Werner Egk: Kleine Symphonie

Day 239

Werner Egk: Kleine Symphonie

Frankfurt state orchestra

Nikos Athinaos

Back to 20th century German symphonies. I knew the name Werner Egk but had never heard any of his music. It turns out that Egk was not his real name - it was a pseudonym based on the initial letters of his wife’s name. I don’t know why he used a pseudonym- he didn’t seem to have a reason to disguise his identity. Like all composers of his generation (he was born in 1901) he had to find a way to deal with the Nazis and there are varying reports as to how much he was compromised. He was involved with the official musical establishment during the war and won a music prize associated with the 1936 Olympic Games. But he was exonerated in de-Nazification tribunals and went on to hold dominant musical positions in German after the war.  As with so many of his contemporaries the truth of exactly what his relationship with the Nazis is will probably never be known.

This symphony is a comparatively early work (1926). It is called a Kleine symphony and I was expecting a short lightweight peice but this is anything but. It is a full scale four movement work for large orchestra- including piano and a lot of percussion -which lasts about half an hour. I rather enjoyed it.  Stylistically it is a bit all over the place - it clearly sit in the early 20th century neo classical tradition of Hindemith and Stravinsky rather than the late romantic world of Richard Strauss, but as I listened to it all sorts of other music suggested itself - Sibelius, Walton, even Ives. And the second movement seemed to belong to the world of Shostakovich with its rather sardonic humour and spare orchestration. Shostakovich was writing his first symphony at more or less the same time as Egk, though I doubt that there was any direct influence one way or the other.

Altogether this was an impressive achievement. It had a sense of music logic and the material never outstayed its welcome. The end was particularly notable - a long build up with ostainato figures (Siberian in technique if not in sound) out of what a triumphant E flat major chord gradually emerges to finish the piece is a blaze of optimism.

I think that this is the only symphony that Egk wrote - he seems to have concentrated on opera and incidental music. I’d certainly be interested in hearing more of his work.