Matthus was a leading
figure in East German musical life prior
to the fall of the Wall and has found
a path for himself under Unification.
His music has been recorded fairly extensively
and there are a number of other reviews
on this site:-
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Feb02/Matthus_Das_Land.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Feb02/Matthus_cello_concerto.htm
He was born in Mallenuppen
in the former East Prussia. Rudolf Wagner-Regény
was his composition teacher before he
became a master-pupil of Hanns Eisler.
Matthus was not neglected
in East Germany. He lead the GDR's music
section of the Academy of Art (1972-1990)
and his works were extensively premiered
and repeat-performed.
His compositions have
concentrated on two areas: opera and
the concerto. Here are three works reflecting
the concerto and percussion.
The 1982 Concerto
for Trumpet, Timpani and Orchestra was
commissioned for the centenary of the
Berlin Phil. It is a work that recalls
strongly the idiom of Tippett's Fourth
Symphony and other related avant-garde
works of the 1980s. It is in five movements
and was premiered at the Berlin Phil
on 18 January 1983. The defiant upward-striking
gesture of Robert Hofmann's brilliant
trumpet carries over into the stark
and scouring Adagio and Passacaglia
which, with its pattering apocalyptic
tone, reminded me of Panufnik. This
mood continues into the broodingly oppressive
Adagio lamentoso. The Vivace
is like a meeting between the rolling
brilliance of the Gabrielis and the
dazzling music of Peter Maxwell Davies.
The brief Stretto is a splenetic
virtuoso finale spitting with fury in
which Michael Gärtner's timpani
play a very prominent part alongside
the saw-toothed sleekness of the trumpet.
The 1994 Manhattan
Concerto is alive with bristling
rhythmic life - a display piece of estimable
brilliance. Typical of its subject matter
is the knowing jazziness of the Allegro
assai (tr. 7). The disconsolate
melancholia of the Adagio glistens
as if the mean streets had not yet dried
from the rain. The Cadenza finale
has the percussion section put through
their timbral and rhythmic paces. Continuing
the DDR connection Kurt Masur conducted
the premiere in New York. Matthus has
had considerable success with premieres
and commissions in the USA.
Der Wald (The
Forest) is a concerto for timpani
and orchestra. This is a more yielding
work than the Manhattan Concerto.
It is demonstrative and the three movements
also take on some more ambivalent moods.
Particularly striking is The forest
and man first movement which has
budding and murmurous noises carried
through horns and timps as well as rustling
violins and a 'cycling' harp. There
are clearly mystic dangers in this wood.
In the second movement Man and the
Forest rustling and squeaking violins
recall The Firebird. This brings
me to a realisation about these works
and about the Matthus style (assuming
these are representative). No matter
how imposing the size of the orchestra
Matthus likes to paint with Bergian
delicacy rather than with massed primary
colours. The second of the three movements
typifies this. The finale is gripped
by a long merciless assault by the timpani
who thunder in Protest (the name
of the movement). The timps are then
joined by full orchestra, spitting and
raging in sympathy with the drums. A
solo violin accompanied by whisper-quiet
orchestral violins provides Druidic
arcana for a brief moment in time (tr.
12 6.23). In quietness the work bows
out with the sense of return to the
secure primeval forests.
The Saarbrücken
orchestra stylishly meet the challenges
of the exiguous display requirements
as of course do Gärtner and Hofmann
and colleagues.
Good to see the name
of Günther Herbig again (Manhattan
and Der Wald) after all these
years. His Bruckner and Mahler were
a fixture of my student years. He conducted
the Bournemouth SO in Bristol's Colston
Hall in the 1971-75 seasons in which
conductors such as Reinhard Peters and
Volker Wangenheim also appeared.
The notes are full
and useful. My only quibble is that
nowhere on the cover of the booklet
is there any reference to Matthus -
just Manhattan Concerto blazoned
across a processed photo of (presumably)
Manhattan. True, Matthus's name does
appear in the gutter of the CD case.
This is demanding music
and not just at a technical level. Matthus
must be pleased. He seems to have been
handsomely served by all concerned especially
by Michael Gärtner whose Perc.Pro
recording project this is.
Rob Barnett
Orchester Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken/Günther
Herbig 
