The Association for Private Musical Performances – Chamber Music Arrangements
Olaf Bär (baritone), Alison Browner, Simone Nold (sopranos), Markus Schäfer (tenor), Marion Eckstein (Ivonne Fuchs, Zoryana Kushpler mezzo-sopranos), Winfried Rademacher (violin)
The Linos Ensemble
rec. 1999-2011
German sung texts included (no translations)
CAPRICCIO C7265 [8 CDs: 519:44]
The DIY ethos of the 1970s punk scene was not a new phenomenon; it was alive and kicking in Vienna right at the end of the First World War. The Association for Private Musical Performances was established by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern in November 1918 to provide the local musical cognoscenti the opportunity to hear (mostly contemporary) repertoire that would otherwise be unlikely to attract performances. Berg made clear in the group’s manifesto that it existed purely for the benefit of sophisticated Viennese audiences, rather than simply providing the chance of performances for ambitious composers like themselves. It relied largely on the provision of chamber or small ensemble arrangements of bigger works, frequently created by the three founders, or by other associates of Schoenberg such as Erwin Stein, Rudolf Kolisch and Benno Sachs. Audiences were allowed to attend intensive rehearsals, but such was the academic earnestness of the enterprise that applause following a performance was forbidden. Nor were programmes announced in advance of concerts in order to ensure an authentic ‘innocent ear’ experience. In the two and a half years of its existence, the Association was responsible for 118 concerts, and 353 performances of 154 different works before post-war hyperinflation caused its demise. In a final, desperate attempt to raise funds Schoenberg organised a concert of Strauss waltzes arranged by the three leaders of the Second Viennese School for string quartet, harmonium and piano. Afterwards autographed manuscripts of these scores were auctioned.
These five Strauss arrangements are included in this fascinating and extensive eight disc survey of works associated with this project from Capriccio. It collates a series of discs the label has been releasing at regular intervals over the last two decades. The arrangements benefit from captivating performances of consistently high quality by the flexible Cologne-based Linos Ensemble with a selection of pretty accomplished soloists. The recordings are also very natural, enabling the listener to appreciate finer details of these compositions that may be obscured in their full orchestral guise. The twenty full works presented incorporate a broad variety of fare composed during La Belle Époque; of the ten composers represented, all bar three (Busoni, Debussy and Reger) are generally considered to be Austrian. Perhaps surprising is the relatively small quantity of original music by Schoenberg, Berg and Webern (about an hour and a half out of a total of eight and a half hours); if nothing else this is at least representative of the noble goals and democratic values of the original Association.
Before proceeding to the music, I shall get the caveats out of the way – some may find these churlish in what by any estimation is a remarkable bargain (the set retails for roughly £25). However, Capriccio’s notes are somewhat lacklustre- some of the individual timings are inaccurate and much of the information is incorrect or absent. A few examples: Busoni’s wonderful Berceuse élégiaque received its world première in New York in 1909 under Mahler in what proved to be the latter’s final concert – it dates from that year and not 1894. Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (in Schoenberg’s reduction) is not even mentioned in the note, which is even more remiss as the Schoenberg arrangement is described as being completed by Ralf Riehn (1941-2015), though what ‘completion’ implies here is unclear. Even more ambiguous is the listing for Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, described similarly as an arrangement by Schoenberg and Riehn; I’m afraid I can trace no arrangement of this work that involves Schoenberg; Universal Edition list an arrangement by Riehn alone, which actually dates from 1997. Even more mystifying are the inclusion of arrangements of two masterpieces by Alban Berg; his Altenberg Lieder in a version by Diderik Wagenaar (b.1946), a Dutch composer (not Danish as the text states) and his instrumental masterpiece, the Violin Concerto of 1935, composed some 14 years after the collapse of the original Association, in an arrangement by Andreas Tarkmann (b.1956). By now, two things will have become clear; firstly, that quite a few of these arrangements have absolutely nothing to do with the original Association for Private Musical Performances, and secondly that the scholarship underpinning Capriccio’s documentation is disappointing to say the least.
Some of these items have been reviewed before in these pages. John France was broadly positive in his review of a disc which included Webern’s fine arrangement of Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No 1, a ‘hybrid’ completion of Zemlinsky’s very beautiful Maeterlinck Lieder op.13 (two in arrangements by Erwin Stein which were presumably intended for Association concerts, the other four in equally fine versions by Andreas Tarkmann , albeit of more recent provenance) and Stein’s arrangement of Busoni’s Berceuse élégiaque. Thirty years ago I heard a magically luminous performance of this arrangement at Dartington under the baton of Joel Sachs; time literally stood still in the Great Hall. Despite the fine playing of the Linos Ensemble this performance is far too swift. The booklet lists it as lasting 10:05; would that it did (it’s actually just over seven minutes). The Schoenberg/Webern Chamber Symphony is more sensibly paced, but for me the highlight of these three reductions is that of the little-known Zemlinsky cycle. I completely concur with my colleague’s complementary remarks about the mezzo Zoryana Kushpler, a name completely unfamiliar to me, alas. Her dusky, languorous voice is perfect for these songs which should be much better known.
I am fascinated by Reger. There has been something of a critical reappraisal of his music in recent years, and while I have come to love much of it, notably a lot of his chamber, piano and organ music I find some of his beefy orchestral works tough nuts to crack. The inclusion of two of them here in chamber arrangements by Rudolf Kolisch with and without Schoenberg (who patently revered Reger) afford the opportunity to appreciate the Romantic Suite and the massive, uncompromising Violin Concerto in unfamiliar reductions. The Suite is a complete success, its three contrasting movements full of memorable, ingeniously developed ideas of perfect length, which emerge with both purity and clarity in the Linos Ensemble’s account. Unfortunately the Concerto once more defeated me even in this relatively skeletal form. The first movement seems interminable, the sparer arrangement only serving to confirm for me the composer’s hyper-excessive ambition. It still sounds too dense even with ten instruments. My colleague Jonathan Woolf welcomed this account in his review but notwithstanding Winfried Rademacher’s bold, impassioned advocacy I’m afraid I still find the concerto one of Reger’s most frustrating creations.
Rademacher also features in a riveting performance of a reduction of Berg’s violin concerto in what appears to be another recent arrangement by Andreas Tarkmann. Not that one would realise immediately that it is a reduction; the lucidity of Berg’s original writing and his extraordinarily economical writing for full orchestra seem even more impressive when one fully absorbs the detail in Tarkmann’s fine arrangement. Rademacher really gets inside the work, the descent from catastrophe to ethereal resolution in the work’s second half is magnificently managed by both ensemble and soloist, the closing pages as lucid, transparent and moving as any recording I know. This reduction is of recent provenance and as such might not strictly be relevant to the concept behind this collection, but I was certainly glad to hear this fine reading of Berg’s masterpiece in this unfamiliar garb.
Reger’s Violin Concerto is one of four big works in this set which occupy entire discs. Of the other examples, Bruckner’s Symphony No 7 emerges as something of an oddity in the Stein/Eisler/Rankl arrangement. It is splendidly played and cleanly recorded for sure, and for true afficianados of this composer the leanness of the textures and clarity of line that characterise this version may well shed light on Bruckner’s creative processes. But to me the over-reliance on a rather utilitarian piano and more crucially the absence of big boned brass end up reducing what is something of a symphonic behemoth to the status of salon music. The arrangement is undoubtedly at its best in the breezy Scherzo.
This criticism certainly can’t be applied to either of the big Mahler arrangements. Much as I enjoy Bruckner, his structures are more reliable and formulaic than Mahler’s whose imaginative variations of colour and texture manage to thrive in these splendid reductions. The Fourth Symphony has a chamber spirit to it in any case and it emerges as particularly fresh-minted and airy in Stein’s arrangement although I’m afraid I didn’t really take to Alison Browner’s soprano in the finale; I sensed a lack of security from the outset and her wide vibrato at times lends an inappropriately histrionic quality to this music. Schoenberg’s version of Das Lied von der Erde similarly benefits from a performance of precision and great naturalness, The mezzo Ivonne Fuchs and tenor Markus Schäfer respond to its text with taste and sensitivity. Fuchs may not be in the first rank of mezzos but her account of the great Der Abscheid is certainly valedictory and truly moving.
Of the other Mahler song cycles in the set, Olaf Bär delivers a nuanced account of Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen in yet another Schoenberg reduction. Recorded in 1999, Bär’s voice was in its prime at the time and his authoritative baritone is in its element in this repertoire. One unfamiliar voice to me is that of the German mezzo Marion Eckstein. It is a glorious instrument; she has a refined velvet tone which works wonders in the mysterious arrangement of Kindertotenlieder, she provides a deeply moving account of the opening Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n, while her reading of the guilt-drenched In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus blends tempestuousness and pathos. This number features some thrilling percussion writing which is cleanly caught by the Capriccio engineers.
Eckstein also nails the neurotic, repressed passion demanded by Berg’s aphoristic Altenberg Lieder, although the opulence of the originals is barely recreated in Wagenaar’s rather low-key, brittle arrangement. These items were recorded a decade ago; Eckstein surprisingly seems to have recorded little since although she does feature in a recent Naxos account of Schumann’s rarely heard Spanisches Liederspiel. More substantial are Schoenberg’s Six Songs, op 8, five of which are included here in reductions by the composer himself in collaboration with four of his associates. The soprano Simone Nold seems to fare better in the numbers requiring a mellow, sweet tone, such as the first song Natur. At times in the more astringent Das Wappenschild she seems in danger of being overwhelmed by the ensemble. These arrangements at once enable listeners to make the stylistic links to Schoenberg’s broadly contemporaneous (and more familiar) Chamber Symphony No 1. Concluding this disc are Webern’s own reductions of his gnomic, yet revolutionary Six Orchestral Pieces, op.6. While the music is recognisably the same, the harmonium and piano soaked reduction lends even more strangeness to these elusive, perfectly formed miniatures, especially the creepy funeral march that constitutes the fourth piece.
Notwithstanding Benno Sachs’ limpid and attractive arrangement of Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (arguably in stylistic and philosophical terms the ‘odd-one-out’ in this collection) all that remains are the elegantly manicured accounts of the Strauss waltzes. All bar Schoenberg’s own arrangement of the renowned Kaiserwalzer (which includes flute and clarinet) are scored for piano quintet with harmonium. These are polished, elegantly turned readings from the Linos Ensemble, who play with real style and tangible affection.
Notwithstanding the less-than-satisfactory documentation and its sometimes rather slipshod scholarship, it would be churlish indeed to suggest that this box of eight, well-filled discs represents anything other than an attractive bargain. The Linos Ensemble offer fastidiously prepared performances of fascinating repertoire in unusual arrangements, The quality of the music-making on offer transcends the historical importance of many of these reductions. Given the fact that these discs have been laid down over a twelve year period, recording standards are consistently excellent. Indeed it is a delight to be able to hear the sound of the harmonium so perfectly integrated into the texture in so many of these arrangements. I have seen this set on sale online for as little as £21.00. I suspect it won’t be available forever, so I would advise interested parties to snap it up while they can.
Richard Hanlon
Contents
Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896): Symphony No. 7 in E (1881-83, arr. E Stein/H Eisler/ K Rankl 1921) [66:06]
Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911):Symphony No. 4 in G (1899-1901, arr. E Stein 1921) [53:54]
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1883-85, arr. A.Schoenberg 1920) [16:09]
Das Lied von der Erde (1908-09, arr A. Schoenberg, completed R. Riehn) [60:20]
Kindertotenlieder (1899-1901, arr R. Riehn 1987) [23:25]
Alban BERG (1885-1935): Violin Concerto (1935, arr. A. Tarkmann) [25:45]
Altenberg Lieder(1911-12, arr. D. Wagenaar) [11:36]
Max REGER (1873-1916): Violin Concerto in A, op. 101 (1909, arr. R. Kolisch) [57:22]
Romantic Suite op. 125 (1912, arr. A. Schoenberg and R. Kolisch 1920) [26:27]
Arnold SCHOENBERG (1874-1951): Chamber Symphony No 1, op. 9 (1906, arr. A. Webern) [20:43]
Six Songs for voice and orchestra, op. 8 nos 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (1903-05, arr. the composer, J.Rufer, J. Travnicek,E. Stein and H. Eisler 1920-21) [22:50]
Anton WEBERN (1883-1945): Six Orchestral Pieces, op. 6 (1909, arr. the composer, 1920) [10:58]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1892-94, arr. B. Sachs 1921) [10:05]
Alexander ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942): Six Songs, op. 13 "Maeterlinck-Lieder" (1910/1913, arr. E. Stein, completed A. Tarkmann) [19:46]
Ferruccio BUSONI (1866-1924): Berceuse élégiaque op. 42 (1909, arr. E. Stein) [7:21]
Johann STRAUSS II (1825-1899): Waltz arrangements: Wein, Weib und Gesang, op. 333 (1869 – arr. A. Berg 1921) [12:49]
Rosen aus dem Süden, op.388 (1880, arr. A. Schoenberg 1921) [9:02]
Lagunenwalzer, op 411 (1883, arr A. Schoenberg 1921) [8:13]
Kaiserwaltzer, op 437 (1888, arr. A. Schoenberg 1921) [12:20]
Schatzwaltzer, op 418 (1885, arr. A. Webern 1921) [8:47]
