Piano Sonata No.4, op.38 [20:06]
Piano Sonata No.5, op.45 [17:53]
Piano Sonata No.6, op.49 [13:47]
Piano sonata No.7 [24:33] (Á mes enfants Max, Jean, Felice)
Maria Garzón (piano)
rec. Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK, October 2012.
HÉRITAGE HTGCD 246 [76:28]
It is extremely pleasing to note the increasing number of records being
released in recent years that have showcased music by that lost generation
of composers who perished at the hands of the Nazis; Viktor Ullmann was
numbered amongst them. Whilst much of what he wrote has been lost a goodly
amount has survived including most of the 23 works he wrote while incarcerated
in Terezin (Theresienstadt) the transit camp from whence he was dispatched
to the gas chambers in Aushwitz. Sonatas 5, 6 and 7 were all composed in
Terezin while the fourth was composed the year before he was sent there.
The more music by Viktor Ullmann I hear the more I am struck by a feeling
of loss at the thought of such a talent being extinguished. Alice Herz-Sommer,
a Prague-based Jewish pianist, who was also sent to Terezin, and who miraculously
survived the holocaust, has appeared in several documentaries about those
fearful times. She is the dedicatee of the fourth piano sonata and has always
been a champion of Ullmann’s music. The sonata’s first movement is dominated
by spiky rhythms reminiscent of Bartók but despite this there is an overall
sense of gentle playfulness that at times is quite dreamy, particularly
in its closing passages. The second movement also opens in a similar vein
before taking on a more serious note which is hardly surprising given that
it was composed in 1941 when good news was in extremely short supply. The
music becomes increasingly anxious as the movement continues. It ends on
a sad note. The third movement begins in classical style that is almost
Bachian and this element dominates throughout. The sonata finishes with
a flourish.
The fifth sonata Ullmann dedicated to his wife Elizabeth who died soon after
their arrival in the camp. It is hard to imagine the despair this little
family must have experienced with Ullmann trying desperately to keep busy
composing while looking after and consoling his four young children who
were with him in such appalling circumstances. There is no especial feeling
of sadness expressed in this sonata’s opening movement - on the contrary
it is quite gay in spirit. The second movement, however, is considerably
darker in mood and this intense emotion is fully explored though he refuses
to remain this way. He pulls himself up from the depths of despair with
a brisk and humorous Toccatina whose delightful little tune bubbles
along for its all too brief 47 seconds. This then leads to a Serenade
which mixes caprice with a tinge of sad reflection. Some moments sound very
like Debussy. The sonata finishes with a busy Fugato that ends
on an upbeat note.
Ullmann’s sixth piano sonata is an example of his exploration of jazz. This
was a common feature among composers at the time. It was written for Edith
Kraus who played it many times in the camp and who became another champion
of his music. She also managed to survive the horrors that befell them all.
It is charming and delightful and while the first movement has an extremely
poignant ending the overriding atmosphere is one of joy and fun. Given its
birthplace, this is further testimony to the huge resolve Ullmann had. It
enabled him to control his emotions and subjugate them to serve his music.
The seventh and last of Ullmann’s piano sonatas is the longest of his compositions
in this genre. It is almost akin to a musical autobiography in which he
quotes his obvious loves in the shape of quotations and allusions to such
composers as Bach, Mahler, Schoenberg and Wagner. Into this mix he adds
echoes of Slovak hymns, Lutheran chorales and even a Hebrew folksong that
informs the final movement. The booklet notes correctly attribute Ullmann’s
dedication of this sonata to three of his children Max, Jean and Felice
(Pavel, born in 1940 had already died in the camp). The track listings mistakenly
give it as being for the 5th. Jean and Felice were sent to England
via Sweden on one of the kindertransports and survived. Max died in Auschwitz
along with his father. The sonata is a wonderful tribute to life and its
final movement cleverly fuses a Hebrew song with strains of the Slovak National
anthem, a Hussite song, J. Cruger’s hymn “Now thank we all our God”, the
name of B-A-C-H and even an allusion to Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde
in its glorious closing bars. What a final declaration on life this last
composition is. It so eloquently illustrates Ullmann’s statement concerning
his time in Terezin that "By no means did we sit weeping on the banks
of the waters of Babylon. Our endeavour with respect to arts was commensurate
with our will to live." It is all the more heartrending to listen to
when you know the back-story.
Spanish pianist Maria Garzón dedicated the disc to Alice Herz-Sommer and
Edith Kraus. It also carries an in memoriam to Jeanne Mckintosh, a member
of the resistance tortured and murdered by the Nazis. Garzón plays all four
of these valuable works with obvious reverence allowing the music to sing
out and weave its spell. It’s a fitting tribute to a man who found, even
in the direst circumstances of life in Terezin, a spirit that refused to
be extinguished. Somehow he managed to harness the strictures of camp life
to his creative will. I commend this disc to any admirer of Ullmann and
the other composers who perished in the holocaust.
Steve Arloff
Music that’s all the more heartrending to listen to when you know the back-story.
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