This is the third volume
of the symphonies of the Danish composer
Herman D Koppel who lived from 1908
to 1998. Volume 1 containing symphonies
six and seven are on 8.224135
and volume two containing symphonies
1 and 2 are on 8.224205.
Herman David Koppel
was born of Jewish parents who lived
in Blaski in Poland. But Herman was
born in Copenhagen to where his family
had moved in 1907 at a time when many
Jewish families were migrating to escape
the hatred that was being shown to them.
Herman was the eldest in the family
and developed into a fine pianist. He
was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy
of Music in Copenhagen when he was seventeen
when Carl Nielsen was one of the assessors
who approved candidates for entry into
the Conservatory. Four year later Koppel
struck up a friendship with Nielsen
playing most of Nielsen's piano works
for the composer to check and revise.
In return Nielsen arranged performances
of Koppel's music. In 1930 Koppel made
his debut as a pianist and included
some of his own music.
Koppel was not a snob
but took an interest in all types of
music from jazz to two great composers
of the time, Bartók and Stravinsky.
He composed music for films and revues.
He was not going to be pigeon-holed
as a traditional. He married a Danish
woman who would be deemed a Christian,
in so much that she was not a Jew. He
became an accompanist of renown and
duly paid well for his services. He
worked with the famous Danish tenor
Aksel Schiotz and made many recording
with him.
The Second World War
was very worrying. Koppel was a Jew
and Hitler and his Socialists taught
that Jews had no rights and, even today,
we cannot grasp the full evil and horror
of what the Nazis did to the Jews and
there are those who advocate that the
time has come to forgive. Koppel with
his wife and two sons, Thomas and Anders,
fled to Sweden in 1943 to stay with
Baroness Lea Akerhielm whom Koppel had
known from childhood. The Symphony no.
3 is dedicated to her. This renewed
contact was made after Koppel had spoken
on Stockholm Radio. The Koppels lived
in Sweden until the war was over. Towards
the end of the war he composed his Symphony
no. 3.
There are those who
take issue with me and sometimes vehemently
disputing the claim that the man and
his music are a collaboration. People
claim that writing about a composer
should be contained to writing about
his music only and not his life or his
private life and that we should not
open any cupboards that may have skeletons
therein. But as in his life so is the
composer in his music. The two are inseparable.
The Third Symphony
is the composer's anxiety about Denmark
and expresses the horror of the Nazi
machine and the lamentations of the
down-trodden people. Koppel does not
portray the Nazi regime with sounds
of soldiers marching and machine gun
fire as does Shostakovich. His portrayal
is bleak and sparse and, sadly, this
does not always set the symphony in
the best light.
It is in one movement
but three sections. It begins lugubriously
with sinister staccato bassoon punctuation
as an ostinato. The sound is hollow
and a mood picture is built up. A recurring
four note theme is one of sorrow in
a scenario of unbearable tragedy. The
music is mellow rather than morbid.
But I cannot say that it is beautiful.
There is a glorious string section with
horn support which is beautiful. The
music heads towards a climax but the
music remains transparent and sparse
and not turgid or overstated. A section
of fast string writing supported by
woodwind and then by the brass is very
impressive but the music is episodic
and does not hang together. The four
note theme returns as if there is another
outburst of tears. At 7.34 ff there
begins a scherzo-like section with rhythmic
interest from the woodwind with a lovely
broad string melody. This builds up
with punctuating brass and a soaring
violin melody. All very impressive but
it gets nowhere. The music loses its
way and becomes self-indulgent. It lifts
again with some magnificent counterpoint
with three themes combined in an agitated
section. This is real class but I did
feel the performance could have been
more persuasive. I believe the music
is better than how it is played here.
More melodic fragments appears with
those hollow bassoons adding an uneasy
hollowness which must represent Nazi
oppression. About 21 minutes in there
is some real drama with some flawless
string writing but then it gets nowhere
and the music subsides into stillness
and resignation and it is somewhat repetitious
and tedious. Often the music has a chamber
feel about it but not in the sense of
standard chamber formats such as a string
quartet or a wind quintet.
I think this symphony
is too personal a document for us to
fully value. It has some wonderful moments
but overall I don't think it works.
The sincerity is there as is the craftsmanship
but the structure is too loose, the
material not memorable enough and too
many dull patches or sloughs of despond.
The Symphony no. 4
was completed in August 1946 and is
a better work. It begins with a rhythmic
figure and another ostinato; it is not
the bassoon this time, but the clarinet.
These two features are the backbone
to the music whereas the second subject
is a sort of hymn in praise of the countryside
but very brief and disturbed by the
uncompromising rhythmic feature under
the solo clarinet. Two and a half minutes
in there is a terrific sardonic outburst
with some tremendous moments, notably
controlled power, something few composers
have successfully achieved. Listen to
the braying horns absolutely stunning,
and here Moshe Atzmon has got it just
right. The trombones are impressive
and the heartbeats of the timpani are
somewhat syncopated realising the uncertainty
of the times. It is as if we have been
standing on a pavement waiting for a
procession which comes and passes by
and when it is on top of you it is startling.
But the music is episodic with powerful
sections alternating with peaceful ones
and the transitions are not always logical.
A soaring violin melody is unbearably
beautiful with horn figures and then
the rhythmic ostinato returns. Listen
out for the glorious trumpet affirmation,
timpani and bubbling horn writing, all
very exciting. The orchestration is
simply superb. Clearly the composer
is displaying confidence because the
war is ended and the music has a victorious
feel. But it is neither pompous nor
arrogant. I am still troubled by the
sudden changes from power to peace which
would work better if the music naturally
progressed one from the other.
The second movement
shows the influence of the great Bartók.
It is an intermezzo evolving a type
of humour and that which is grotesque
and there is no doubt what the composer
has in mind. There some really choice
moments and the march-like music is
infectious. It is brilliant, stunning,
exciting and the disc is worth buying
just for this. It is breathtaking and
simply fantastic. And I say again, what
splendid orchestration!
The finale is episodic
and begins in a very tense fashion.
The violins are high and the rhythms
a little unusual. Here is the march
- the main ingredient of the movement.
The music is sometimes sinister, eerie
and, at other times, playful but it
heads towards a climax and the composer
keeps us in suspense. The middle section
is restrained and meanders a little,
although there are some fine instrumental
solos, before the march returns in a
bellicose fashion.
If you understand the
man, you will understand his music.
His life, and his private life, is often
the key to an understanding and appreciation
of his music.
During the writing
of this symphony Koppel learned that
his mother's family had been brutally
destroyed by the Germans and so the
resurgence of the march tempo is brutal
with another nagging ostinato. The music
is staggering and yet the violence is
not overstated. It makes its point convincingly
and, unlike Elgar and others, his powerful
music is not merely trashy noise. There
is a brief coda which has a soft brightness
about it as if it were a message of
hope. The final bars are all triumph
with a swaggering horn theme. Totally
satisfying, a complex but convincing
symphony.
David C F Wright
see also
review by Rob Barnett
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra/Moshe Atzmon. DDD
