Erwin SCHULHOFF (1894-1942)
Piano Works - Vol.2
Fünf Pittoresken, op.31, WV 51 (1919) [13:25]
Piano Sonata No.2, WV 81 (1926) [16:07]
Zwei Klavierstücke, WV 119 (1936) [7:01]
Musik für Klavier in vier teilen, op.35, WV 56 (1920)
Esquisses de Jazz - Six pièces faciles pour piano, WV 90 (1927)
Caroline Weichert (piano)
rec. Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hamburg, Germany, March, August
2012
GRAND PIANO GP631 [66:05]
Schulhoff was one of many composers who took up the challenge to embrace jazz
and to incorporate it into their music. He was one of the most successful
at writing works that were no mere pastiches but genuinely jazz-inspired -
ones that could just as easily have come from the pens of people like Scott
Joplin or Billy Mayerl.
Fünf Pittoresken (Five Pictures) date from as far back as 1919
and are remarkable for their wit and experimental nature. The first two entitled
Foxtrott and Ragtime ‘do exactly what it says on the tin’
and are clearly influenced by Scott Joplin whose Maple Leaf Rag had
been such a hit in the early years of the twentieth century. That they were
penned by a white Jewish Central European is surprising enough but they are
convincing in their recreation of true jazz rhythms that one would normally
ascribe solely to a black composer such as Joplin.
One must surely conclude that Schulhoff had his tongue firmly in his cheek
when he ‘created’ the third of these pictures since it is entitled
In futurum. It consists of 85 seconds of total silence which anticipates
John Cage’s notorious 4'33" (by 33 years) in which a pianist
sits at the piano with orchestra and no-one does anything for that precise
length of time. Cage, a pioneer in indeterminacy in music, claimed that its
motivation was an attempt to demonstrate that there are sounds to be heard
in a concert hall full of audience even when no music is played. It will be
different each time the ‘work’ is ‘performed’ with
different ambient sounds occurring as well as audience breathing and the odd
cough and even, perhaps, extraneous sounds from outside the building. Schulhoff’s
‘work’ may also ‘benefit’ from the same effect in
a similar venue but with the technical expertise that comes into play in the
recording studio such possibilities are lost. Before I read the booklet I
thought I had received a rogue copy and contacted the distributors who tried
6 copies themselves before contacting the manufacturer and label owner who
told them that it was not a fault. Note to self: when in doubt read the booklet
first! ‘Normal service was resumed’ for Pictures 4 and 5 which
were just as refreshingly jazzy as the first two.
The Piano Sonata No.2 is in a different league owing more to the French
school of Ravel than to the jazzmen of the USA. A wonderfully restrained and
understated first movement gives way to a mercurial second in scherzo form.
The third is beautifully appealing and gentle “exuding an air of calm
contentment” as the booklet notes so aptly put it. The sonata closes
with a fourth movement that once again recalls Ravel and shows that Schulhoff
was someone whose writing is of equal interest to that of the great French
composer.
The two piano pieces that follow were composed in 1936 when the threat of
Nazism was clear. The first is entitled Optimistic Composition while
the second is entitled The Czech Workers and presents a militant stance
that must surely be read as a challenge to the threat from the West. Schulhoff,
as a communist, hoped that this threat would be defeated by the combined might
of working people everywhere.
Schulhoff’s Musik für Klavier in vier teilen dating from
1920 takes us back to the days when the influence of jazz in his music was
at its strongest. While this work is not overtly as jazzy as the Five Pictures
that opened the disc its influence can be detected nevertheless. The second
movement which is in the form of a lengthy set of ten variations is particularly
affecting.
The last work on the disc is Esquisses de Jazz which was written in
1927. It is Schulhoff’s most well known work and though its subtitle
is Six pièces faciles pour piano the word facile translates
as easy since there is nothing ‘facile’ about it. These
are piano pieces heavily influenced by jazz though they do not attempt to
be jazz pieces per se; they are seen through a jazz prism while retaining
a distinctly Schulhoff stamp of innovation. The one entitled Charleston
is a particular case in point.
In recent years a lot more of Schulhoff’s works have been appearing
on disc and about time too for they increasingly reveal a huge talent across
a wide range of compositions that includes six completed symphonies. It is
all the more sad to realise what could have been created subsequently had
he not been cruelly arrested and sent to a concentration camp in Bavaria.
There he is believed to have died from TB at the early age of 48.
This is the second disc of Schulhoff’s piano works to appear on the
Grand Piano label both played by Caroline Weichert. Her deft touch and sympathetic
approach enables the music to weave its spell. She has also released another
disc of Grainger’s piano music for the label and previous releases on
the Koch Schwann label show that she prefers to concentrate on lesser-known
composers. I find this refreshing since there remains so much wonderful music
to be discovered. We need people like her to help in that process.
This is a fascinating disc of music that is rarely heard and when as lovingly
played as it is here deserves a wide listenership.
Steve Arloff
This is a fascinating disc of music that is rarely heard here lovingly played.
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