Paul DESSAU (1894-1979)
Chamber Music
Concertino für Solo-Violine mit Flöte, Klarinette und Horn (1924) [22:52]
Guernica (1938) [5:08]
Klavierstück über B-A-C-H (1948) [1:27]
Intermezzo breve (1964) [2:47]
Elf Jüdische Tänze (1946) [5:53]
Suite für Altsaxophon und Klavier (1935) [7:24]
Jewish Dance (1940) [5:33]
Fantasietta Nr. 2 (1976) [4:36]
Variationen über ein amerikanisches Volkslied (1940) [2:15]
Fantasietta Nr. 3 (1976) [3:36]
Grasmückenstücke für Mücke Gras (1974) [8:38]
Drei Violinstücke mit Klavier (1942) [8:29]
Ensemble Avantgarde
rec. 10-12 September 2019, Konzerthaus der Abtei, Marienmünster, Germany
MDG 613 2158-2 [78:38]
"No more and no less is required than a kind of music which enables people to gain insight into our times, with great pleasure and high morality." — Paul Dessau
Paul Dessau was born into a musical family; his grandfather, Moses Berend Dessau, was cantor in the Hamburg synagogue where the Dessau family worshipped, his uncle was a violinist at the Royal Opera House, Unter den Linden, and his cousin Max Winterfeld who changed his name to Jean Gilbert, was a composer of operettas. In 1909, Paul enrolled at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin where he studied violin. In 1912, he became répétiteur at the Stadttheater Hamburg where he helped prepare the state orchestra for performances. Here, he worked and studied the technique of the conductors Felix Weingartner and Arthur Nikisch and also began composition classes. This earned him the position of second Kapellmeister at the Tivoli Theatre in Bremen in 1914; however, the following year he was drafted into the German army. After the first world war, he continued his studies and again worked as a répétiteur, as well as working as Kapellmeister under Otto Klemperer and Bruno Walter. In the 1920’s, he began working in the film industry both as a conductor and as a composer of film scores until the rise of Nazism when caused him to emigrate, first in 1933 to Paris, then in 1939 to New York and then in 1942 to Hollywood, where his anti-fascist, pro-Soviet leanings didn’t go down too well. Despite this, he still composed for some of the early Walt Disney films and it was not until 1948 that he returned to Germany, where he settled in East Berlin, remaining there until his death in 1979.
Dessau composed in most musical genres and styles, as well as writing some pedagogical works for students and children. This disc contains some wonderful examples of music which demonstrate that variety, including more avant-garde works, pieces influenced by Jewish folk music and even neo-atonal compositions, all of which have much to offer the listener. This is the first CD in my collection devoted to his music; I suspect more will follow.
The disc opens with the Concertino for Solo-Violin with Flute, Clarinet and Horn from 1924, which was the composer’s first real success, winning him a composition prize in 1925. 1t shows Dessau’s willingness to experiment with unusual combinations of instruments to achieve his goal. The solo violin part was written for the composer himself to play, but owing to the difficulty of the music, he was persuaded to leave it to a professional violinist. Regardless of that, the combination works well, the resulting timbre of the four instruments being reminiscent of Hindemith’s linear style, although the harmonics are more akin to those of early Schoenberg, especially his Pierrot Lunaire, something which points to his development via the absorption of various musical styles to create his own sound.
This is followed by three short piano works, the first and most substantial being Guernica, a five-minute piece dedicated to Picasso. Its inspiration, as with Picasso’s most famous painting, was the German bombing of the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War. However, of the three I prefer the second and best known, the short Klavierstück über B-A-C-H. The third, the Intermezzo breve, was a birthday present dedicated to the East German Chancellor Otto Grotewohl. A probable example of Dessau’s pedagogical output, the Elf Jüdische Tänze of 1946, is a collection of eleven very short piano pieces, the longest being 49 seconds. The notes tell us that it was never revealed whether these pieces were adaptations of Jewish dance music or original pastiches of Jewish forms. These are charming little pieces, which are in contrast to the longer and more virtuosic Fantasietta Nr. 2 and 3 of 1976, the latest pieces on the disc; both are fine examples of the composer’s later, more episodic style: short snatches of music interrupted by different thematic material often with no warning, the music having had no time for development.
The Suite für Altsaxophon und Klavier dates from 1935 and is also a more popular and better-known piece, especially amongst saxophonists, leading to a few recordings of the work being available. It was composed shortly after Dessau had emigrated to Paris. The first movement, with its pulsating piano part and melodic alto sax, is followed by a lyrical slow Air, before the ecstatic music of the finale, which occasionally has a feeling of klezmer music about it. In complete contrast to the Elf Jüdische Tänze, the Jewish Dance of 1940 not only has a more complex piano part but also moves away from the solo instrument and introduces a spirited and intricate violin part. What might come as a bit of a shock is the Variationen über ein amerikanisches Volkslied for clarinet and piano; it was completed on the 27th of January 1940, Mozart’s birthday, and is a charming and engaging variation on ‘I Had a Little Nut Tree’.
The final two works here are quite different from each other. The first, Grasmückenstücke für Mücke Gras, is another example of Dessau’s later style. It dates from1974 and is a set of three short movements for flute and piano, with a more melodic line, whereas his Drei Violinstücke mit Klavier dates from 1942 and shows the composer in his more atonalistic period, with the more dramatic and pulsating heavy piano chords setting the scene before the violin enters. It may be more strident music, but it is still enjoyable as, despite the influence of Schoenberg, this is the easier and more approachable atonalism of Berg.
All the music here is engaging and interesting. The performances of the members of Ensemble Avantgarde, in whatever the combination, are excellent; the pianist Steffen Schleiermacher, who also contributes the excellent booklet notes, is deserving of special mention, and the tone of Jochen Pleß’s horn is wonderful. The recorded sound is, as always, excellent, giving each piece a detailed reading which gets the best out of this music. This is an excellent introduction to the small-scale music of Paul Dessau.
Stuart Sillitoe
Ensemble Avantgarde
Steffen Schleiermacher (piano)
Andreas Seidel (violin)
Matthias Kreher (clarinet)
Jochen Pleß (horn)
Annegret Tully (saxophone)
Ralf Mielke (flute)
