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This is a
fascinating two-disc anthology of pieces for
violin and piano with a rationale that would
be impossible to discern from the title, Trails
of Creativity, which is, I assume, a name
taken from a series of concerts organised by
the Austrian Cultural Forum in London, Berlin
and Vienna. The subtitle gets us closer: Music
from between the wars 1918 – 1938.
There
ought to something for everybody here. Of the
ten pieces, six are first
recordings which is of interest in itself.
It follows that the majority of the music is
off the beaten track and two of the composers
are better known for activities other than composing
– the scholar and lecturer Hans Gál, and violinist
Adolf Busch. Most of the music is fairly conservative
for the time and tends to be lightish
in content. Hans Gál’s sonata though is a serious
essay in the form. It is the longest piece and
its ambition rather overstretches the composer.
However, this is a first recording of a work
that is, as I understand, still unpublished
and is definitely worth a listen. Another first
recording is Walton’s early Toccata which
I enjoyed for its juxtaposition of rhapsody
and youthful rigour. A more traditional form
of English pastoral rhapsody is provided by
Ivor Gurney whose piece is predictably called
The Apple Orchard.
The
Austrian violinist, David Frühwirth,
and his excellent accompanist Henri Sigfridsson,
are very much at home with most of the music,
particularly that which has a late romantic
indulgence to it such as the Frederick Rosse
suite. Korngold’s
suite, Much Ado About
Nothing, also shines in performance. It
is probably the best known music in the anthology,
apart from the Threepenny Opera,
and, dare I suggest, among the finest music.
I thought the rendering of the arranged extracts
from Weill’s opera
not so successful, but that may be more to do
with the arrangement. Without the woodwind the
music just has not got that essential acerbic
bite to it and neither the players nor Stefan
Frenkel in his arrangement
can do much about it. Frenkel
was a violin virtuoso and Karl Rathaus’s
Suite, Op. 27 was dedicated to him. It
is a richly varied piece with a punchy, rhythmically
jagged final movement. The piece that follows
on the disc is another arrangement by a distinguished
violinist, Albert Sammons. He must have enjoyed
playing it for Frederick Rosse’s The Merchant of Venice
suite has some deliciously romantic, soaring
melodic lines.
AVIE
is to be congratulated for producing this rather
off-beat double disc set. It combines a small
amount of familiar music with some lesser known,
and the first recordings will, I am sure, be
revelatory to some listeners. There is a helpfully
informative note on each piece and David Frühwirth
in his own note on the enterprise exhorts us
to “enjoy it”, declaring, “there is more to
come!”. That’s good
news.
John
Leeman
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for details 
David Frühwirth (violin),
Henri Sigfridsson (piano)