Wilhelm Stenhammar - Piano Concerto No. 1; Fragment from Symphony No. 3

"'Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor for Piano and Orchestra': In the spring of 1882 Stockholm was visited by the famous pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow. He describes his impressions in his Scandinavian travel memoirs, recounting how he had not met any composer of importance, but the Orchestra of the Royal opera - that is, the orchestra of the Stockholm Opera - was very good and had a tremendously enthusiastic audience. He asks whether there might possibly be a conncetion between 'the quite extraordinary receptiveness of the Swedes' and their 'sterility in the realm of music'.

"Just over a decade later he would have obtained quite a different picture. There now existed a young and very enthusiastic generation of both composers and performers, and there new, fascinating works which held great promise for the future.

"Wilhelm Stenhammar's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, first performed at one of the Royal Opera symphony concerts on 17 March 1894, stands out as a gateway - or fanfare - to this new epoch in Swedish music. The soloist was the composer himself, at that time 22 years old, and the performance was conducted by Conrad Nordqvist, the Director of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera. A fortnight later the concerto was performed in Copenhagen. The success brought Stenhammar both a publisher and an agent. The door to 'the great wide world' was no opened. Before long Stenhammar was playing his concerto in Berlin, with Richard Strauss conducting, and later with Arthur Nikisch, Karl Muck, Felix Weingartner and Hans Richter. No Swedish instrumental composition had ever before attracted such widespread attention.

"The spring of 1904 found Stenhammar sketching a new piano concerto, in D minor. Completed in Florence in the spring of 1907, it became the only one of his own works which Stenhammar later performed himself. He played the B-flat minor Concerto for the last time in 1908; after that it figures only sporadically in the repertoire, and with other soloists. During the Second World War both the score and the parts - all in manuscript - were in the possession of the Hainauer publishing form in Breslau, and the entire material was destroyed during one of the air raids on the city. Only the printed short score remained.

"When this became known, Stenhammar's widow ask the composer Kurt Atterberg, who as a young man had heard the concerto several times, to orchestrate the short score. This version of the B-flat minor Concerto was performed in the spring of 1946. It was recorded in the autumn of 1977 with Irene Mannheimer as soloist together with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Dutoit.

"In the autumn of 1990, Professor Allan B. Ho of Southern Illinois University announced that he had found, in a private American collection of music, what proved to be a copy of Stenhammar's manuscript, produced for a tour of the USA by the German pianist Franz Rummel in 1898. As a result, the original classical-romantic orchestra sound can now be both listened to an studied. In comparison, Atterberg's predominantly stylish instrumentation occasionally reveals small personal touches, as if he wanted to put a signature to his own contribution.

"The B-flat minor Concerto is a work in the Brahmsian tradition, in four movements and lasting for about 47 minutes. It opens with a magnificent solo cadenz ('Molto moderato e maestoso') in a dialogue with chord from the orchestra. The broadly constructed movement which then follows ('Sostenuto e tranquillo - Animato') has a first theme which is elegiac and a second one which is enthusiastic and upward-soaring. At times the tonal language acquires symphonic proportions. The second movement - Scherzo ('Vivacissimo') - is light-hearted and buoyant, in a virtuoso style which rather puts on in mind of Saint-Saëns, a composer whose works were frequently performed in Stockholm during the 1890s. The third movement - 'Andante' - is based on a cantabile theme stated first by the horn. For most of this movement the piano simply provides an accompaniment. The final movement - 'Allegro commodo' - has a tempestuous main theme and relies very much of virtuoso effects, but towards the end these are curtailed by a ballad-like melody (on the same motif as in Stenhammar's song 'Lutad mot gärdet'). The concerto ends on a pianissimo chord.

"'Fragment from Symphony No. 3 (revised by Tommy B. Andersson)': In the mid 1910s Stenhammar had completed his two most important orchestral works: the Symphony in G minor and the Serenade in F major. These were to be his last compositions. However, between 1918 and 1919 he worked on a third symphony and there exist quite detailed outlines of a first movement - seven pages of which are in fair copy - and melodious suggestions as to an additional three movements.

"The short fragment from the work which has been recorded contains the above-mentioned seven pages. When compared with the polyphonic, almost matter-of-fact Symphony in G minor, the feeling from the outlines is of an orientation towards the romantic tone language we meet in some earlier works by Stenhammar.

"The outlines, with a concert ending by Tommy B. Andersson, were presented at a press conference in the Stockholm Concert Hall in April 1991." (Bo Wallner, 1992. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Kungliga Filharmonikerna, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Mats Widlund

1. Piano Concerto No. 1 In B-Flat Minor: I. Molto Moderato E Maestoso - Sostenuto E Tranquillo - Animato

2. Piano Concerto No. 1 In B-Flat Minor: II. Scherzo (Vivacissimo)

3. Piano Concerto No. 1 In B-Flat Minor: III. Andante

4. Piano Concerto No. 1 In B-Flat Minor: IV. Allegro Commodo

5. Fragment From Symphony No. 3

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Alban Berg - Orchestral Works

 "The works on the present CDs span the creative career of Alban Berg from his first published piece, the Piano Sonata, Op. 1, to the Violin Concerto and the 'Symphonic Pieces from the Opera 'Lulu'', the last works that were fully completed when died at the age of fifty in 1935.

"'Piano Sonata, Op. 1': Before starting his studies with Schoenberg in the autumn of 1904 Berg had been an autodidact whose output consisted almost entirely of songs: a gifted composer but, said Schoenberg in a letter to his publisher Emil Herzka, 'absolutely incapable of writing an instrumental movement or inventing an instrumental theme'.

"Berg continued as a Schoenberg student until 1910 but the single movement Piano Sonata, Op. 1 of 1908, recorded here in the orchestration by Theo Verbey, was, in effect, his graduation piece. In it Berg set out to demonstrate what he had learned from Schoenberg's music and teaching about how to handle an extended post-Wagnerian harmonic language and how to structure a large-scale instrumental movement in such a way that it was both formally clear and thematically integrated. At the heart of Schoenberg's teaching lay the necessity of what Schoenberg would later call 'developing variation': the belief that the logic and coherence of a work depended on all its aspects' being variants of a single, basic idea. It is a principle that stands at the heart of Op. 1 in which, within a clearly defined sonata structure, a wealth of distinctive thematic ideas is generated from a minimum of motivic material.

"'Passacaglia': Although, as one might expect, there exists a number of incomplete student pieces (there are, for example, five unfinished piano sonata movements that pre-date Op. 1) the two symphonic fragments of 1913 are exceptional in that, together, they represent the only work by the mature Berg that we know him to have abandoned. The two fragments consist of forty-one bars of a symphonic movement and the short score of the more substantial Passacaglia included in this set. Berg's manuscript, which runs to 101 bars, consists of a nine-bar Theme and ten Variations (Variation XI peters out after three bars); it contains some instrumental details and some rudimentary dynamic indications which have been amplified in the present realisation by Christian von Borries, in turn slightly modified by Mario Venzago.

"'Three Pieces, Op. 6': The idea of tackling a large-scale symphonic work was probably prompted by Schoenberg's criticism of the aphoristic nature of Berg's two previous works, the 'Altenberg-Lieder', Op. 4 (the performance in March 1913 of two of which had led to a riot and the concert's being abandoned) and the Four Pieces, Op. 5 for clarinet and piano. Schoenberg had urged Berg to write an orchestral suite, and having, for whatever reason, abandoned the symphony, Berg took his advice and turned to the composition of the Three Pieces, Op. 6 for orchestra. It is a work that has much in common with the symphonic fragments, since behind both, as indeed behind 'Wozzeck', stands the musical language of late Mahler - a composer to whom Berg was devoted. The Op. 6 Pieces, written only shortly after Mahler's death and almost immediately after the premier of the Ninth Symphony, is perhaps Berg's most overtly Mahlerian work - an influence which Berg implicitly acknowledges in his adopting, in the last piece, the fateful hammer blows of the finale of Mahler's Sixth Symphony. It is also the work in which the motivic complexity of Berg's music reaches its height. Starting with soft noises on unpitched percussion, the music of the opening 'Präludium' gradually forms itself into a motivic cell consisting of a rising minor third and a semitone, which will, in various forms, dominate the whole work and give rise to a wealth of interrelated melodic figurations. Constantly developing - through extension, inversion, rhythmic transformation - the figurations produce a profusion of material that links the 'Präludium' with the following 'Reigen' (Round Dance) and 'Marsch'. Dedicated to Schoenberg on the occasion of his fortieth birthday, the Op. 6 Pieces take the technique of 'developing variation' to its most extreme point, the 'Marsch' in particular presenting so many variants of its basic material that the more obviously recurring themes act merely as signposts to which the ear clings amid the unrelenting flow of thematic ideas. Completed in the weeks immediately after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, this final piece, which George Perle has aptly described as a 'marche macabre', possesses an atmosphere that seems to anticipate the horrors of the war which would soon engulf Europe.

"'Wein, Weib und Gesang!': Four months before completing the 'Marsch' of the Op. 6 Berg had attended the first performance in Vienna of Georg Büchner's 'Wozzeck' at the Residenzbühne and, overwhelmed by the experience, had immediately started to jot down ideas for an opera based on the play. He was forced to put the project to one side, first because of the need to finish work on the Op. 6 Pieces and then because of his being called up for military service, and it was only at the end of the First World War that he was able to begin work on the opera in earnest.

"Even then the work on 'Wozzeck' proceeded slowly, not least because of Berg's time-consuming involvement with the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen (Society for Private Musical Performances) which Schoenberg had founded in November 1918. The Verein was an association for members only (no critics were allowed to attend and no applause was permitted), which concentrated on the rehearsal and performance of a wide range of contemporary music. Berg, Webern and the pianist Eduard Steuermann were 'performance directors', responsible for supervising the rehearsal of new works. The Verein finally closed, due to financial difficulties, in November 1922 but a financial crisis a year earlier had led it to mount a 'Walzerabend' which consisted of arrangements of waltzes by Johann Strauss II for a salon orchestra of piano, harmonium and string quartet. Schoenberg himself was responsible for arranging 'Rosen aus dem Süden' (Roses from the South), Webern for 'Schatzwalzer' (Treasure Waltz) from 'Der Zigeunerbaron' (The Gypsy Baron) and Berg for 'Wein, Weib und Gesang!' (Wine, Women and Song!). The arrangements were performed on 27 May 1921 by an ensemble that included Schoenberg as one of the first violinists, Webern on cello and Berg on harmonium. The manuscripts were auctioned in aid of the Verein at the end of the evening, when, to his undisguised delight, Schoenberg saw his arrangement fetch three times as much as Berg's.

"'Three Fragments from 'Wozzeck'': Once 'Wozzeck' was completed (the short score was finished in October 1921 and the the full score seven months later) a piano score was published, the cost of which was eventually underwritten by Alma Mahler to whom Berg dedicated the score as a token of gratitude, and copies sent to various opera companies and critics. It was, however, difficult to persuade and opera company to take on a complex atonal work by a composer who was little known outside (or even in) his native Vienna.

"The turning point came in August 1923 when the String Quartet, Op. 3 was performed at the ISCM Festival in Salzburg. In the audience was the conductor Hermann Scherchen who suggested that Berg make a concert suite from the music of the opera. The resulting 'Three Fragments from 'Wozzeck'' were performed under Scherchen in Frankfurt in June 1924, by which time Erich Kleiber had resolved to stage the opera at the Staatsoper in Berlin. The Berlin premiere of 'Wozzeck' on 14 December 1925 established Berg overnight as a composer of international standing.

"The 'Three Fragments' centre on the figure of Marie, the common-law wife of Wozzeck, and mother of his child, whose seduction by the Drum-Major inflames the jealousy of the down-beaten Wozzeck and precipitates the ensuing tragedy. The first fragment, taken from Act I, Scenes 2 and 3 of the opera, is a March, heard as Marie watches the military parade led by the Drum Major pass by, followed by a Lullaby as she sings her child to sleep. The second fragment, structed as a theme, a set of variations and a fugue, is the opening scene of Act III, in which, overcome by guilt at having given in to the blandishments of the Drum Major, Marie seeks comfort in reading her Bible the story of the woman taken in adultery. The third fragment comes from the end of the opera, when, after Wozzeck has murdered Marie and drowned himself, the great orchestral Interlude in D minor reflects on the tragedy and the curtain rises to reveal the son of Wozzeck and Marie, now an orphan, playing with other children. A child runs on to announce the discovery of Marie's body and, after a moment's hesitation, Marie's son follows his comrades to see the corpse.

"'Der Wein': In May 1925, seven months before the Berlin premiere of 'Wozzeck', Berg went to Prague to attend a performance of the 'Three Fragments' conducted by Alexander von Zemlinsky, and stayed with the industrialist Herbert Fuchs Robettin and his wife, Hanna. Berg's next work, the 'Lyric Suite' for string quartet, which charts the course of the secret love affair that developed between Berg and Hanna during this short stay, is the most obvious outcome of the relationship between the two, but the concert aria 'Der Wein', written four years later, is also a reflection of the emotional crisis that the affair precipitated. By then already working on his second opera, 'Lulu', Berg was approached by the Czech soprano Ruzena Herlinger (to whom 'Der Wein' is dedicated) with the suggestion that he write a concert aria for her. Berg accepted the commission, partly for financial reasons but also because it offered the opportunity to explore in advance some aspects of the sound world of 'Lulu', most notable the use of the saxophone and, in a 'Tempo di Tango', jazz elements.

"For the text Berg turned to Stefan George's translations of Baudelaire, which had provided the secret, unsung text of the finale of the 'Lyric Suite', and chose three of the five poems of 'Le Vin'. In 'Der Wein' the three poems are arranged to form an ABA structure in which the B section is constructed as a palindrome, with the music turning at its central point and running backwards into the final section - a feature which Berg saw as a symbole of his own situation, the retrograde portion of 'Der Wein der Liebendern' (The Wine of Lovers) leading inexorably to the finale 'wine of the solitary one' - Baudelaire's 'Le Vin du solitaire': 'What follows [The Wine of Lovers]', wrote Berg to Hanna, 'can only by the song of the wind of the solitary one - for that I am and that I remain'.

"'Symphonic Pieces from the Opera, 'Lulu'': After the premiere of 'Wozzeck' Berg had been able to rely on performances of his music to provide a steady income, but by the early 1930s political pressures had become such that, even before the Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933, many opera houses had withdrawn from commitments to stage the opera and Berg began to experience serious financial difficulties. By mid-1934, by which time he had completed the short score of 'Lulu', it had become clear that no performances of his new opera would be possible in either Germany or Austria. Berg, therefore, suggested to his publishers that he devise an orchestral suite from the opera - a 'propaganda suite' which, since the music was no longer linked to the sensational libretto, might be performed in Germany and attract the attention of non-Austro-German, or even American, opera companies. He consequently began to work on orchestrating the opera, starting with those sections that he wanted to include in the suite.

"Based on two plays by Frank Wedekind, the opera tells, in deliberately shcoking and often absurd terms, the story of the rise and fall of Lulu, a figure who embodies the primal, sensual spirit of womanhood. During the first half of the work she ascends the social ladder, eventually becoming the wife of the wealthy newspaper magnate Dr. Schön, and then, having shot him, descends into the criminal underworld where she ends as a prostitute and is murdered by Jack the Ripper.

"The 'Symphonic Pieces' are taken from Acts II and III of the opera. The first ('Rondo'; 'Hymne'), from Act II, is the music of a love scene between Lulu and Dr. Schön's son, Alwa. In the opera this music is spread over two scenes and is constantly interrupted by other events; in the 'Symphonic Pieces' Berg simply excises the interruptions and turns Alwa's music from the different scenes into a continuous whole. The second piece ('Ostinato') forms the orchestral interlude between the scenes of Act II. In the opera this interlude accompanies a silent film which shows the arrest of Lulu for the murder of Dr. Schön, her trial and imprisonment, and her eventual escape from prison. As the central point of the central act, the 'Ostinato' marks the turning point of the whole work - a significance symbolised by its palindromic structure. The 'Lied der Lulu', which forms the third piece, is Lulu's great aria of self-justification from Act II, Scene 1, the number in which the text (in Berg's own words) stands as 'an explanation of her actions... an explanation of Lulu's nature which stands outside all human conception of morality'. The fourt of the pieces is a set of orchestral variations on a cabaret tune by Wedekind, which acts as a transition between the big society scene of Act III, Scene 1 and the London garret of the final scene. Beginning in a clear C major, with deliberately gaudy orchestration, the variations gradually move through polytonality and free atonality to a twelve-note variation, after which the theme itself is heard briefly played on a barrel organ in the street outside Lulu's London attic. The fifth piece ('Adagio') is the music that ends the opera, as Lulu returns with her final client. It culminates in a strident twelve-note chord as Jack murders her, then stabs the Countess Geschwitz who has rushed to Lulu's aid, and ends with the 'Liebestod' of the Countess as she dies alone on stage.

"'Concerto for Violin and Orchestra': Having completed the orchestration of the 'Symphonic Pieces' Berg went back to the opening Prologue of 'Lulu' and began to score the whole opera chronologically. His work on it was, however, again interrupted when, in February 1935, the American violinist Louis Krasner approached him with a commission for a violin concerto. Berg was reluctant to stop work on the opera but his financial position made refusal almost impossible. Two months later, on 22 April, there occurred the tragedy that was to determine the programme and the final shape of the concerto, when Manon Gropius, the teenage daughter of Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius, died of poliomyelitis. Deeply shaken by the even, Berg wrote to Alma Mahler to announce his intention of dedicating the concerto 'To the memory of an Angel' in commemoration of Manon. The work turned into a tone poem in which the two movements of Part I ('Andante'; 'Allegretto') became a portrait of Manon while the opening 'Allegro' of Part II depicted her illness and death. The final 'Adagio' of Part II, a set of variations on the funeral chorale 'Es ist genug' from Bach's cantata 'O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort', offers some consolation.

"Berg never heard the concerto performed. In August 1935, a few weeks after completing the work, he received an insect sting which gradually led to septicaemia. He attened the Vienna premiere of the 'Symphonic Pieces' on 11 December but was rushed to hospital on 16 December and died one week later." (Douglas Jarman, 2009. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Göteborgs Symfoniker, Mario Venzago, Isabelle van Keulen, Geraldine McGreevy, Robert Murray

1.1. Piano Sonata, Op. 1

1.2. Three Pieces, Op. 6: I. Präludium

1.3. Three Pieces, Op. 6: II. Reigen

1.4. Three Pieces, Op. 6: III. Marsch

1.5. Der Wein

1.6. Passacaglia

1.7. Violin Concerto: I. Andante – Allegretto

1.8. Violin Concerto: II. Allegro – Adagio

2.1. Three Fragments From 'Wozzeck': I. Act I, Scenes 2 And 3

2.2. Three Fragments From 'Wozzeck': II. Act III, Scene I

2.3. Three Fragments From 'Wozzeck': III. Act III, Scenes 4 And 5

2.4. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': I. Rondo

2.5. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': II. Ostinato

2.6. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': III. Lied Der Lulu

2.7. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': IV. Variationen

2.8. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': V. Adagio

2.9. Der Wein

2.10. Wein, Weib Und Gesang!

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Johann Adolf Hasse - Sonatas and Trio Sonatas

"'The duets, the trios, the quartets, and the concerts for instruments were so many that he himself would not have been able to recognize them when listening or looking at them... His works are so simple not because he is incapable of elaborate, surprising or unusual modulations... In general his modulation is simple and his melody is spontaneous, his music never gives an impression of confusion. In his compositions the intention of pleasing the ear and of satisfying the intellect is evident, leaving to the vain and the pedantic everything that strikes, stupefies and puzzles.'

"Charles Burney dedicated these comments to Johann Adolf Hasse, describing their encounter in Vienna in September 1773 in his 'Musical Journey in the Low Countries and in Germany'.

"Hasse was born in 1699 in Bergedorf, near Hamburg. After having acquired some experience as a tenor in Hamburg in 1718 and in Braunschweig in 1722, he moved to Naples in order to study, first, with Nicola Porpora, later to become his main competitor, and, subsequently, with Alessandro Scarlatti. From 1727 he was 'maestro di cappella' in Venice, where in 1730 he married the soprano Faustina Bordoni, then, from 1730 to 1763, at the court in Dresden, initially in the service of August II, 'The Strong' (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony from 1694 and King of Poland from 1697.

"After the death of the Elector, Hasse alternated his activities in Dresden with frequent trips abroad, residing mainly in Venice. Although he had many friends and admirers in London, who were constantly inviting him, he never visited the city. Handel held Hasse in such high esteem that he included several of his fellow composer's arias in his 'pasticci londinesi' (1730-34).

"Hasse lived in Vienna from 1764 to 1773 as official court composer and struck up a great friendship with Metastasio, setting to music all his works, with the exception of 'Temistocle', some of them three or four times, and all of them at least twice. He spent his last years in Venice where he died in 1783.

"Hasse enjoyed great fame in his own time, especially for his theatrical works in which he was able to utilise and develop the characteristic traits of the Neapolitan operatic style, which had already been defined by his Neapolitan teachers. In his work a typically German precision of language is blended with the melodic strains native to Neapolitan opera, as learned during his stay in Italy. Before being challenged by the followers of the new operatic style introduced by Gluck and Calzabigi, Hasse dominated European stages for almost half a century, thanks to the elegance of his melodies, the richness of the instrumentation and his confident formal instinct.

"The sonatas and trio sonatas of Hasse were published with various indications for instrumental performance. The majority of them carry the indication 'for flute or violin and basso continuo' or 'for 2 flutes or violins and basso continuo'. As always in these kinds of composition, the indication is a conventional one serving commercial purposes and, according to the performance practice of the time, the instrumentation maye be changed. In fact, nothing prevents one from playing a piece for flute or violin on the oboe, so long as the technical and musical characteristics do not present obstacles to it, and the piece does not lose its effect. Among Hasse's work are many compositions published with the indication 'for oboe', which includes high notes, even in solo passages, that are not performable on this instrument but much more suitable to the flute or violin. Conversely, works published with the indication 'for flute' or 'for violin' have a better effect if performed on the oboe.

"Another means of varying and adapting the instrumental combinations in music of the baroque period, one also utilised in the eighteenth century, is the transcription of a piece to tonalities different from the original one. The 'Trio Sonata in F major' is an example of the use of this type of expedient. The manuscript of this piece is kept in the Berlin State Library, and carries the instrumental indication 'for oboe, violin and basso continuo'. It is actually a transcription one tone lower of the Trio Sonata in G major, which is one of the 'Six sonatas or trios for 2 flutes or violins' (London, 1739). With the new instrumentation this piece acquires a different, perhaps more interesting, expressive colour. To this end, and in accordance with the same principle, we have carried out the same operation also on the other trio sonatas from the same collection presented in this recording, performing the 'Trio Sonata in D minor', originally in E minor, and the 'Trio Sonata in C major', from the original in D major, with oboe, violin and basso continuo. In the latter, for the purpose of rendering the basso continuo more varied and effective in our interpretation, the bass part is performed by the harpsichord and the cello in the slow movements, while the bassoon has been added in the fast ones. The decision to perform these trio sonatas with the first and second parts allocated to two instruments of different families, in this case the oboe and violin, is also justified by the lack of prevalent parallelisms in the two upper melodic lines that would render the piece more suitable for two instruments of the same type, such as two flutes or two violins or two oboes. The aural effect achieved in this manner allowes the availability of two expressive sonorities, each individual and different from the other, that lay the ground for a clear and dynamic dialogue.

"Like that of the Trio Sonata in F major, the manuscript of the 'Sonata in F major' for chalumeau, oboe, bassoon and basso continuo, on which the present recorded performance is based as no published edition exists, is preserved in the Berlin State Library. Deriving from an earlier concerto from chalumeau, the piece is remarkable for its unusual instrumentation. Chamber musical works of this type employing the chalumeau are in fact rare. This instrument, of the most ancient origin, has circulated in two main types, one with a conical bore, from which the oboe is derived, the other with a cylindrical bore, which can be considered a precursor of the clarinet. In this sonata the bassoon has the role of 'obbligato' instrument on the one hand, and of reinforcement of the basso continuo on the other. The dialogue between chalumeau and oboe seeks to create different colours also in the part of the basso continuo by way of the instrumental combination: the solos of the chalumeau are accompanied by the basoon, while those of the oboe are supported by the cello.

"The 'Sonata in G major' for oboe and basso continuo, belonging to the collection 'Solos op. 2 for flute or violin' (London, 1740), demonstrates a very simple compositional style, similar to that of the trio sonatas presented here. The 'Sonata in E minor' for violin and basso continuo, part of the collection 'Solos op. 5 for flute or violin' (London, 1744), offers characteristics that testify to a more modern taste, desiring greater depth of feeling.

"Frederick II, 'The Great', befriended Hasse on the occasion of the performance of the Te Deum in Dresden in 1745, and conceived an enthusiastic interest in Hasse's compositions for flute, being himself a virtuoso on this instrument. Some chamber works for the flute had already been published in London, and the King's commissions significantly enlarged the catalogue of this musical genre. The publishing house Breitkopf had collected the majority of Hasse's compositions in Leipzig in order to realise the publication of his complete works. The late King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, August II, 'The Strong', had assumed responsibility for financing this project, but it was Frederick II who found hismelf in the predicament, during the Seven Years War, of having to bombard Leipzig! On the 19 December 1760 the greater part of Hasse's instrumental work was lost under the cannonade. Again, Charles Burney recounts how the composer had honoured Frederick II by asserting that he was sure the King, given the chance, and knowing well the value of those compositions, would have informed him of the events in time, thus giving Hasse the opportunity of transporting his works to safety." (Alessandro Piqué, 2004, tr. Paolo Piqué and Frank Long. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Epoca Baroca

1. Trio Sonata In F Major: I. Larghetto

2. Trio Sonata In F Major: II. Allegro

3. Trio Sonata In F Major: III. Largo

4. Trio Sonata In F Major: IV. Tempo Di Menuetto

5. Trio Sonata In D Minor: I. Largo

6. Trio Sonata In D Minor: II. Presto

7. Trio Sonata In D Minor: III. Siciliano

8. Trio Sonata In D Minor: IV. Allegro

9. Sonata No. 5 In E Minor: I. Adagio

10. Sonata No. 5 In E Minor: II. Vivace

11. Sonata No. 5 In E Minor: III. Andante

12. Sonata No. 5 In E Minor: IV. Allegro Assai

13. Sonata In G Major: I. Andante

14. Sonata In G Major: II. Allegro

15. Sonata In G Major: III. Largo

16. Sonata In G Major: IV. Tempo Di Menuetto

17. Sonata In F Major: I. Adagio

18. Sonata In F Major: II. Allegretto

19. Sonata In F Major: III. Adagio

20. Sonata In F Major: IV. Allegretto Ma Poco

21. Trio Sonata In C Major: I. Adagio

22. Trio Sonata In C Major: II. Allegro

23. Trio Sonata In C Major: III. Adagio

24. Trio Sonata In C Major: IV. Allegro

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Johan Svendsen; Carl Nielsen - String Octet; Romance; String Quintet

"Johan Svendsen was born in Christiana (now Oslo) on 30 September 1840, and died in Copenhagen on 14 June 1911. At an early age he acquired a working knowledge of a variety of instruments from his father, who was a military musician, and he began his career as a clarinettist in a regimental band. His principal instrument, however, was the violin, and as a young man he played in the orchestra of Norske Theater (of which Ibsen was Director) and his first experience of the symphonic repertory, and of Beethoven in particular, was as a violinist in the subscription concerts organised in 1857-9 by Halfdan Kjerulf and Gottfried Conradi. His formal musical education did not begin until 1863, when, with the aid of a stipend granted to him by the King of Sweden and Norway, he entered the Conservatoire in Leipzig (he was offered a place in an advanced class, but asked to start at the beginning of the course because he considered his musical education to be rudimentary). He studied the violin with Mendelssohn's old friend and colleague Ferdinand David, but within a year had decided to concentrate on composition and conducting. He successfully pursued a career in both capacities (together, initially, with that of a solo and orchestral violinist), and this naturally meant that was away from his native Norway for much of the time. In 1872 he returned to Christiana as joint conductor, with his compatriot and close contemporary Grieg, of the Musikforening concerts, becoming sole conductor two years later. In 1883 he was appointed Musical Director of the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, and retained the position until ill-health forced him to retire in 1908.

"Svendsen's most important compositions, which include two symphonies, two concertos (for violin and for cello), four Norwegian Rhapsodies for orchestra, vocal and chamber music, were written before 1880. The Octet in A major, Op. 3 for strings (four violins, two violas and two cellos), like the String Quartet in A minor, Op. 1 and the String Quintet in C, Op. 5, dates from his last years at the Leipzig Conservatoire. It was performed there for the first time in 1866, and won him the Conservatoire's First Prize; it also prompted an offer from the great Leipzig publishing house of Breitkopf & Härtel, who issued it a year later, with a dedication, 'in deepest gratitude and respect', to Her Majesty Louise, Queen of Sweden and Norway. In May 1868, when Svendsen went to the musical festival in Weimar and met Liszt, the Octet was performed by a group of Germany's foremost string players.

"The industrious and fluent Louis Spohr composed four double quartets between 1823 and 1847, but these are, as their titles imply, octets for two string quartets, with the accent as much, if not more, on antiphonal effects between the two groups, as on treatment of the eight instruments as a homogeneous ensemble. For the classic example of a true string octet, one has to turn to the one in E-flat, Op. 20, that Mendelssohn wrote in 1825 at the age of sixteen; and probably the only nineteenth-century parallel to this, even if it does not match the sheer genius of Mendelssohn's youthful masterpiece, is Svendsen's Op. 3. Both main themes of its first movement incorporate prominent dotted rhythms, and these are to prove a recurring feature throughout the work. The emphatic first subject is announced boldly by all eight instruments in octaves and re-stated in two contrasting ways before a sustained chromatic transition prepares the way for the short second subject in (in E), gently introduced by first violin and first viola in turn. The compact development is mainly concerned with the first two bars of the first subject, but later the second subject enters the discussion; further development takes place during the course of the recapitulation, which is appreciably longer than the exposition and development section combined. The inventive and rhythmically intriguing second movement (in E) has something of the spirit of a scherzo, but is formally more like a loose-limbed rondo. The 'scherzo' element is provided by the chattering triplets of the opening, the 'trio' element by the short, lyrical theme (with a dotted rhythm in its second bar) initiated by the first viola at bar 4I but subsequently expanded almost beyond recognition. The slow movement (in C) can perhaps be best described as a set of free, continuous variations, with considerable fluctuation of mood and tempo, on the theme as presented at the outset by the first violin. But there is an impassioned subsidiary theme that recalls the 'trio' theme of the third movement, and a second 'variation' theme, first played by the first cello to a descant on the first violin in running semiquavers. A slow introduction, bristling with dotted rhythms, prefaces the sonata-form 'Finale', whose angular main theme it foreshadows; a lyrical, curving second subject, of by now familiar outline, is presented by the first viola and provides most of the material for the development, which is separated from the recapitulation by a virtuoso semiquaver passage in octaves.

"The Romance for violin, probably Svendsen's best known work, was composed in Christiana in 1880, soon after his return from an extended foreign tour that took him to Leipzig, Rome, London (where he met the legendary Spanish violinist, Pablo de Saraste) and Paris. It was originally scored for solo violin, with an orchestra of strings, flute, oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns and timpani, but here the accompaniment is arranged for strings. The main tempo is 'Andante', but there is a quicker central section in G minor.

"Carl Nielsen was born at Nørre Lyndelse (near Odense) in Denmark on 9 June 1865, and died in Copenhagen on 2 October 1931. Like Svendsen, he came from a modest background; his father taught him to play the violin and the cornet, he gained his first practical musical experience from playing in a local orchestra and in a military band, and he was enabled to study at the Royal Danish Conservatoire in Copenhagen (from 1884 to 1886) as a result of financial assistance from benefactors in Odense. But although he continued for some years to play the violin professionally (he was a member of the orchestra of the Royal Opera in Copenhagen under Svendsen, who was not only an influence on the young composer but an ardent admirer, and who conducted the first performance of Nielsen's first Symphony in 1894) and was a competent conductor, he never attained Svendsen's eminence in that field, whereas he quickly outstripped him as a composer. Not only did he become, with six symphonies to his credit, Denmark's greatest symphonist, but he was also a noted composer of music for the theatre, wrote three important concertos (for violin, flute and clarinet), choral music and songs, piano music and a considerable body of chamber music which includes three sonatas for violin and piano, six string quartets (the first two of them student works), a string quintet and a wind quintet.

"The String Quintet in G major (for the combination of two violins, two violas and cello, favoured by Mozart, Brahms and Dvořák, but not Schubert) was written in 1888, the same year as the first of Nielsen's four mature quartets (in G minor, Op. 13), and first performed on 28 April 1889. The score was dedicated to Thorvald Nielsen, Erlin Bloch, Hans Kassow and Louis Jensen, but not published until 1937, six years after the composer's death. The first movement, in fairly regular sonata form, is in a lilting 9/8 metre, but with occasional deft changes in rhythm (to 12/8 and, effectively, 3/4), which add to the music's piquancy and charm. There are three main thematic groups: the melodious theme introduced at the very beginning by the first violin; the airy transition initiated by the first viola, engendering a whole succession of oscillating semiquaver patterns; and the long-breathed theme on the first violin (on the first viola and the cello in octaves after the recapitulation) that emerges from it. The slow movement (in B-flat) is in ternary form, with the outer sections centred round a solemn theme intoned, after a chromatic introductory passage, by the first viola and the cello (on the two violins in octaves in the much shortened reprise). The middle section, in slightly quicker tempo, introduces a chorale-like theme on the first viola, this is then treated, in varying forms, rather as a 'cantus firmus' in different instrumental settings. The colourful third movement, alternately dancing and langorous, is permeated by quick, repeated-note 'ostinati'; a somewhat bucolic middle section (or trio) is followed by a literal repear of the first section, followed by a coda. The quintet ends with an exuberant sonata-form 'Finale', with an emphatic first subject and a playful second subject (on the first violin), which provides most of the material for the development section; there is a coda marked 'Presto'." (Robin Golding, 1994. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble

1. Johan Svendsen - String Octet In A Major, Op. 3: I. Allegro Risoluto Ben Marcato

2. Johan Svendsen - String Octet In A Major, Op. 3: II. Allegro Scherzoso - Lento - Piu Mosso, Quasi Presto

3. Johan Svendsen - String Octet In A Major, Op. 3: III. Andante Sostenuto

4. Johan Svendsen - String Octet In A Major, Op. 3: IV Finale. Moderato - Allegro Assai Con Fuoco

5. Johan Svendsen - Romance, Op. 26

6. Carl Nielsen - String Quintet In G Major: I. Allegro Pastorale

7. Carl Nielsen - String Quintet In G Major: II. Adagio

8. Carl Nielsen - String Quintet In G Major: III. Andante Scherzando

9. Carl Nielsen - String Quintet In G Major: IV. Finale. Allegro Molto - Presto

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Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Piano Concerto in C Major; Rondo Brillant, Op. 56; Rondo Brillant, Op. 98

"The case of Hummel is sadly typical of that of many early nineteenth-century composers. Accorded the greatest respect as composer and performer and showered with gifts and honours for most of his life, Hummel fell into near-oblivion soon after his death, his œuvre largely neglected apart from representations in conservatory curricula. Happily, he and others like him are now beginning to enjoy the popularity they deserve. A most versatile composer, his output embraces all genres with the significant exception of the symphony – unsurprising, perhaps, in view of Beethoven’s ongoing contribution; compare Brahms’s reticence in embarking on his own first essay in the form. Born in what is now Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, in 1778, Hummel moved with his family to Vienna where Mozart, impressed by the eight-year-old prodigy, apparently took him as a live-in pupil for two years, treating him like a son. He also advised Hummel's father to take the boy on a concert tour, and the pair left at the end of 1788, taking in, among other cities, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg and Copenhagen. After visiting Edinburgh, Durham and Cambridge, they settled in London, a city always open to foreign musicians in spite of its not-so-latent xenophobia. During Hummel’s two years there he met Haydn, Pleyel and Clementi (with whom he probably had lessons) and published his Op. 1 and Op. 2, each containing three sets of variations on popular and folk tunes. His autograph score is signed 'Master Hummel from Vienna – only Twelve years of age', although, in time-honoured fashion with child prodigies, the published score claims that he was eleven!

"[...] There are about eighteen works for solo piano and orchestra in Hummel’s output, of which eight are concertos. The present work, 'Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 34' – also known as Op. 34a and Op. 36 – is his first mature work of this kind. It is half as long again as any other of his concerti, the symphonic cut of much of the orchestral writing, the effective instrumentation and the piano's restrained virtuosity all showing that the young composer was intent that this would not be just another concerted firework-display. In fact, the parallels with a much more famous concerto, Beethoven’s last (No. 5 in E flat, the 'Emperor'), are striking. Both were written in 1809, which saw the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon’s troops and, interestingly, both were dedicated to Beethoven's patron, the Archduke Rudolph of Austria, Hummel's receiving its first performance during the celebrations for the Archduke’s marriage. The work, published in 1810, could possibly be called Hummel's 'Military' concerto, not only in the more barnstorming sense as in the 'Emperor', but also in that found in Haydn's 'Nelson Mass', with which it shares its occasional use of soft timpani and muted trumpets, a slightly unnerving reminder of the 'wars, and rumours of wars' so prevalent in this period.

"[...] The 'Rondo brillant in A, Op. 56' was published (in solo-piano form) in about 1814 in a periodical series called 'Répertoire de musique pour les dames', and it says much for the dames of Vienna that amateurs such as themselves could tackle a work of this difficulty. The 'Larghetto maestoso' introduction alternates pomposity with lyricism and the piano enters with one of those long-breathed effusions so characteristic of the genre – and, indeed, of Hummel – and whose effect can be clearly seen in the works of later composers, particularly those of Chopin. The horns announce the rondo-theme, appearing like thistledown in the higher register of the piano. There are episodes in the dominant and in the remote key of B-flat before the work concludes with a long coda full of trills and arpeggios and a cheekily distorted reference to the theme.

"The 'Rondo brillant in B flat, Op. 98' was published in Vienna in 1824 and in his letter offering it to the publisher Peters, Hummel describes it as 'one of my nicest works… and not fiendishly difficult'. It was composed for his Russian tour of 1822 and dedicated to 'Mme. de Peroffska, née Princesse Gortschakoff' in St. Petersburg. The slow introduction opens with a plaintive and very Slavic theme on solo oboe with a hymn-like accompaniment. The piano follows with a long cantabile solo full of improvisatory embellishment and beauty, leading directly into the Rondo's main theme, a Russian folksong extolling raspberries. The returns of this theme are separated by episodes in related keys, one with military overtones, the other in the more sombre minor mode, and the piece ends with a faster section and several surprises." (Derek Carew. From the liner notes.)

Performers: London Mozart Players, Howard Shelley

1. Piano Concerto In C Major, Op. 34: I. Allegro Con Spirito
2. Piano Concerto In C Major, Op. 34: II. Adagio
3. Piano Concerto In C Major, Op. 34: III. Vivace Assai
4. Rondo Brillant In A Major, Op. 56
5. Rondo Brillant In B-Flat Major, Op. 98

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Luigi Dallapiccola - Tartiniana; Due Pezzi; Variazioni per Orchestra; Piccola Musica Notturna; Frammenti Sinfonici dal Balletto 'Marsia'

"'It sometimes takes just one significant event to determine the direction of one’s whole life. Mine was determined on the night of the first of April 1924, when I saw Arnold Schoenberg conduct his 'Pierrot lunaire'. So wrote Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–1975) of the performance he attended in Florence at the age of twenty. Dallapiccola is universally known as an Italian (and Florentine) composer, but he was born a subject of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Istria, that tiny Adriatic peninsula only ceded to Italy after the First World War. For part of the war he was interned in Graz, where he discovered opera and resolved to become a composer. In many respects he was a quintessential Italian, in love with lyricism, the Romance languages, classical antiquity, Dante, Monteverdi, Verdi. Yet a certain orientation towards Austro-German art led him to follow Ferruccio Busoni (who died just three months after that revelatory performance of 'Pierrot lunaire') in seeking new modes of musical architecture.

"In the 1930s his wish to create works of utter clarity and organic consistency was whetted by hearing music of Anton Webern, whom he finally met in Vienna in 1942. Dallapiccola eventually became the first significant Italian composer to embrace Schoenberg's twelve-note method of composition. But he embraced it from a wholly Italianate direction, deriving his music from twelve- note rows but keeping them subservient to his lyrical and visionary expressive impulses. Though he came to prominence in Mussolini’s Italy, Dallapiccola was a dedicated anti-Fascist, in danger of his life during World War II. Many of his works deal with the themes of persecution, imprisonment, resistance to tyranny, the importance of holding fast to civilised values. For him, art possessed moral force: it is this, combined with the refinement and perfectionism of his technique, that makes him such an abiding inspiration in a later age of cultural relativism. 

"Dallapiccola is especially known as a vocal composer, for example for his operas 'Il Prigioniero' and 'Ulisse', the cantatas 'Canti di Prigionia' and 'Canti di Liberazione', as well as the Michelangelo choruses and many song cycles, often accompanied by a Pierrot-like chamber ensemble. But he did not neglect orchestral music, which forms a significant part of his output.

"Dallapiccola's only ballet is 'Marsia', composed in 1942–43 to a scenario by Aurel Milloss, on the well-known classical legend of the satyr Marsyas, discoverer of the music of the flute (heard at the very start of the 'Danza Magica'). He was so accomplished a musician that he foolhardily challenged Apollo to a contest of skill. At a dramatic moment in 'Danza di Apollo' the god reverses his lyre and continues to play without touching the strings, thus winning the contest; after which, enraged by the satyr’s presumption, he has him flayed alive. The tears of Marsyas' mourners become a river bearing the satyr’s name. Marsia may thus be counted one of Dallapiccola's works on the theme of man struggling against a force much stronger and crueller than he is.

"There was no chance of a production in Fascist Italy, and the ballet was not in fact staged until the ISCM Festival in Venice in September 1948. But much of the music had already been heard six months before. Dallapiccola extracted the 'Frammenti Sinfonici dal Balletto 'Marsia'' in 1947, and this suite – which represents about two-thirds of the total ballet score – was premiered on Belgian Radio on 12 March 1948, conducted by Daan Sternefeld.

"[...] The 'Due Pezzi' for orchestra originated in sketches which Dallapiccola made in 1946 for a proposed documentary film about the Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca. This project remained still-born, and in the winter of 1946–47 he worked up the material into two pieces, which he called 'Due Studi', for violin and piano. He then elaborated them for full orchestra, and this form was premiered in London for a BBC broadcast, conducted by Mario Rossi, on 3 November 1947. In contrast to 'Marsia', 'Due Pezzi is a lean and sinewy twelve-note score, though it makes subtle references to Early Music. The opening 'Sarabanda', a ghostly nocturne, clearly relates to the stately baroque dance with its characteristic rhythm: the great Sarabande from Busoni's 'Doktor Faust' is its clear spiritual ancestor. Its crepuscular orchestral colouring adds greatly to its atmospheric effect over the violin-piano original.

"[...] Dallapiccola's 'Tartiniana' for violin and chamber orchestra was composed in the summer of 1951 on a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation and was dedicated to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky. The first performance was given by Dallapiccola’s close friend, the violinist Sandro Materassi, with the Swiss Radio Orchestra conducted by Hans Rosbaud in November 1952. The work is subtitled 'Divertimento on themes from sonatas of Giuseppe Tartini'. As such, it adds to a line of creative rethinkings of the music of earlier Italian composers by their twentieth-century successors – such as Respighi's ballets on themes by Rossini, or Casella's 'Paganiniana' and 'Scarlattiana' suites. (The ultimate model for this sort of 're-creation' was probably Stravinsky’s ballet after Pergolesi, 'Pulcinella'.) In this tender, brilliant and colourful score Dallapiccola may have felt drawn to Tartini not only for his violinistic artistry but by the fact that he, too, was an Istrian by birth.

"The tonal divertimento of 'Tartiniana' may have been something of a 'holiday' respite. Dallapiccola’s next compositional project, commissioned by the Pittsburgh International Contemporary Festival, was the major piano work 'Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera' (1952), written on an extended trip that took the composer from Canada to Mexico – a 'musical notebook' dedicated to his daughter on her eighth birthday and one of his most searching studies of canonic and contrapuntal techniques in the context of twelve-note invention. The 'Quaderno', which Dallapiccola regarded as his most rigorous twelve-tone composition so far, is based on a twelve-tone series which he also used in his monumental 'Canti di Liberazione'. It consists of eleven movements contrasting free with strict (canonic) counterpoint. Within comparatively modest dimensions – for it is also a study in brevity, in aphorism, in saying the maximum possible without a single wasted note – the Quaderno has justly been considered a modern-day counterpart to Bach's 'Musikalisches Opfer' and 'Die Kunst der Fuge', and it contains many subtle references to Bach's musical techniques. In 1953, fulfilling a commission from the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, Dallapiccola reworked the piece for full orchestra as his 'Variazioni per Orchestra'. The premiere took place in Louisville, Kentucky on 2 October 1954, conducted by Robert Whitney.

"[...] Dallapiccola completed the score of the 'Variazioni' in January 1954. His next work was written in a single week three months later and is also for orchestra: 'Piccola Musica Notturna' (the title evokes 'Eine kleine Nachtmusik'). It is dedicated to, and had been commissioned by, Hermann Scherchen, the great champion of modern music, for the 1954 'Jeunesse Musicale' Festival in Hanover. As its title suggests, this exquisite piece is a particularly atmospheric nocturne, very much in the tradition of Busoni's evocative orchestral elegies such as the 'Berceuse élégiaque' and 'Nocturne symphonique'. The score is prefaced by some lines from the Spanish poet Antonio Machado, setting a scene where the poet walks a deserted village alone, under the moon, on a beautiful summer night. The instrumentation is of preternatural delicacy even for Dallapiccola (who in 1961 made a reduced version for just eight players). It is also a shining example of truly expressive and poetic twelve-note music, based on a row that does not simply include all twelve available pitches but, in their relation to one another, all eleven available intervals within the twelve-note scale. (Dallapiccola had already experimented with such a row in the sixth of the 'Variazioni'.) Save for one or two tutti outcries, this is among the most serene and mysterious of twentieth-century nocturnes." (Calum MacDonald. From the liner notes.)

Performers: BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda, James Ehnes

1. Tartiniana: I. Larghetto, Molto Espressivo, Ma Semplice
2. Tartiniana: II. Allegro Misurato
3. Tartiniana: III. Molto Sostenuto - Più Mosso E Scorrevole, Ma Sempre Serioso
4. Tartiniana: IV. Allegro Assai, Ma Non Precipitato
5. Due Pezzi: A. Sarabanda. Lento; Flessibile
6. Due Pezzi: B. Fanfara E Fuga. Mosso, Ma Non Tanto
7. Piccola Musica Notturna
8. Frammenti Sinfonici Dal Balletto 'Marsia': Danza Magica
9. Frammenti Sinfonici Dal Balletto 'Marsia': Ostinato
10. Frammenti Sinfonici Dal Balletto 'Marsia': Danza Di Apollo
11. Frammenti Sinfonici Dal Balletto 'Marsia': Ultima Danza Di Marsia
12. Frammenti Sinfonici Dal Balletto 'Marsia': La Morte Di Marsia
13. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione I. Quasi Lento, Misterioso: Appena Più Scorrevole
14. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione II. Allegro; Con Fuoco
15. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione III. Mosso; Scorrevole
16. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione IV. Tranquillamente Mosso
17. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione V. Poco Allegretto, 'alla Serenata'
18. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione VI. Molto Lento, Con Espressione Parlante
19. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione VII. Andantino Amoroso
20. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione VIII. Allegro, Con Violenza
21. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione IX. Affettuoso, Cullante
22. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione X. Grave: Ancora Più Lento, Misterioso
23. Variazioni Per Orchestra: Variazione XI. Molto Lento; Fantastico

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Franz Krommer - Three Partitas; Six Marches

"Franz Vincenz Krommer was born (as František Vincenč Kramář) at Kamenice u Trebíče in Moravia on 27 November 1759 (not quite four years after Mozart); he was the son of an innkeeper, Jiří Kramář, who later became Mayor of Kamenice. Between 1773 and 1776 he studied the violin and the organ with his uncle, Antonín Matthias Kramář, in Turán (near Brno), and became organist there in about 1777. In 1785 he went to Vienna, and a year later joined the orchestra of the Duke of Styrum at Simontornya in western Hungary, as a violinist. At about this time he was also musical director and composer for Count Károly’s regimental bands. In 1790 he was appointed Kapellmeister of the cathedral at Pécs, also in western Hungary, and two or three years later entered the musical establishment of Prince Anton Grassalkovich de Gyarak. Krommer returned to Vienna in 1795 and became Kapellmeister to Duke Ignaz Fuchs in 1798. In 1808 he applied, unsuccessfully, for a position as a violinist in the Hofkapelle, but in 1810 he was appointed Ballettkapellmeister at the Hoftheater. In 1815 he was given the post of Kammertürhüter (Chamberlain) to Emperor Franz I, and in this capacity accompanied him to Paris, Milan, Verona, Padua and Venice. Three years later he succeeded his compatriot Leopold Kozeluch as the last official director of chamber music and court composer to the Habsburg emperors, and retained the position until his death in Vienna on 8 January 1831.

"Krommer was one of the most successful and influential of the many Czech composers active in Vienna at the turn of the nineteenth century. The extent of his reputation is indicated by the rapid spread of his published compositions in reprints and arrangements by German, French, Italian, Danish and even American publishers, and by his honorary membership of musical institutions in Vienna, Innsbruck, Paris, Milan, Venice and Ljubljana. His three-hundred-odd works include at least nine symphonies, a score of concertos for various instruments, over seventy string quartets and a similar number of pieces for other chamber music combinations. He also left an impressive body of Harmoniemusik – music for wind band. The bulk of these are Partiten for pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons, often with (as in this recording) ad libitum parts for a contrabassoon to strengthen the bass-line, and for a trumpet to impart a dash of martial colour to the music (and to bring the ten-part ensemble up to the standard complement of Austrian military bands – a shrewd piece of salesmanship). The most important of these Partiten are thirteen works issued as Krommer’s Opp. 45, 57, 67, 69, 71, 73, 76, 77, 78, 79 and 83, first published between 1803 and 1810, and in many cases subsequently reissued, often by different publishers. They were preceded by a number of similar works ascribed (not always with absolute certainty) to Krommer, some of which may date from his days with Count Károly’s bands. The title is misleading. A partita is a suite of dance movements (like Bach’s) or a set of variations; Krommer’s Partiten (or Harmonien, as he and his publishers also called them) are symphonies for wind instruments, in four movements, only one of which (the second or the third) is in dance-form: a minuet." (Robin Golding. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Wind Ensemble, Bastiaan Blomhert

1. March, Op. 31 No. 1
2. Partita In B-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 1: I. Allegro Vivace
3. Partita In B-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 1: II. Andante
4. Partita In B-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 1: III. Menuetto: Allegro - Trio
5. Partita In B-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 1: IV. Rondo
6. March, Op. 31 No. 6
7. March, Op. 31 No. 5
8. Partita In E-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 2: I. Allegro
9. Partita In E-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 2: II. Romance: Allegretto
10. Partita In E-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 2: III. Menuetto - Trio
11. Partita In E-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 2: IV. Rondo
12. March, Op. 31 No. 3
13. March, Op. 31 No. 4
14. Partita In B-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 3: I. Allegro
15. Partita In B-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 3: II. Adagio
16. Partita In B-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 3: III. Menuetto - Trio
17. Partita In B-Flat Major, Op. 45 No. 3: IV. Rondo
18. March, Op. 31 No. 2

flac/16-bit

Alfred Schnittke - Choir Concerto; Minnesang

"The two pieces on this disc reflect the new, gentler spirit in Schnittke's music. His 'Minnesang', written in 1981, is based on twenty songs from the repertoire of the 'Minnesinger', a guild of itinerant singer-poets that flourished in thirteenth-century Germany. The texts paint a vivid picture of medieval life, and Schnittke's music pays homage to them by returning to medieval practices, particularly in its use of 'canon'. This is a musical device which creates the effect of one voice chasing another (as in 'Frere Jacques'). Despite its busy surface activity, the music achieves an effect of massive simplicity and grandeur by restricting itself to a handful of very basic chords. The piece rises in a series of waves from a single, unadorned note at the beginning to a stupendous climax, after which it returns to stillness. 

"The Choir Concerto, written in 1984-85, is in startling contrast. Whereas the 'Minnesang' decorated a few simple harmonies with a fantastic filigree of vocal lines, like the decoration on a Gothic cathedral, the Concerto summons up the Russian orthodox music of the late nineteenth century. It is based on a devotional text called the 'Book of Lamentations' by the tenth-century Armenian poet Gregory of Narek. The piece recalls Mussorgsky and Stravinsky both in its melodies, which circle obsessively round a few pitches, and in the way those melodies are often heard against a stubbornly static background. These hypnotic passages alternate with great choral outbursts, whose sudden harmonic shifts and intense subjectivism recall another type of Russian church music; that of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov." (Ivan Hewett. From the liner notes.)

Performers: DR KoncertKoret, Stefan Parkman

1. Minnesang
2. Choir Concerto: I. 'O Pavelitel’ Sushcheva Fsevo'
3. Choir Concerto: II. 'Sabran’ Je Pesen Sikh, Gde Kazhdyi Stikh'
4. Choir Concerto: III. 'Fsem Tem, Kto Vniknet Fsushchnast'
5. Choir Concerto: IV. 'Sej Trud, Shto Nachinal Ja Supavan’ Jem'

mp3, 320kbps