Violin Concerto in D major (1896)
Symphony No. 2 in E major (1907)

If you enjoy listening to early 20th century romantic orchestral music but because it's summertime would like to avoid the philosophical grandiloquence of Richard Strauss or the deep soul probing of Gustav Mahler, than Danish composer August Enna (1859-1939) is a perfect choice. Of Italian and German lineage (his grandfather was an Italian soldier who married a German woman and settled in Denmark), he had his first piano and violin lessons as a child in Copenhagen. He studied in Germany for a while and adapted the style of the German Romantic school. Primarily influenced by Wagner's music, the bulk of his output was devoted to writing operas, many of which were highly popular at the time. It's his gift for melody rather than complex motivic manipulation that makes his music so engaging, and almost retrogradingly naïve when compared to other composers of his generation. Oddly enough he had a reputation for having an unruly character.

Aside from a previous recording of a Beethoven piano concerto (correct me if I'm wrong) this seems to be the only other release from this Colombian orchestra, even though their formation goes all the way back to 1967. As well, this is violinist Anna Agafia's second recording, following a highly praised debut recording featuring the music of Nielsen and Szymanowsky on the Claves label. She delivers a deeply expressive reading of the Andante movement of Enna's Violin Concerto in D major, along with a technically polished account of its buoyant final movement.

The Symphony No. 2 in E major opens gradually like a glorious sunrise which after a short two minutes leads into an infectiously galloping main melody around which the whole first movement is built. The Andante lento espressivo that follows, with its forward flowing momentum, is as fine an example of orchestral writing at the turn of the century. The whole symphony ends on a highly exhilarating flourish of solid and confident orchestration.