Serenade for String Orchestra op. 12 / Seven Pieces for Violoncello & String Orchestra / Three Pieces for String Orchestra

"Here's an excellent disc of all but unknown music by one of the unsung musical heroes of the late 19th century. Victor Herbert's style is witty, charming, melodious, but also recognizably "fin-de-siècle"--bordering on decadence but somehow never quite crossing over the line. His String Serenade, dating from the 1880s, is as lovely as anything by Tchaikovsky, Dvorák, or Grieg."
(ClassicsToday.com)

Victor Herbert was something on the order of a jack of all musical trades: cellist, orchestra leader, and composer of serious music and popular tunes. He grew up in Germany and moved to the United States as a newlywed to seek his fame and fortune - first as an orchestra cellist, soon as a soloist, then as an assistant to the celebrated conductor Anton Seidl, and soon thereafter as the conductor of the band of the Twenty Second Regiment of the New York National Guard. He went on to found the Victor Herbert Orchestra, which made a name for itself in the United States above all with its mixture of popular classical music and lighter fare, and to organize important events and concert series, so that he soon gained fame throughout the land. Antonín Dvorák had the highest praise for Herbert's cello concerto, but such ambitious creations did not bring him the income of his dreams. He soon realized that he could earn much more with purely entertaining pieces than with any sort of grand seriousness. Blessed with an unquenchable thirst for work, Herbert also enjoyed the status of a one-man melodic volcano who could always come up with an idea and get the lava flowing. The (American) operetta became his domain - just as it did for Gustave Kerker, an immigrant from Eastern Westphalia, whom I soon will present to you on cpo. But here first Herbert in a concert featuring irresistible cello treats!