Josef Gabriel RHEINBERGER (1839-1901)
Symphony No.1 in D minor Op.10 “Wallenstein” (1866)
Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein/Florian Krumpöck
rec. 2019, Saal am Lindaplatz, Schaan, Liechtenstein
Hybrid Multi-channel 5.1 and stereo SACD and standard CD
ARS PRODUKTION ARS38284 SACD [49:50]
A genuine rarity – little-known music played by an unfamiliar orchestra. The good news is that Rheinberger’s Wallenstein Symphony is wholly enjoyable, and very well played by the Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein. The artistic quality of this venture is backed up by a rich and detailed DSD recording in hybrid 5.1 SACD sound.
Clearly the function of the disc is primarily to promote the 300th anniversary of Liechtenstein, the world’s 6th smallest country, alongside the 30th anniversary of the orchestra. The choice of repertoire reflects the fact that Rheinberger was born in Vaduz (near the Swiss border), the capital of the country. Given that the current population is under 40,000, it is no real surprise that Rheinberger’s status as Liechtenstein’s greatest composer remains unchallenged. His fame as a composer in modern times seems to rest on his solo organ works. Around a hundred years ago he was considered an important organ composer – and he was a church organist from the age of seven!
Rheinberger’s Piano concerto in A flat was recorded by Simon Callaghan (as part of Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series) and by Michael Ponti on Turnabout, and his Organ Concerto No.1 by Michael Murray on Telarc. There are also a couple of discs of other orchestral works. This is a fascinating opportunity to hear a purely orchestral large-scale work. It might not be an underappreciated towering masterpiece, but it is a very attractive skilful work, well worth hearing if one is predisposed toward Romantic symphonies.
Rheinberger studied and later taught in Munich so the prime musical influences are Germanic, from his contemporary Brahms back through the earlier Romantics and of course Bach. At the same time he rather teasingly flirts with the modern trend by calling this work “a symphonic tone painting”, thereby allying himself to radicals such as Liszt and Wagner. What we have is in effect a pictorial symphony, which adheres to the demands of traditional symphonic form and to the pictorial drama of the symphonic poem. Raff’s symphonies, style and often sound-world, spring to mind. The full score in PDF can be viewed and downloaded from the extraordinary resource, IMSLP, where it is listed under the composer’s name as Symphony No.1 in D minor Op.10. The Wallenstein of the title is drawn from Schiller’s trilogy of dramas, still performed but most often in a single-play condensed form. The hero is based on the historical general, Albrecht von Wallenstein, and his rebellion against Ferdinand II during the Thirty Years’ War.
The work follows the standard four-movement symphonic form, each movement with a non-musical title. The opening Allegro con fuoco is simply titled Vorspiel. This is clearly a portrait of the heroic Wallenstein himself. The thematic material is well contrasted, strong and striking. From the outset, the tone of the piece and the performance are well set. The orchestra play with energy and well-prepared confidence. There is one passing reference in the liner to this being a live recording. Certainly there is no audience noise at all to suggest this but just occasionally the string ensemble lacks the weight of tone or absolute unanimity of attack that the finest orchestras have. In part this may be due to the size of the string section. The liner notes include a list which suggests 12+10+8+6+4, possibly a desk under-strength in each instrument for music of this Romantic sweep. Alongside the aesthetic of Raff, the composer who most often seems to be referenced, there is Mendelssohn of the Scottish Symphony. Certainly, the orchestration owes something to Mendelssohn’s warmth and lyricism. In this movement and throughout, however, there are some unexpected yet rather effective modulations. The other clear and abiding impression is the effectiveness of Rheinberger’s part writing. It is hard not to hear the benevolent influence of Bach’s contrapuntal style.
This impression continues into the second movement, an Adagio non troppo which has the function of the symphony’s slow movement. The title is Thekla, the name of Wallenstein’s daughter. She too was a historical character although Schiller adds spice. He makes her fall in love with the son of an officer and trusted confidant in Wallenstein’s army, who happens to be spying on Wallenstein for the Emperor. All that gives Rheinberger the opportunity to write a rather beautiful, gently lilting serenade-like movement in 12/8 compound time. The skill in the part writing (and the slight strain it causes the Liechtenstein strings) is again apparent. The liner notes quote from a review of the first performance, elaborating on the stormy climaxes in this part of the work before Thekla “retreats in silence, and full of sorrow, behind the monastery’s walls”.
The final two movements, Wallenstein’s Camp and Wallenstein’s Death, take their titles from the Schiller trilogy. Smetana also wrote a tone poem on the former. His opus 14 predates Rheinberger’s work by about five years but it had little initial success so Rheinberger was unlikely to have known or been influenced. It is interesting how, with the same subject, the Smetana sounds unmistakeably Bohemian and the Rheinberger Germanic! Where Smetana dances, Rheinberger marches. If the first two movements of the symphony were more generalised character studies of Wallenstein and Thekla, the next two are explicitly narrative. In this march-scherzo and trio there is the military chaos and confusion of the army camp, which becomes in the trio section “Capuchin’s Sermon”. Schiller has 130 lines of fire and brimstone – not the mood Rheinberger evokes. But it is an effective and characterful movement which leads effectively into the closing Moderato - Allegro vivace of Wallenstein’s Death.
The fourth movement is very effective, and quite original in of form and style. Rheinberger avoids any kind of obviously triumphal rhetoric. It is again in compound time, 9/8 now. I liked the solemn drama of the opening chorale-like music. The contemporary analyst referenced in the liner notes gives this the character of “an aura of solemnity and gravity like the sea of stars in the night sky”. I am not sure if this represents the nobility of the titular character or the acceptance of his fate. This is effectively contrasted by the galloping 6/8 Allegro vivace representing the plotting of Wallenstein’s enemies against him. Wallenstein’s astrologer Seni appears to warn him with a return of the foreboding music of the opening. To quote the reviewer, again, “the warning goes unheeded and fate must run its course; Wallenstein dies!” Rheinberger successfully follows the narrative and writes music that is satisfying in purely abstract terms. That is quite an achievement for a composer only in his late twenties. The closing pages of the score – which ends of a sustained quiet chord – is very evocative; the redemptive wind-led chorale over triplet string figurations give the music a suitably nobly heroic glow.
Without in any way disparaging the playing of the Liechtenstein orchestra, I can imagine other ensembles producing an even more weighty and opulent effect. As previously mentioned, the SACD 5.1 sound (listen to the SACD stereo layer) is very good, with no extraneous noises except some sharp intakes of breath (from the podium, I assume) before big tutti moments. Conductor Florian Krumpöck conducts impressively. He highlights the variety and drama inherent in the work. The notes say that the version recorded here is of the published score, which included several cuts suggested at the time of the first performance. This is not a premiere recording of this music (though it is the first time I have heard it) but it may be the first release in the SACD format. At fifty-minute playing time, this is not a generously filled disc, a shame because Rheinberger did write other orchestral scores. I noted that the other recording runs over four minutes slower. At no point does Krumpöck sound at all rushed yet I like the energetic thrust of his interpretation; perhaps the earlier version seeks more of the grandeur I allude to previously.
The nicely produced liner notes include useful biographical details about the composer. As part of the tri-centennial celebrations for the country, it also provides quite extended historical notes on the Principality and the orchestra. The notes about the symphony itself are slightly confusing: they mainly consist of the contemporary review which presumes a knowledge of the Schiller original.
Nick Barnard
