That this is described as Volume 1 of the chamber music of Niels Gade is
certainly good news. He is a sufficiently important composer, especially in
Denmark, to deserve such an accolade. By my reckoning, we are due at least
three more volumes, as there are three violin sonatas, four string quartets,
the Novellette for trio, a quintet and an octet for strings, Fantasiestücke
for clarinet and piano — very much an odd-one out in his oeuvre — and a deal
of juvenilia. Few of these have had many recordings. It is fair to say that
one does not expect to encounter any masterpieces here, rather a great deal
of genial pleasure.
The series begins with two mature works from a time in Gade’s career where
he had passed through his enthusiasms for Danish nationalism and Felix
Mendelssohn, and found him developing his own voice, though now Schumann is
certainly a background influence. The
String Sextet was
begun in 1863, and substantially revised in 1864, with the original first
movement jettisoned. The new first movement begins with a slow introduction,
leading into the main section dominated by an infectiously swaying main
theme. The scherzo is in five sections, with two different trios
interspersed with the active, though musically dull scherzo – it is the
least appealing of the four movements. The slow movement brings the dark
tones of the violas and cellos to the fore, while the final movement
revisits the themes from the first. Despite reservations about the scherzo,
this is a fine work, though not in the same league as the two Brahms
sextets.
Gade did not destroy the original first movement of the sextet, apparently
because he was satisfied with it as music, but not with how it fitted into
the rest of the work. It is certainly totally different to its replacement,
despite sharing the
Allegro vivace marking. Much of its ten minutes
is anything but vivace or even allegro, but as a standalone work, it is
quite a charming piece.
The
Piano Trio in F is Gade’s final work for this genre,
following a juvenile trio and the Novellette, which is perhaps his best
known chamber work. Graceful rather than animated is the adjective that
strikes me as appropriate for the first movement
Allegro animato.
The next movements pass by very quickly, comprising less than six minutes in
total. The second is bright and breezy, the third quite intense by Gade’s
standards. The booklet suggests that it is better seen as an slow
introduction to the finale, but since it is not played
attaca, and
would leave the work with three allegros, I’m not sure I can agree. Gade
marks the final movement as
Allegro con fuoco, but I don’t find
much fire in the performance. A 2011 MDG release of the complete trios (and
a fragment of a piano quartet) by Trio Parnassus was
reviewed here. I’m not able to compare that with this new
recording, but my experiences with Trio Parnassus have been positive
regarding their enterprise in choice of repertoire, but less so for their
performances.
Ensemble MidtVest possibly show a little too much restraint at times, for
example the trio finale, but since Gade is not usually given to bold and
dramatic statements, it is not entirely inappropriate. The sound quality is
satisfactory without being particularly detailed, but the tonal qualities
of the instruments is excellent. The notes are brief, and say little about
the historical context of the works, concentrating on musical analysis. Of
course, it may be that there is little known about these two works. At least
the full booklet has been supplied, unlike my last experience with a CPO
download (Louis Glass symphonies) where only the cover pages were
included.
David Barker
