Hans Stadlmair may not be one of the most familiar names on the
conductor’s rostrum, but as artistic director of the Münchener
Kammerorchester from 1956 to 1995 he had nearly four decades in
order to make innumerable concert tours, radio broadcasts, and
a wide variety of commercially available recordings, including
the complete symphonies of Joseph Joachim Raff. I first came across
his work with some of the more ‘novelty’ works of
Leopold Mozart on an Orfeo CD which has a fun recording of the
‘Peasant Wedding’ Sinfonia, which includes bagpipes
and a hurdy-gurdy in the outer movements. The brightly refreshing
and refined orchestral sound Stadlmair obtains from his band is
consistent through all of these recordings, making for a pleasurable
listening experience even where the staying power of the music
itself is not necessarily of the highest order. I’m not
sure how much attention we would be paying to Leopold Mozart if
he wasn’t the father of Wolfgang Amadeus, but as things
go we probably have quite enough to keep us going right here.
Really? Is this fair? Starting with TUDOR 7066, the sense of fun
and lightness of touch we know and love from Haydn isn’t
so very far from what we hear in the
Divertimento Militare.
True, the fife and drum effects aren’t particularly subtle,
but there are some fine melodic touches, and I love those little
wobbly horn trills which add colour to some otherwise repetitive
rondos. Humour is an even stronger element in the
Sinfonia
Burlesca, with some gorgeously novel elements: what now seem
banal musical platitudes would have appealed greatly as ‘wrong’
or highly amusing aspects to this piece, and even now we can relish
the heavy octave tread of the bassoon and some elegant lampooning
of antique styles.
The
Sinfonia Pastorella introduces the Alphorn or ‘Corno
Pastoriccio’, and some delicious sonorities. The alphorn
has a limited repertoire of notes, and Leopold weaves some strange
harmonic inventions to keep up interest in music which has no
hope of modulating to interesting keys. The pastoral feel is strongest
in the final
Presto which has several elements prescient
of the peasant dances in Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. One
thing this CD is not short of is the key of G major, and the lively
‘Lambacher’ symphony is a rousing end to a fine orchestral
disc. Dr. Peter Keller’s useful booklet notes point out
that this four movement work is not to be confused with W.A. Mozart’s
K45a three movement ‘Lambacher’ symphony, composed
in the only part of The Hague now rich in second-hand and discount
CD shops.
Stadlmair ensures that there is a clear continuo presence in his
orchestral sound, and the harpsichord helps to ensure that all
of these well recorded works come up fresh and smelling of roses.
Moving on to TUDOR 737, and while the
Musicals Sleighride
is full of jingly bells and some nice programmatic effects in
the ‘Shivering young lady’ movement which fans of
Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ can relish, the actual
musical content is distinctly unmemorable. Fun effects are a main
feature of the
Toy Symphony, here played with plenty of
verve. Arguments abound as to who actually wrote this piece, and
the name of Haydn crops up among others, but whatever the truth
this recording is something to behold in wonderment.
A wind machine played as ‘tuned percussion’, a terrific
children’s choir, a somewhat over-refined recorder Cuckoo,
mobile bird calls, rattles and the rest, this is always going
to be a novelty winner. There are a fair few alternatives to this
recording in the catalogue, and they no doubt all have their own
idiosyncratic strengths. If I have any comment on this one is
that it is perhaps too professionally refined and serious, and
the sense of ‘fun’ is only in the instruments used
rather than in the manner of performance.
The final two works are both three movement in form. The
Sinfonie
in D major is full of robust energy and major/minor contrast in
the opening
Allegro molto, has a nicely eloquent central
Andante, and more trumpet and drum impact in the final
Allegro. This is one of those pieces you don’t expect
to make much of an impression, but which turns out to have a decent
enough menu of welcome surprises. Better known is the
Sinfonia
da Caccia, replete with recorded hunting sound effects of
horse’s hooves and baying hounds. This, along with some
rather weak sounding gunshots, is something which was done much
better by Hermann Baumann on his ‘Concerti da caccia’
album on Philips, which I seem to recall was all done ‘live’
rather than with tape effects. This is a nice enough recording
and very well played, but doesn’t whip up much excitement
and novelty ‘wow’ factor.
The haughty looking doll on the cover of this CD says a great
deal - nice music, but more something for private enjoyment than
a disc you will be reaching for every time Hi-Fi novelty fun-seekers
drop by to hear your massive woofers. Over-politeness aside, this
is another attractive disc which is certainly worth seeking out.
Both discs reviewed here, and probably anything else conducted
by Hans Stadlmair you may come across, all have the DC seal of
approved quality and music-safety kite-mark.
Dominy Clements
Münchener Kammerorchester/Hans Stadlmair
