As the liner-notes say the combination of violin and cello
is an unusual one. The Eufonia Duo has commissioned some leading
Austrian composers to add to the small, though technically demanding
repertoire and two of those works are included on this disc.
The liner-notes also say that because of the gap that exists
between the high notes of the violin and the low notes of the
cello the cello is often called upon to “fill this space”. Unfortunately
I’m not sufficiently musically competent to either understand
or comment on that statement but the music on this disc doesn’t
appear to involve any compensatory elements as far as my ear
and emotional response is concerned. Each instrument seems to
me to be perfectly balanced and equally weighted in carrying
the music forward. If I’m correct then it is a tribute to the
composers who achieved a seemingly difficult and challenging
task.
The first work on the disc - Martinů’s Duo - is a beautiful
piece. It was written in a few days, to be performed in Paris
in March 1927 by members of the Novak quartet who were there
to perform his 2nd String Quartet which they had
premiered in Prague two years previously. It has all the hallmarks
of mature Martinů, with endless invention. There’s no sign
that the unusual combination presented any musical problems
to him - what did? The first of the two movements opens with
a short violin introduction soon followed by the cello in sharing
the tune. The two instruments spiral up and down the scale exploring
then improvising on the theme before settling down around 2
½ minutes in to reestablish a calm atmosphere in which to end
the movement. Martinů had as his aim to ‘render to some
extent his affirmation of a quiet and happy life’ and this
work certainly exemplifies that aim. The second movement opens
with a merry folk-inspired tune which is given the unique Martinů
treatment. Any lover of his music will immediately recognize
his particular musical voice; the music is then treated to jazzy
syncopated rhythms in which his joie de vivre is clearly
evident. About 4 minutes in the cello is left on its own to
plough a wonderfully lyrical path before the violin returns
to relieve its partner and share in the headlong rush to the
satisfying conclusion. In doing so we are returned to the opening
theme of the movement.
Reinhard Süss is one of the contemporary Austrian composers
the Eufonia Duo apporached. However, as a presenter on UK’s
Radio 3 recently said, before you find something else to do,
there is no need to be afraid as this composer is musically
very ‘user friendly’. The Five Movements are absolutely gorgeous
and will certainly have me seeking out more Süss. The opening
movement begins with an achingly poignant tune during which
the violin soars to the upper registers while the cello stays
rooted well below. Then a section of fast themes is alternated
by calm sections. The second movement is marked by a memorable
songlike theme whilst the third is one of great calm followed
by an extremely lively scherzo which is restless in its intensity.
This is punctuated by much plucking of strings before the final
movement returns to a structure that resembles the opening movement.
The writing finely balanced and makes for a very pleasing whole.
Gideon Klein is one of the tragic losses music has suffered
at the hands of madmen. He was murdered in an Auschwitz sub-camp
in 1945 at the age of barely 26. His promise is evident in his
every work and he was prolific for such a young man. Works of
his are still being discovered; the Duo was found along with
a number of other works as late as 1990! His music is more ‘contemporary’
in style than the previous work on the disc, which was by a
composer born 16 years after Klein was killed. Nevertheless
Klein’s music is accessible and rewards study - showing what
a promising composer he was. The opening movement of the two
is extremely lyrical full of colour and beauty. This is followed
by the all too brief unfinished Lento that is cut off
mid-phrase in a poignant echo of Klein’s tragically short and
unfulfilled life.
Richard Dünser is the other ‘contemporary’ Austrian composer
who has dedicated works for this Duo. His Ode to the rain
is inspired by a poem by Pablo Neruda and dates only from 2009.
The section which is the specific inspiration reads: … the
night burst.… and then the rain of my childhood returned … sombre
violin … I walked with torn shoes.… there you take off the mask
of your beauty … in the night, with my eyes closed, I have been
waiting.…that you will sing solely for my ear.…O sad rain sing,
sing.…sing on the roofs and the leaves, sing in the icy wind,
sing in my heart…. The music is really lovely - full of
gorgeous harmonies. It’s a perfect musical picture of the poetry
that inspired it; Neruda would have been very pleased indeed.
Erwin Schulhoff sadly shared the same fate as Gideon Klein but
even earlier in the war, in 1942, dying of tuberculosis in Wülzburg
Castle Internment Camp. He was already a fully established and
hugely successful composer at the time of his arrest. His Duo
shows him at the height of his musical powers. The work is superb
and thrilling and puts the players through their paces. Listen
to the second movement, the Zingaresca, which is fast,
furious and huge fun, full of folk-like rhythms. It makes you
smile. The Andantino brings things back to a state of
calm and contains some truly lush themes of great beauty. The
leitmotifs in the last movement mirror those in the opening
and are used to connect the two making a satisfying circular
musical tour. Schulhoff’s final diary entry for March 1941 reads
‘A true artist must never be afraid of the auto-da-fe. The
creative impulse must be rooted in an innermost conviction and
the idea must be so powerful to be fully convincing. The outward
success is not what immediately stimulates the development of
the creative mind; this is just ‘some added spice’ which one
should by all means try to forgo. It is the struggle which eventually
gives importance to the creative artist, partly the fight against
his own human weakness and partly also the fight against the
rotten behavior of humanity’. With opinions such as that
it is hardly surprising that the Nazis had him arrested on the
very day they launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet
Union where, having applied for citizenship, he was preparing
to emigrate.
The final work on this fascinating and very listenable disc
is the Divertimento op. 37/1 by Ernst Toch who was born in Austria
and was living in Berlin in 1933. He could see that as a Jew
he had to leave. He emigrated to the USA where he spent the
rest of his life, during which time he picked a couple of Academy
Award nominations for film music he’d written for Hollywood.
The work here is again a hugely successful piece. It’s inventive,
exciting, tonally explorative and supremely musical. Once again
the fact that this work is ‘contemporary’ doesn’t mean it isn’t
tuneful, just as Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht cannot
be said to be anything but. That said, the two instruments are,
as always in the works on this disc, continually technically
challenged and the two players come through with flying colours.
It is a lovely work with which to complete the disc. They all
are and it must have been difficult to choose the order to place
them.
The Eufonia Duo comprises two superb instrumentalists. There
can be little music that tests a player’s abilities more than
the music on this disc. One could be forgiven for thinking that,
maybe, music for such a combination would be unlikely to hold
one’s attention for over an hour. They’d be wrong and, for me
at least, I found the whole experience extremely rewarding –
76 minutes of aurally sublime and fascinating music.
Steve Arloff
Eufonia Duo Vienna (Stephan Achenbach (violin); Shamita Achenbach-König
(cello)) 
