Sunny and dark music for string trio

String Trios by Dohnányi, Enescu, Françaix, Sibelius & Bach

The string trio is one of my favourite formats; it doesn't have the baggage of the string quartet: that daunting mass of masterworks from Haydn to the present day. The String Trio has, on the one hand, the light serenade side, and on the other the intensity of great string trios by Schoenberg, Villa-Lobos and Schnittke. In the middle is the perfection of Mozart's great string trio from 1788, the Divertimento, K. 563.

The first two works chosen by the exceptional group Leipziger Streichtrio - violinist Adrian Iliescu, violist Atilla Aldemir and cellist Rodin Moldovan - try for that Goldilocks medium attained by Mozart. This is joyful music, but not completely ignoring dark undercurrents. Ernö Dohnányi's Serenade for String Trio, Op 10, is a relatively early work, written in 1902. It takes as its formal model not Mozart's Divertimento, but rather Beethoven's Serenade for String Trio, op. 8, from 1796-97. Jean Françaix's String Trio, from 1933, is a neo-classical gem, which exemplifies the modus operandi of Les Six: slightly sad nostalgia, slightly ironic romps, slightly erudite fugal passages, always having fun with serious matters. 

Jean Sibelius's String Trio, which dates from 1894 is a more serious beast. This is an almost altogether stern work, and though it's only 8 minutes long, it has a symphonic feel to it. When have you ever seen Sibelius smiling in a portrait? *

There are two additional pieces in this interesting program, which one might consider encores. George Enescu's Aubade, from 1899, is a bit of fun, a rustic folkloric piece full of swoops and pizzicati. Andras von Toszeghi's arrangement of J. S. Bach's great Chaconne from the 2nd Partita for Solo Violin is substantial, and interesting. Mozart himself transcribed six Bach Preludes & Fugues for string trio in 1788, K. 404a. I love listening to the Chaconne in any guise - I especially enjoy Brahms' version for piano, and Leopold Stokowski's for full orchestra. But this isn't quite a complete success as an arrangement - the violin gets to keep most of the good bits, and the viola and cello have the leftovers that make the soloist sweat while double-stopping in the original. It's neither fish nor fowl, but tasty anyway! Altogether this makes an exceptional hour of music.

* Here's your answer: Werner Bischof very nearly got a full smile out of Jean Sibelius in this 1948 portrait.

 

Splendid, authentic, joyful chamber music

Septets by Beethoven and Berwald

In the world of Charles Schulz's Peanuts, it's not Schroeder who's most like Beethoven, but the fussbudget Lucy. Beethoven had a lot to moan about in his difficult life, but even when things went well, there was always something to complain about. 

His Septet of 1799, scored for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass, was a big hit, a very big hit. This irked the composer, since he felt that the serenade-like work was far eclipsed by his more important works, which at the time included his First Symphony, his first two Piano Concertos, his op. 18 String Quartets and a fair number of Piano Sonatas, including the Pathétique. I think what upset him most about the success of the Septet, a work of great charm and considerable ingenuity, was that it represented what he considered an obsolete role for the composer. Even today we connect the serenade with musicians playing on demand, often in the open air, for aristocrats. In this ancien regime scenario the be-wigged composer beating time is little more than a servant providing entertainment for courtiers.

In a controversial essay in the New York Times, Martin Scorsese posited that "cinema is an art form that brings you the unexpected. In superhero movies, nothing is at risk." Beethoven's Septet was a kind of Marvel Movie for the musical consumer of the turn of the 19th century, a safe source of entertainment that didn't tax the brain or emotions too much. Everything that Beethoven truly valued in his own music, as well as the music of others, was based on a much more radical and unsafe point of view. 

I know the Wigmore Soloists from their very fine 2021 recording of an undisputed masterpiece, Schubert's Octet. Here they navigate the tricky line between popular and erudite music, and come up with the perfect compromise. Their Septet is, quite properly, not treated as the Eroica, but neither is it tossed off with little regard for its true merits. The result is, I think, as fine a Beethoven Septet as I've heard.

Franz Berwald's Septet seems like the perfect pairing for Beethoven's Septet, since it was written in 1828, the year after Beethoven's death. But this is, I believe, only the second time the two works have appeared together on one disc; the other was in a 2017 CD from the Uppsala Chamber Soloists. That was a well-played recording, especially the Berwald, but it's completely outmatched by the new Wigmore Soloists disc. Everything about this new BIS recording is perfectly judged, from the splendid, authentic, joyful performance to the always impeccable BIS engineering, and the fine liner notes by  Philip Borg-Wheeler. Very highly recommended.

The Illuminators

Oboe Concertos by Kerzelli, von Schacht and Pla

This new disc of Oboe Concertos from the Court of Thurn und Taxis has some of the most obscure repertoire I've ever come across. I had never heard of any of these three composers: Franz Xaver Kerzelli (c1730-c.1794), Theodor von Schacht (1748-1823) or Joan Baptista Pla (c1720-c1773). And I only knew two things about Thurn und Taxis: firstly, the Post Service for the Holy Roman Empire was run by the Princely House of Thurn und Taxis, beginning in 1450.   

Thurn-und-Taxis Post's 1859 15 Kreuzer stamp

And secondly, Rainer Maria Rilke lived as a guest of the Princes Thurn & Taxis at Duino Castle near Trieste. It was there that he wrote his Duino Elegies, between 1912 and 1922.

At an earlier version of a Thurn und Taxis castle, in the 18th century, a huge library of music was built up. We're indebted to the work of music librarians and scholars that have allowed some of this obscure music to make its way, slowly, onto recordings like this one.

I happened to be reading John Russell's 1968 book on Henry Moore when I first listened to this album. He speaks about Moore going to Paris for the first time in the great year of Modernism, 1922. Russell talks about how, in the midst of the great works of that time, by artists like Picasso, Braque, Brancusi, Kandinsky, T. S. Eliot and James Joyce, there was an "ever-widening gap between the work of living art which came off and the work of living art which didn't."

"There was a topmost level of achievement, as there had always been: below that level there was only chaos and confusion. The minor master or acceptable epigone, so common in earlier epochs, had been swept off the board altogether since the beginnings of analytical cubism.... Attempts at resuscitation have proved again and again that there just is not, any longer, a level of acceptable minor achievement, some way below but within hailing distance of the giants. These giants have kicked down the ladder, once and for all, and it has to be set up somewhere else."

I'm not sure how well Russell's analysis of High Modernism holds up today; it seems a bit like an "End of (Art) History" argument that has been overcome by subsequent events in art historical fashions. But if we look back at music in the period of this album, we're perhaps in a perfect epoch of "acceptable minor achievement", the era of the Galant schemas that instantly slots music within an International Style that spans all of Europe during the 18th Century. With these devices in their musical toolboxes, a huge cohort of composers could stay within hailing distance of the Giants of their time, from Bach and Handel to Haydn, Gluck and Mozart. And they were guided by the Enlightenment-consensus concepts of beauty, loftiness, ease, sprezzatura, lightness, spirit and inventiveness, and that vital special sauce of the time: taste.

On the evidence of the oboe concertos in this historically informed and expertly played disc, we have another trio to add to the crowded ecosystem of second- and third-raters of 18th century music. This is pleasant music, and even, at times, more than pleasant. There's enough variety that one never tires of the oboe and strings sound; it helps that the von Schacht piece is for three oboes. Certainly this is not especially original music; the shadow of Mozart, and especially Haydn, is always there. 

When Elaine de Kooning was asked if she was in her husband Bill's shadow, she replied, "I was working in his light, & a great many others were working in the same light. I found him an illuminator, hardly a caster of shadows." Haydn and Mozart were both illuminators in this sense, and their light helps Kerzelli, Pla and von Schacht shine as well.

One of the prime marketing strategies in the crowded Classical Music marketplace is to unearth unknown masterpieces. Occasionally a great gem is found - the recent discovery of the orchestral music of Florence Price is perhaps the best recent example. But even if not every discovery is precious, there can be great pleasure to be gained from semi-precious gems, and even rhinestones can be fun if you have a couple of glasses of wine. Enjoy!