While not being
a composer of particularly striking originality, the Swiss Max
Kuhn has much to offer. This disc presents a useful cross-section
of Kuhn’s work as a writer of songs and instrumental music.
The three performers offer us music for voice and piano, oboe
and piano, solo oboe and solo piano.
The immediate and
lasting impression is that Kuhn wrote profound and intensely
serious music. He was plainly concerned with structure and copious
use is made of contrapuntal techniques - most noticeably in
the instrumental music. The sombre Introduktion und Allegro
that opens the disc – in which the oboe is unfortunately
a little distant and often drowned by the piano – also reveals
a climactic quality to the writing with much chromatic movement,
providing an unsettled and yet constantly fresh and open air
quality when the Allegro is reached.
The eleven songs
gathered here are framed in the middle of the disc by the instrumental
music. They represent some of the most beautiful and responsive
writing. The songs are admirable representations of the chosen
texts and were written at various times between the 1920s and
1950s. They are more representative of the early part of Kuhn’s
career, and as a result are not as openly chromatic as the later
instrumental works. Eight of the song texts are by the Zurich-born
poet and close contemporary of Kuhn’s, Albert Ehrismann, and
the remaining three settings are of anonymous texts. Kuhn is
obviously at ease writing in this medium, an effortless flowing
quality pervading each of the songs.
The Suite für
Oboe Solo of 1965 is suitably brief and inventive as to
not become wearisome. Split into four short movements, it thankfully
does not suffer in any way from having no accompaniment. It
is based on and developed from a theme taken from the name of
the singer Elisabeth Salzmann, to whom the suite is dedicated.
The 3 Préludes
for piano are the latest work on the disc and here the music
is the most developed chromatically. The preludes are particularly
well matched with the Drei Klavierstücke that follow
and were written some 13 years earlier. In both collections
of three pieces, counterpoint is the overriding technique; the
influence of the Baroque is also clear and particularly the
Baroque at its most chromatic. Dense and dark fugal material
stands alongside lighter two-part invention, although at times
the piano writing veers dangerously towards an empty display
of technique.
With a sufficient
variety of styles, this disc can leave a slight question mark
as to what Max Kuhn’s individual style is, beyond that of a
post-Romantic. In my opinion, the songs are the closest thing
to an answer to that question, with much more than an outstanding
compositional technique being poured into them and a natural
lyrical ability breaking through.
John Anderson, Jeanette
Ager and Sophia Rahman all give highly commendable performances
of these works, but the songs do stand out representing some
of the best music here. The booklet notes provided by Malcolm
MacDonald are detailed and informative, while the recording
quality is mostly of a high standard, with only occasional balance
issues. Overall, this is a valuable introduction to Kuhn and
his music.
Adam Binks
See also Review
by Dominy Clements
John Anderson (oboe)
