Wellesz is slowly regaining
sufficient ground in the catalogue at
least to permit a fragmentary reappraisal.
There are two CPO CDs of the symphonies;
the second of those discs was reviewed
here by Lewis Foreman. The Piano Concerto
and the Violin Concerto are on two CDs
from the Swiss Pan Classics label (510
104 and 510 109). Otherwise there is
very little to be heard. Now Capriccio
have invaluably, and with their usual
consummate style, filled in part of
this largely blank canvas. The present
disc has two substantial orchestral
pieces from each end of Wellesz's long
life. These 'bookend' five pieces for
voice and orchestra. In the vocal items
Wellesz demonstrates the stagecraft
and ear for drama that we would expect
from the composer of six operas (Die
Prinzessin Girnara, 1921 rev. 1928;
Alkestis, 1924; Der Opferung
des Gefangen, 1926; Scherz, List
und Rache, 1928; Die Bakchantinnen,
1931; Incognita, 1951). All of
these songs have a dramatic discomposure
or angst.
The two songs that
make up Life, dream and Death
- belong to troublous times.
The vocabulary has darkened and the
vocal line is tortured though still
noticeably tributary from the tradition
of the orchestral song. The music does
not have the caustic sarcasm of Mahler.
This is more Richard Strauss meets early
Berg as black clouds gallop across the
moon. The second song is melodramatically
driven by the wraiths of the Walküre.
The harmony of Song of the World
is several degrees more 'curdled' than
the 1937 diptych. After the magnificence
of the full orchestra, the five Browning
Sonnets from 1934 deploy a string
ensemble. The instrumental contribution
is severe and the vocal line effortful,
angular and volatile rather than voluptuously
rounded. The best of the set Mir
scheint, das Angesicht der Welt verging
is left to last. Here Wellesz admits
the warmth of a humanity little in evidence
in the other four songs. Hannes Heher's
notes, thorough and rewarding, tell
us that the Browning poems were originally
written as a recitation with strings.
The songs of the 1930s,
utilising Berg's lyrical continuity
rather than Webern's disintegrating
concision and gnomic economy, were written
in Alt-Ausee, Ascona and Vienna prior
to Wewllesz’s departure in 1938 from
a Germanic world gone sour for many.
This was especially true for those with
Jewish origins - as was the case with
Wellesz. He was attending performances
of his successful work Prosperos
Beschorungen in Holland at the time
of the Anschluss. Heeding warnings from
friends, he did not return home instead
going to England. There, after privations,
he made a new home working in both London
and Oxford. His work made little headway
but there were performances of his symphonies
on the Third Programme (broadcasts from
Birmingham of his symphonies conducted
by Hugo Rignold) and the Amadeo label
issued an LP of some of his vocal works.
The Ode to Music (Holderlin)
and Vision (Trakl), works of
the 1960s (the Beatles era), are angular
and challenging although not sacrificing
the singing contour in the sometimes
melismatic (tr. 10, 8.20) vocal part.
Roger Epple and Capriccio
chose well with their two female singers.
Each enunciates finely, engages with
the subtle emotion of the poetry and
has the operatic lungs to surmount Wellesz's
demanding requirements.
Now for the orchestral
works. The Dawn of Spring drips
with dewy impressionism, a degree or
two cooler than Ravel but certainly
not stolid. The music luxuriates amid
the pastoral wash of sleepy 'colour'
and avian song (7.11) between the woodland
scenes in Schoenberg's Gurrelieder,
Debussy's La Mer (5.30; 6.57)
and Bax's Spring Fire. Solo voices
'speak' out as with the solo violin
at 4.53 and 7.49. There is a smashing
climax at 6.13 but it comes and passes
quickly like summer thunder.
Almost seventy years
later Wellesz's Symphonic Epilogue,
is for large orchestra. This is in the
form of a vituperative lento,
rent with violence. Although this returns
at the end, much of the centre is reflective,
even softly expressive and is transparently
orchestrated. This is tragedy played
out to a tune called by the 12-tone
piper and all on a grand scale. The
84 year old composer wrote it with a
Vienna Phil premiere in mind. In fact
it was given its first airing by Carl
Melles and the Tonkünstlerorchester
of Lower Austria.
This disc is part of
Capriccio's '20th century Portraits'
series. A welcome contribution too,
well documented, with an ungimmicky
and eloquently communicative approach
to the recording. The music charts a
parabola not unlike that of Schoenberg
from early impressionism to outright
but not desiccated 12 tone immersion.
This is an indispensable
complement to the emerging Wellesz symphony
series on CPO.
Rob Barnett
for
details 
Regina Klepper (sop)