It’s safe to say that Walter Kaufmann's music will be unfamiliar to most collectors, so we owe a debt of gratitude to the audiophile label MDG for releasing this SACD featuring four of his orchestral works – each of which is a world-premiere recording.

Walter Kaufmann (1907–1984) was a German-born composer, conductor, and musicologist whose career spanned over five decades and three continents. A prodigious talent, Kaufmann studied under Franz Schreker in Berlin and was strongly influenced by the musicologist Curt Sachs, which inspired his exploration of global musical traditions. With the rise of Nazism, Kaufmann fled Europe in 1934, settling in Bombay (now Mumbai). There, he became the music director for All India Radio and composed its iconic signature tune. After World War II, Kaufmann briefly lived in London before emigrating to Canada, where he conducted the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for nine years. In 1957, he moved to the U.S. to join the University of Bloomington, becoming a key figure in the field of ethnomusicology. His published works on Indian and Asian music cemented his lasting influence on cross-cultural music studies.

This SACD includes Kaufmann’s Symphony No. 2 (1935) alongside other works written toward the end of World War II as Kaufmann began his return to Europe. The opening piece, ‘Madras Express’ (1947), is a brief but vibrant evocation of a train journey to Madraspatnam (modern-day Chennai). With its lively rhythms and brilliant orchestration, the work calls to mind Villa-Lobos’s ‘The Little Train of the Caipira’, but with an unmistakably Indian flavour.

Following that, ‘Dirge’ offers a mournful tribute to those who perished under the Nazis and a poignant farewell to Kaufmann’s twelve-year exile. Next we have ‘Indian Facades: A Solemn Rhapsody for Orchestra’. This seven-movement suite blends Indian melodies and ragas with Western orchestral traditions. At 19:38, it is the longest work here, and while its slow pace gives it a hypnotic and meditative quality, I suspect that for some listeners it will perhaps outstay its welcome.

The programme concludes with Kaufmann’s ‘Symphony No. 2’, composed in three short movements, which effectively melds Indian art music with Western orchestral elements. The work is melodic and appealing, with a lively foot-tapping finale. A minor regret is that with a disc length of just over 50 minutes, more of Kaufmann’s music couldn't have been included, but what is here is certainly worth hearing.

The recording, made in the Neuhaussaal in Regensburg (November 18–21, 2024), is clean, detailed, and well-balanced, though, to these ears, strings sound undernourished possibly due to the boxy acoustic signature of the venue. The Regensburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Stefan Veselka, offer clearly committed performances of these unfamiliar works. However, one might feel that with stronger advocacy these pieces could have more emotional impact and sustain the listener’s attention through their contemplative passages.

Copyright © 2025 Graham Williams and HRAudio.net

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