Ernst von GEMMINGEN (1759-1813)
Violin Concerto No. 3 in D major [22:46]
Violin Concerto No. 4 in A major [28.45]
François-Joseph GOSSEC (1734-1829)
Symphony Op. 6, No. 2 in D major [16.42]
Kolja Lessing (violin)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester/Ulf Schirmer, Sebastian Weigle (Gossec)
rec. 12-14 March 2014, 24 March 2015 (Gossec), BR Studio 1, München, Germany
CPO 777 866-2 [68:25]
You can always count on CPO to introduce unfamiliar names
into the repertoire and many, given the label’s nationality, will hail
from Germany. They have already issued von Gemmingen’s first two violin
concertos (cpo 777 454-2) with the same artists, and where the fill-up was
the Sinfonia in F by Johann Matthias Sperger. For the present CD, they have
included a symphony by Gossec, certainly better-known than Sperger and, for
that matter, von Gemmingen himself.
In the comprehensive and informative sleeve-notes, violin-soloist Kolja Lessing
has contributed a short essay entitled ‘The escapades of Ernst von Gemmingen’,
where he paints a biographical picture, despite acknowledging that practically
nothing has come to light about the Celle-born self-taught composer, or the
four concertos that are his only extant works.
Both concertos on the CD are premiere recordings, and date from around 1800.
This puts them some twenty-five years after Mozart’s main examples in
the genre, and roughly contemporary with Beethoven’s two Romances. His
concerto appeared in 1806, while Spohr’s and Paganini’s followed
at least some twenty years later. Lessing refers to the works as almost akin
to ‘operas for the violin’, and the soloist is very much the prima
donna here, with her part certainly full of panache, plenty of double-stops
and use of the high register, and yet not without some bel canto
playing required, too. All this was evident in the first two concertos, but
von Gemmingen has extended the demands here. In fact, while Paganini’s
first Violin Concerto didn’t appear until sometime between 1811 and
1817, there are definite suggestions of the Genoan virtuoso’s stylistic
presence here. Both concertos have cadenzas which Lessing composed as late
as the winter of 2013-14, but in fact the autograph scores resurfaced only
as late as 1993, when they were discovered in the music library of Hornberg
Castle in the Black Forest. There follows a more extensive essay on the life
of van Gemmingen by Andreas Traub which certainly gives a great detail of
helpful information about this unknown composer.
Understandably these two concertos are not the outpouring of youthful high
spirits, but rather of a forty-year-old man who certainly knows his craft
well, despite there being no evidence of anything else from his pen, save
for the first two concertos. In the Violin Concerto No. 3 in D major,
Traub makes great play of the composer apparently being involved in motivic
development. A good number of the themes in the opening ‘Allegro moderato’
are based on a descending triad, and which also appears in the Rondo Finale,
and in inverted form as an ascending triad. However, sometimes too much can
be read into this thematic process, and, in any case, triadic movement is
hardly uncommon — using the first, third and fifth note of the scale
melodically. Irrespective, it’s certainly an attractive and well-structured
opening gambit.
It’s abundantly clear that von Gemmingen can write an appealing melody
when called for. This is how the second movement (Romance: Adagio) begins,
in the tonic minor (D minor) which alternates with the major; this juxtaposition
of major and minor sections making for a simple, yet effective construction.
The Rondo finale is a cheerful confection, with much Haydnesque humour along
the way. The B minor episode provides a particularly attractive contrast,
and there is again some effective use of double-stopping in the solo part.
It's all very jolly to listen to.
The Violin Concerto No. 4 in A major shares its key with von Gemmingen’s
first concerto but shows greater flexibility in its formal breadth than any
of its predecessors. Once more the figuration is largely scales, arpeggios
and double-stops. This again firmly places the violin centre-stage. The writing
is effective and idiomatic for the instrument. There is also greater melodic
invention in the opening ‘Allegro’ as well as noticeably more
sectional contrast, especially in the development. Lessing’s cadenza
really shows complete empathy with the composer’s style, and fits in
seamlessly. Von Gemmingen chooses a somewhat remoter key for his ‘Largo’
slow movement – that of C major – but the writing is charming
and captivating nonetheless. Quite attention-grabbing is the sudden shift
into E flat major for the middle section, but again it works well. The composer’s
harmonic experiments here – favouring mediant (third-at-a-time) relationships
(moving from A major to F sharp minor, or C major to E flat major) –
are tellingly done. It is something that became very familiar in the works
of Schubert. Von Gemmingen once more favours rondo form for his finale. This
opens in a lilting two-in-a-bar, with some double-stopping adding to the decided
Italianate feel of the writing. The composer has a delightful surprise in
store, as he turns the two-in-a-bar start to a three-in-a-bar polonaise for
the second episode. Its middle section, in B minor, includes some bolder modulations,
before the original two-in-a-bar music returns as the finale moves to its
close.
Originally French-born, but his birthplace now a part of Belgium, François-Joseph
Gossec is relatively well-known by comparison with von Gemmingen. He could
be considered the leading composer of eighteenth-century symphonies in France.
His Symphony Op. 6 No. 2 in D major, opens with a short ‘Largo’
introduction before the ‘Allegro’ unfolds. This is then followed
by a Largo’ slow movement in the subdominant key of G major. The finale
in duple metre – marked ‘Allegro, poco presto’ – is
light-hearted and frothy, and shows off the composer’s well-honed orchestral
skills, especially in the way he handles his woodwind. Structurally holding
no surprises, it is eminently tuneful throughout and makes easy demands on
the listener.
Returning briefly to the case of von Gemmingen, both Lessing and Traub postulate
that, once they have become better known, von Gemmingen’s four violin
concertos may well assume an important place in the history of their genre.
The composer himself, despite the paucity of his output, should also merit
our greater attention.
The jury’s out on this one, I feel, but it can’t be denied that
this well-recorded and played CD – and its predecessor on the same label
– has at least done its bit to raise the profile of Ernst von Gemmingen.
His concertos were written at a time when fledgling Romanticism was beginning
to emerge from the departing Classicism at the turn of the nineteenth century.
Philip R Buttall
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