more time to listen to and review a CD of music that doesn’t win you over, than one that does. What is it that makes a memorable tune, and what it is that is lacking in well-crafted music to make it tuneful in a way that will imprint in your memory? I don’t know, I don’t have the technical equipment to define it precisely – and I’m not sure anybody has, or they’d be rich writing loads of tuneful music. But it’s one of those things you can’t define but that you recognize immediately when you encounter it… or don’t. Still, it’s a very subjective matter, and other may, and in fact have, reacted very differently to the same music. By the same token, some don’t hear memorable tunes in Mahler, or Stravinsky, or Bartòk.
Anyway, I posted my review of Felix Draeseke: Symphony No. 1 op. 12, Piano Concerto op. 36. Claudius Tanski, Wuppertal SO, George Hanson. MDG 335 0929-2 (1999)