Along with his fine performances of music by Gustav Mahler
and Anton Bruckner, in recent seasons Bernard Haitink has also
executed work by Richard Strauss and Anton Webern. Strauss’s
late tone-poem Ein Heldenleben received an exemplary
reading by Haitink in December 2008, and the recording made
from those performances is evidence of his mastery of the score.
Of particular interest is the fine reading of the violin solo
at the conclusion of the work by Robert Chen. That stated, the
contrasts Strauss composed within the score are audible in this
recording, with details, like the solo violin not only emerging
easily, but fitting well into the larger textures.
Haitink’s tempos also support the sections of the piece,
and his phrasing allows the lines to be heard distinctly. This
clear, lucid approach is audible from the opening, which is
inviting for its nuanced phrasing, subtle dynamic shadings,
and balance of tone colors. With regard to the latter, the CSO’s
woodwind section is particularly effective in the second section,
“The Hero’s Adversaries”. A similar sensitivity
to color may be found in the brass (especially those off-stage)
in “The Hero’s Battlefield”. Yet for an overall
idea of the sensitive ensemble, “The Hero’s Works
of Peace” merits attention because of the ways in which
the softer sections remain full-voiced and compelling, as Strauss
shifts the tone colors that are essential to conveying his extra-musical
ideas in this section. The chamber-music-like sonorities which
Strauss uses to fine effect in the middle sections of many of
his tone poems emerge here distinctively, with his responsive
leadership giving fine shape to some of the contrapuntal passages.
Elsewhere, the atmospheric quality of the low strings is reproduced
nicely, without risking any distortion in the aggregate sound.
Moreover, the quotations and reminiscences of Strauss’s
other works are clear and appropriately prominent when they
occur, and Haitink is perceptive to blend those elements expertly
into the structure of this outstanding reading of this important
symphonic work.
Along with the clarity in his interpretation of Ein Heldenleben
is a sense of restraint in some of the fanfares. Haitink’s
precision is remarkable, but the excitement that emerges with
some conductors - at times at the expense of accuracy - is absent
from some passages. This is a small point, but evident at various
points in the recording, as in fanfares that usher the section
entitled “The Hero’s Companion”. Some conductors
might take some risks in “The Hero’s Battlefield”,
though, and the solid clarity of Haitink’s reading is
useful when he can bring out the various layers of sound that
are part of Strauss’s score. This also allows Haitink
to invest the score with a welcome intensity.
Also included on this disc is Haitink’s 2009 reading of
Webern’s early tone poem Im Sommerwind, a work
that was never heard during the composer’s lifetime, but
one which has been brought into the concert performance in recent
decades. Composed just a few years after Strauss’s Ein
Heldenleben, Webern’s youthful tone poem echoes both
the extended chromatic harmony of the time and also some aspects
of the young composer’s own style. Since Webern had not
yet arrived at the serial concision with which he is associated,
the style of Im Sommerwind exists between those two worlds.
It is closer, perhaps, to Schoenberg’s Pelleas und
Melisande (completed 1903, premiered 1905). In this piece,
Haitink gives full rein to the rich harmonies, allowing the
tonal space to resound fully. The sonorities along merit attention
in this richly performed reading. In this piece Webern took
his cue from a poem by Bruno Wille, which describes the various
perceptions of a summer day; it is, in a sense a series of impressions
influenced by the poem. Here the work succeeds not only through
its musical structure, but also as a result of the timbres the
young composer used in this impressive piece. It benefits from
the sensitive ensemble of the CSO, an aspect that is present
in this fine recording. Haitink has given the work clear shape
in presenting the structure of this engaging, but less familiar
composition. It complements nicely the more familiar music of
Ein Heldenleben.
James L. Zychowicz
see also review by John
Quinn (June 2010 Recording of the Month)
Robert Chen (solo violin on Ein Heldenleben)
