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Othmar SCHOECK (1886-1957) Choral Music Trommelschläge Op. 26 (1915) [4:40] Der Postillon Op. 18 91909) [8:39] Dithyrambe Op. 22 (1911) [8:48] Wegelied Op. 24 (1913) [3:24] Für ein Gesangfest im Frühling Op. 54 (1942) [3:24] Kantate Op. 49 (1933) [15:19] Vision Op. 63 (1949) [6:59] Rückblick (Zu
einer Konfirmation) (1948) [2:52] Spruch Op. 69
No. 1 (1941) [1:32] Einkehr Op. 69 No. 2 (1951) [2:34] Die Drei WoO No. 39 (1930) [4:24] Zimmerspruch WoO No. 43 (1948) [2:18] Maschinenschlacht Op. 67a (1953) [5:32] Gestutzte Eiche Op. 67b (1953) [2:08]
Martin Homrich
(tenor),
Ralf Lukas (bass-baritone),
Steffen Schleiermacher &
Justus Zeyen (pianos),
Frank Zimpel (organ),
Bernd Angerhöfer (tuba),
Eckart Wiegräbe, Lutz Grützmann & Fernando Günther (trombones),
Gerd Schenker and Sven Pauli (percussion)
MDR-Rundfunkchor
MDR-Sinfonieorchester/Mario Venzago (tr. 1-7), Howard
Arman [tr. 8-14)
rec. Sendesaal of MDR, Leipzig, December 2006 (tr. 1-7)
and January 2007 (tr. 8-14) CLAVES
50-2701 [74:46]
As
a young man Schoeck was a successful choral conductor who
wrote readily for the medium. He pushed his choirs hard and
wasn’t universally liked; it seems in any case that the feeling
was reciprocal because he was never especially keen on choral
conducting. A large number of his works for the medium were
written between 1909 and 1915 and despite successes Schoeck
accepted with considerable alacrity the position of conductor
of the St. Gall Symphony concerts in 1916. As a result choral
composition trailed off.
This
disc revives this aspect of his compositional life in what
are apparently, without exception, world premiere recordings.
That argues, if true, for a deal of neglect in this corner
of his musical life and it’s proper that Claves, a company
that has done so much for Schoeck, should disinter them in
this manner.
Although
he began with a capella works he moved swiftly to
big orchestral accompanied late Romantic pieces. Trommelschläge is
just such a work, dating from a crisis year of 1915. It is
written for big forces and its rhythmic profile embraces
vehemence; March themes and some cataclysmic incidents herald
percussive violence. It’s a tough pill to swallow when it
appears first on the programme but it does alert us to the
breadth enshrined in some of these choral works. It’s not
all fun. Sometimes, as here, it’s unyielding and shattering.
To
turn to Der Postillon, written six years earlier,
is almost a programmatic game, so placid and ardent are the
rich hues of the Straussian romanticism evoked. That influence
becomes clarified in Dithyrambe where the drama surges
powerfully and the work ends with almost grandiosely Mahlerian
cadences. It’s a tricky sing for the choir especially when
the chorus is suddenly bereft of orchestral support; strong
preparation is necessary to ensure pitch doesn’t sag.
Other
works are reflective of smaller things. Wegelied for
example is a jaunty march whilst Vision is an absolutely
beautiful piece for male chorus – touching, romance-filled,
and with verdant archaisms subsumed ripely into the fabric
of the score. There’s one piece written for a child’s confirmation
and a few others that are occasional – some too that are
lesser things but pleasing to have nevertheless. They show
the breadth of commissions and enthusiasms.
I’ve
deliberately left the long 1933 Kantate till now. In
Schoeck’s hands it’s a prescient and satirical polemic – agit-prop
really in effect – written for chorus, three trombones, tuba,
piano and percussion. The nature of the accompaniment obviously
hints at the satiric forces at work and the percussion adds
populist bite. The brass interjects with smeary comments
and the centrepiece is a long speech from the Council – a
piece of fatuous windbag prose that lances the procrastinating
blindness of officialdom. The text by the way is by Eichendorff
and it takes on a surprising modernity in this work. The
injunction to “let God rule” seems made more in desperation
than hope in the context of Schoeck’s setting. Maschinenschlacht (1953)
is set to a text by Hesse and can be best translated as The
Battle of the Machines. The text is crudely simplistic
and Schoeck responds in kind.
Some
of these choral works still have the power to cause difficulties.
There’s strain in the tenors in Der Postillon for
instance but otherwise the forces cope well with the fulsome
demands placed on them. The recordings were made at the same
location under two different conductors a month or so apart.
The grip never slackens. There are full texts translated
into English and good notes, further to tempt those unfamiliar
with Schoeck’s exploration of choral forces.
Jonathan
Woolf
And
another perspective from Rob Barnett:
Claves
have been a staunch and practical supporter of the lyrical
Schoeck over the years. In the circumstances one might reasonably
have expected ceaselessly mellifluous music from his choral
output. Not quite. The music here is varied in expressive
range. That point is brutally rammed home in the Whitman
setting Trommelschlage. This has a remorseless tread
and rocks with the ruthless hubbub of Bliss’s The city
arming from Morning Heroes. Brass and voices bray
and groan, paralleling the forceful writing of Vaughan Williams’ 1930s
choral masterpiece Dona nobis pacem. Words are spat
out and there is defiance verging on repulsion in the final
brassy gesture. Der postillon is back to Schoeck mainstream.
The words are by Lenau and the music conjures the blissfully
moonlit fields of his masterwork for string orchestra Sommernacht.
This is a Schubertian piece rounded with peaceful sleep but
with the orchestra occasionally injecting a shiver; never
a shudder. The peace ends in a submissive downbeat. Dithyrambe is
for mixed choir and is rather shallow with its Beethovenian
crash and all-purpose triumph Wegelied sets words
by Gottfried Keller who wrote the story on which Delius’s
opera A Village Romeo and Juliet is based. It’s a
walking song which coasts just a shade too close for comfort
to a military march. There’s another Keller setting in Für
ein Gesangfest im Frühling which once again snaps and
crackles along as a purposeful march.
The
1933 Kantate sets words by Eichendorff for brass and
piano with male voice choir. This is an ambitious yet gloomy,
protesting and haunted piece riven by Brechtian satire. Vision leads
the listener back to elysian calm, echoing calmly from channel
to channel. This is music that is unassertive and gentle
aided by sweetened strings. It’s once again very close in
mood to Sommernacht with its ecstatic calm gloriously
punched home by the fascinating harmonic ochre that brings
the work to a sighing end. Like Wegelied and Für
ein Gesangfest im Frühling the next two works Spruch and Einkehr leave
little impression behind. Then from male voice choir comes
the awed intoning of Die drei a capella. Zimmerspruch is
jolly and swings along with clever little hesitations adding
rhythmic pepper. Maschinenschlacht is another satirical
piece – a Luddite anthem about the stupidity of machines
and their lack of poetry and imagination … and about their
defeat; wishful thinking. It sets words by Hermann Hesse. Gestutzte
Eiche is about a truncated oak putting out leaves - the
irrepressible force of renewal. It’s serenade quality recalls
archetypical Swedish choral music.
The
excellent notes are by Schoeck authority Chris Walton. How
long before his biography is picked up and translated into
English? While we are on the subject of aspirations, I do
hope that some company, possibly Claves, will be able to
negotiate a licence for the release in a single 12 CD set
of Schoeck’s lieder. Jecklin Disco should surely be open
to that idea or to releasing the set themselves in 2007,
the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death. Those lieder
recordings are much missed. In the meantime celebrate with
this sometimes disturbing sometimes beguiling cross-section
of Schoeck’s choral music.
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