A very odd duck. What we have
here on this deliciously-sounding recording from Signum Classics
- known for their deliciously-sounding recordings - are two
transcriptions of two major Romantic pieces for piano into works
for string orchestra. The works in question are Franz Schubert’s
“Wanderer Fantasy in C” and Robert Schumann’s “Fantasie in F”,
both for solo piano. The person given credit for doing the transcription
is Joseph James who is in fact two people: Stanley Joseph Seeger
and Francis James Brown who have collaborated before under the
name Joseph James. They’ve done an opera, Sketches from The
Scarlet Letter and, more relevant to the disc at hand, a
transcription of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence along
with a movement from the Piano Sonata (op. 80) into something
called Piano Concerto after P.I. Tchaikovsky. So these
guys had done this sort of thing before. Just why is
a question one could ask, but there is nothing mentioned
in the booklet to explain why this was done in the first place.
I think “Joseph James” want their work to speak for itself.
Joseph James has transcribed
these pieces for string orchestra in order, one presumes, to
bring out their romantic lushness; some passages do indeed do
this. The opening to the first movement in the Schumann “Fantasie
in F” is given a shimmering undercurrent on the violins, whereas
on the piano these passages are rendered more crisply. But this
only succeeds in spots. The rest of the time the writing in
the violins is so limited that what you get is the dry sound
of a string quartet, which I don’t think was the intention.
This problem emerges in the opening allegro of the “Wanderer
Fantasy in C” and it’s only four minutes into the movement that
a real orchestral “feel” emerges. But moments like this do
not a work make. Moreover, some passages are rendered almost
unrecognizable from the solo piano versions.
These two masterpieces really
don’t need the embellishments of a string orchestra to enhance
what was already beautiful in them. There are passages in both
these works as constructed here that do surprise for the richness
of texture that a string orchestra can conjure, especially in
a robust recording environment.
But what is missing here is that
personal interpretive touch that only comes from a soloist face-down
in the music. Why gild the lily? Rudolf Barshai did this for
Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony opus 110a and his Symphony
for Strings opus 118a, from String Quartets Eight and Ten,
but Barshai had the permission of the composer who was then
living and both works do add to that composer’s canon. I have
reviewed the Barshai before and I’ve always ended off there
as I want to end off here: While the playing here is technically
fine and the physical sound extraordinary, giving these works
a broader canvas takes away the intended intimacy of their original
setting. Nothing new is illuminated. These chimeras, however,
might have their odd appeal to fans of Schubert and Schumann
who might be interested to see what another fan, Joseph James,
saw in them that compelled him (or them) to interpret
these works in this particular way.
Paul
Cook
English Chamber Orchestra
