Alfred
SCHNITTKE
(1934-1998)
Piano Quintet, String trio, Fuga for solo violin
Klingende Buchstaben for solo cello
Stille Musik for violin and cello.
1999 AFCM Ensemble. Irina Schnittke piano, Mark
Lubotsky violin, Irina Morozova viola, Julian Smiles
cello, Theodore Kuchar viola, Alexander Ivashkin cello,
Dimity Hall violin.
Naxos 8.554728
[69:11]
Crotchet
Amazon
UK
The impressive group of musicians here known collectively as the 1999 AFCM
Ensemble, came together to perform at the Australian Festival of Chamber
Music in Townsville, North Queensland. If this recording is anything to go
by the festival must be an enterprising one indeed. Credit must also be given
to Naxos for an enterprising release. I sincerely hope that there are future
Schnittke releases in the pipeline which build into a body of recordings
as impressive as the now well advanced Lutoslawski series.
Throughout his career Schnittke showed a continued interest and consummate
skill in writing for strings, producing a steady flow of works for solo and
chamber groups. Here we have five works spanning thirty two years, from the
remarkably assured Fuga, written in 1953 when the composer was just
nineteen, to the intense String Trio of 1985, the year the composer
suffered the first of a series of strokes which were to plague him until
his death in 1998.
The Piano Quintet of 1976, which is the centrepiece of the disc, has
become one of the composer's best known works. It is undoubtedly a seminal
work, demonstrating clearly the "polystylistic" element of Schnittke's music
which became increasingly evident in the middle phase of his career. The
overriding influence on the character of the work was the death of the composer's
mother, as well as, during the latter stages of its composition, the death
of Shostakovich whose ghost is evident in the background. In fact both the
Piano Quintet and the String Trio are full of ghosts. As Richard Whitehouse
points out in his excellent booklet note Mahler, Berg and Schubert are often
not far away. The performances of both works are highly committed. The dark,
often unsettling nature of the music is caught to powerful effect. The
nightmarish second movement of the quintet is particularly effective, the
piano part receiving sensitive treatment from the composer's widow (try from
around 2'40" where eerie chromatic string writing leads into the haunting
waltz melody), whilst in the trio one can actually feel the struggles of
the composer trying to come to terms with his material as strands of melody
try to assert themselves against the more dissonant backdrop. The passion
and dedication of the players to the music is evident throughout.
Of the shorter works on the disc I found Fuga particularly intriguing.
Partly due to the fact that upon hearing the work for the first time it is
clear, even at the tender age of nineteen, that many of the hallmarks of
Schnittke's mature style are already in place (the ghost here is Bach) but
also because it is superbly performed by Mark Lubotsky. The remaining two
pieces receive equally strong performances although are perhaps a little
less memorable as works in themselves.
Overall I have nothing but praise for this recording. As well as the commitment
of the playing the sound is vivid (if a little forward), and at budget price
I can strongly recommend it to those willing to take a chance and explore
new repertoire as well as those who are more familiar with Schnittke. In
both emotional and physical terms this is not easy music but given the time
for repeated listening the rewards to be had are considerable.
Reviewer
Christopher Thomas
Performance
Sound
