Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897) Horn Trio in E flat major
Op.40 [27:20]
Kalevi AHO (b.1949) Solo X [7:39]
György LIGETI (1923-2006) Horn Trio – Hommage à Brahms [22:32]
Marie-Luise Neunecker (horn); Antje Weithaas (violin); Silke Avenhaus (piano)
rec. July 2010, Studio Gartnerstrasse, Berlin; July 2011, Osteraker Church,
Sweden. DDD/DSD stereo/surround
BIS-SACD-1859 [59:16]
Ligeti's Horn Trio was written as a somewhat reluctant homage to Brahms
in 1982. He may have been quite indifferent to Brahms' historicist
approach, but this didn't stop Ligeti from writing the ideal companion
piece to a chamber work, which until then had stuck out like a sore thumb
in any programme. Since then, a wealth of excellent works have appeared in
the genre from composers like Hans Abrahamsen, Poul Ruders and Hugh Wood,
but it is the Ligeti that remains the standard coupling. That's quite
an achievement considering Ligeti doesn't compromise anything about
his modernist aesthetic to fit into the 19th century chamber music
format.
Horn player Marie-Luise Neunecker is an authority on Ligeti's music
for the instrument. Ligeti's 'Hamburg' Concerto was written
for her, and it was she who played the Horn Trio in the Ligeti Edition recordings
that the composer supervised in the 1990s. As with everything by Ligeti, the
sheer technical demands of this music limit the number of musicians willing
to perform and record it. Neither Neunecker, nor her colleagues violinist
Antje Weithaas and pianist Silke Avenhaus, find anything here problematic.
Neunecker has a fascinating horn sound. She distinguished effectively between
open and stopped timbres, but even her open sound is quite narrow and constrained.
No doubt she has another sound entirely when she plays in an orchestra, but
this more intimate chamber tone is very attractive indeed. It focuses her
tone and allows her to integrate into the unusual ensemble, giving the full
range of dynamics without being overpowering in the louder passages.
The Brahms is given a wistful and nostalgic air, not too much, but enough
to bring out the feeling of reminiscence that pervades so much of the music.
Again, Neunecker's slightly constrained and distant tone is ideal here,
as is Weithaas's focused but playful violin work. The performers ensure
that neither the Brahms nor the Ligeti are oblivious to each other. The former
is played to highlight the sense of overbearing history that Ligeti heard
in it, while the latter emphasises the connections to Brahms, despite Ligeti's
own protestations to the contrary.
Kalevi Aho provides the filler, in the form of a new work for unaccompanied
horn, Solo X. It's a work of dynamic extremes and extreme
virtuosity. Placing it between the two trios was a smart move, as it shakes
the listener out of the comfortable 19th century aesthetic and
prepares the ear for what is to come. Aho doesn't have the subtlety
or sophistication of either of his colleagues here. But it integrates into
the programme largely thanks to Neunecker's distinctive tone. It is
easy to spend the seven minutes of the Aho piece speculating as to which of
the other works it comes closest to. I'd say it has the lyrical flow
of the Brahms but the tempo and dynamic extremes of the Ligeti.
Great performances and excellent SACD sound make this disc highly desirable.
It is encouraging to see that, as it turns 30, the Ligeti Horn Trio has been
granted full repertory status, to the extent that a recording of the Brahms
without it would now seem remiss. It's not adventurous programming
any more, so any new recording has to fight on the merits of its performance.
Fortunately then, this one stands favourable comparison with the best of them.
Gavin Dixon
Stands favourable comparison with the best.