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Karl Amadeus HARTMANN (1905-1963) Sinfonia tragica (1940-43) [23:35]
Concerto for Viola and Piano accompanied by wind instruments
and percussion (1954-56) [27:12]
Tatjana
Masurenko (viola)
Frank-Immo Zichner (piano)
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra/Marek Janowski
rec. Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, November 2002 CAPRICCIO 71112 [50:51]
This
is a disc especially notable for its promotion of the Viola
Concerto – or more properly the Concerto for Viola and
Piano accompanied by wind instruments and percussion of
1954-56. I’m not aware that it’s been previously recorded
and though Capriccio doesn’t proclaim it as a premiere recording
on the box they do in the booklet notes. This company has
demonstrated its commitment to Hartmann before, not least
in the Spivakov/Conlon disc of the Concerto funčbre,
coupled with the Second and Fourth Symphonies. This is the
string opus most associated with him of course. The later
work for viola and piano is of an entirely different sort.
It
was written for William Primrose. Like the question of recording
I’m not aware that the Scotsman ever played it, though he
was certainly supposed to give the premiere in Frankfurt
am Main in May 1956. As he was ill his place was taken by
Jascha Vleissi. Primrose makes no mention of Hartmann in
his autobiography.
The
single most pronounced influence on the concerto is that
of Berg’s Chamber Concerto. The oscillation between terse
and lyric is in the hands of the viola soloist; the piano’s
subsequent entries add percussive colour. I must note straight
away that the balance between the two instruments and the
orchestra has been excellently realised. The Melodie central
movement encapsulates the complex textures and procedures
to which Hartmann has submitted his material. Percussive
moments become overt, melodies are long-breathed but difficult,
polyphony is pervasive. There is maybe some Blacher influence
in the finale, a Rondo of tightly constructed and rhythmic
incision. The Bartók influences are not obvious though they
do also exist. The path of the work is rather binary, with
both solo instruments engaged in their own rather individual
battles. It’s played with total commitment and facility by
the soloists and orchestra under Janowski. And yet one can’t
pretend it’s an easy or phlegmatic listen.
The Sinfonia
tragica has a somewhat complicated history. This dates
from 1940 with some revisions made in 1943. The first movement
was then later utilised for the Symphony No.3. The 1940
version was originally planned to be performed in Brussels
in Paul Collaer’s Musique 1941 concert series – the
work was dedicated to him – but the performance was cancelled.
A subsequently scheduled 1946-47 premiere in the same city
also collapsed because of the loss of the score. It wasn’t
until 1973 that it was found in the archives of the Belgian
radio broadcasting company.
Berg
and Stravinsky haunt some of the writing; the opening is
tense, brittle and allusive. The tightly argued echoes of
Webern are embedded in the score but the defiant assertion
of the Rite of Spring allusions (try Movement 1; around
9:40) are the most striking and emblematic. The second of
the two movements is snarling, martial and inflammatory in
places – it doesn’t open Tumultuoso for nothing – and
in certain places it also suggests Janáček’s Taras
Bulba.
Once
again there is no let-up in the formidable energy levels
displayed by the Berlin Radio Symphony and Janowski. The
first ever recording of this was by the Bamberg Symphony
and Karl Anton Rickenbacher on Koch Swann CD 312952 and it
was coupled with the Second Symphony and Gesangsszene.
SACD has given the Berlin performance a powerful presence
and its uniquely valuable coupling is a must.
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