Flow of Music
Antonin DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22 (1875) [27:49]
Ney ROSAURO (b. 1952)
Concerto No. 1 for Marimba and Strings, Op. 12 (1986) [19:13]
Dietrich ZÖLLNER (b. 1965)
Poco Insanimus (2019) [9:59]
Alexej Gerassimez (percussion)
Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie/Wolfgang Hentrich
rec. 26-27 July and 13-15 September, 2021, Sendesaal Bremen and Lukaskirche Dresden, Germany
Reviewed as 16-bit download from press preview
GENUIN GEN22778 [57:01]
The Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie is in some ways a youth orchestra, in others a professional ensemble. Founded in the former East Germany in 1973 and supported after 1991 by the Association of German Music Schools, it continues its work today. The orchestra serves as a self-professed “veritable talent factory”, working with internationally acclaimed maestros such as Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, and Emmanuel Tjeknavorian as well as with string virtuosos Julia Fischer and Daniel Hope. Members range in age from eleven to twenty and alumni go on to populate orchestras internationally, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York.
This is the ensemble’s third album. It contains three works: one warhorse, one contemporary classic, and one new commission. The warhorse is Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings. This is a staple of the string orchestra repertoire, with five movements full of
Dvořák’s wonderful melodies, harmonic surprises, and lively rhythms. The Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie plays very well, particularly in the fifth movement, matching the pace of my comparison performance for this review, Neville Marriner leading the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields on Philips. The young German players do the same in the first movement and actually pull ahead in the fourth when they take the contrasting middle section of the movement at a greater speed than Marriner. The Academy has the edge in interpretation, however, with more rhythmic swing and ease to their playing, lending their nuances an assured playfulness. The Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie feels earthbound in their execution even where tempi are comparable, such as in the flowing waltz of the second movement. In the fleet Vivace third movement, they simply cannot keep up with the more experienced Academy. To be fair, this comparison pits orchestral members in training against seasoned professionals and, as the list above demonstrates, the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie graduates players ready for the world’s top ensembles. I certainly was not achieving anything on this level at a comparable age!
Ney Rosauro is a Brazilian percussion virtuoso and composer. His concerti for percussion instruments, including marimba and vibraphone, are appealing, tuneful works with a sophisticated sense of rhythmic interplay. I had the opportunity to participate in a performance of Rosauro’s first vibraphone concerto while at university and I still experience one of its many melodies as an earworm on a regular basis. Rosauro’s Marimba Concerto No. 1 is no different. It has four movements, each with a descriptive title: Greetings (Saudaçăo), Lament (Lamento), Dance (Dança), and Farewell (Despedida). Greetings has outer sections of driving cross-rhythms flanking a slower core of improvisatory melody. The Lament uses sustained trills by the soloist to create a lyrical line backed by the strings. Playful cross-rhythms re-emerge in the Dance, which would not sound out of place in Darius Milhaud’s Saudades do Brasil. The Farewell is an energetic send-off in a complex meter, embedded in which is another reflective, improvisatory passage.
This is a fantastic performance. Percussion soloist Alexej Gerassimez steals the show but the Deutsche Streicherpilharmonie are with him every step of the way. Seeing Rosauro’s name on the program sparked my request to review this album, and this performance does not disappoint. Older recordings, including one with Rosauro himself as the soloist, are simply too slow. Credible competition comes from superstar percussionist Evelyn Glennie on a 1992 RCA album titled “Rebounds” and from Ivan Mancinelli on a 2020 Stradivarius disc. Glennie blitzes through the first movement, barely slowing for the central introspection. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra keep up but the result sounds occasionally frantic. The Lament is likewise faster than Gerassimez by almost a minute although their respective timings in the finale are nearly identical. Mancinelli splits the difference, beating Gerassimez in the first movement and matching him in the Lament and Dance but lagging by over thirty seconds in the finale. Speed is not everything, of course. Interpretation is as important as virtuosity. Glennie sounds like a woman on a mission while the other soloists sound more relaxed. Mancinelli is especially characterful in the Farewell’s introduction, where his rhetorical phrasing is pronounced. Once the finale gets going his pace feels a touch deliberate, however. Gerassimez strikes the best balance, sounding playful and soulful by turns. Gerassimez also has the best recording. RCA’s thirty-year-old engineering holds up well but sounds slightly dry and thin, particularly in the strings. The Stradivarius recording is excellent but the soloist is balanced very far forward of the orchestra; some of their back-and-forth interplay is muffled as a result. The engineers at Genuin provide as much presence and warmth as Stradivarius while keeping the soloist and orchestra on equal sonic footing.
Conductor Wolfgang Hentrich commissioned Dietrich Zöllner to write a piece of “cool, engaging music” for the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie that would appeal to young people. Hentrich specified it last no longer than ten minutes and include a few “crazy” sounds “without frightening the audience.” The result is Poco Insanimus. True to its title, it is only a little crazy, with an improvisatory section resembling a stroll through an aviary and a sung section near the end weaving together three hymns from the Federal Republic of Germany, the former German Democratic Republic, and Europe, respectively, in harmony. Otherwise, the madness is at a minimum. Zöllner structures the piece like a rondo, with a driving opening section that returns after each “crazy” episode. There is even a brief fugue at the center based on this unifying idea. Whether it is the personalization of its commission or its post-modern mixing of musical styles, the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie take to the work naturally, turning in the best performance on the disc.
While this album seems intended first for local audiences, it is also something of a calling card for the ensemble internationally. Collectors will already have their favorite version of the
Dvořák, of course, but the Rosauro concerto is delightful. I encourage curious listeners who are hesitant to take the plunge into a full disc of percussion music, such as is the case with both alternatives listed above, to investigate this performance. The Zöllner would also be a non-threatening way into contemporary music. Excellent sound is a bonus to this sampler of both ensemble and repertoire.
Christopher Little
