Martin: Requiem

Day 181

Frank Martin: Requiem

Soloists

Basel Sinfonietta 

Klauss Knall

I first came across the music of Frank Martin when I was still at school when I acquired an LP of his concerto for 7 wind instruments - I think that I had vague ideas of performing it with my fellow wind players at school, although of course it would have been far too difficult. Other than that I have heard his petite symphonie concertante but that it is about it for his music.

This setting of the requiem is a relatively modest work - about 30 mins - and is generally reflective rather than dramatic in tone. Even the Dies Irae is more of a contemplation than a picture of the last trump á la Verdi or Berlioz. I found it to be an impressive work. I couldn't find a score so my impressions are simply from listening but it did find it haunting and well worth another listen. The harmonic idiom hovers between tonality and atonality in the way that some late Britten pieces do - indeed listening to this cold you might have said that it was by Britten - the use of bells is highly characteristic of the latter. 

I'd like to hear it again with the benefit of a score to get a closer appreciation of the piece, but certainly on this first hearing I am inclined to explore more of Frank Martin's work.

Stanford: Requiem

Day 180

Stanford: Requiem

Soloists

University of Birmingham Voices

CBSO

Martyn Brabbins

I've had limited exposure to the music of Stanford. Because I have never sung in church choirs I'm not familiar with the range of ecclesiastical music of his which still holds an important place in the repertory. I have heard a couple of his symphonies over the years but don't recall ever playing anything of his.

This Requiem is a full scale work from 1897 written in commemoration of Lord Leighton. While I enjoyed it I didn't get the sense that it was a neglected masterpiece. I don't think that Stanford had a sense of how to convey drama and so the more extrovert sections are rather foursquare and the fugues are rather hard going. On the other hand the more lyrical music is attractive - none more so that the Sanctus, which has some beautiful anitiphonal effects building to a strong climax. The harmonic style is largely conservative, as you would expect from a British composer writing in the late Victorian era, though there are some moments where you can certainly detect the influence of Wagner. 

A work certainly worth hearing, though I can't imagine that it will ever get many live performances. There has been something of a Stanford revival in recent years and most of his music is now available on record so perhaps there are other pieces worth exploring.

Suppé: Requiem

Day 179

Suppé: Requiem 

Soloists

Chorus and orchestra of the Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon

Michel Corboz

This was a major discovery.  I was aware that Suppé had written a Requiem and I had read good reports of it but I had never heard it. My knowledge of Suppé was, like most people, confined to a few overtures, though I had heard and enjoyed, his light opera Die Schöne Galathée. He had an impeccable musical upbringing. He was a pupil of Simon Sechter - a distinction he shared with with Schubert and Bruckner, and also of Ignaz Seyfried, himself a pupil of Mozart. Suppé knew Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi.

What is striking about this Requiem is that there is almost no trace of the popular style that Suppé is well known for. It is a serious work showing off a full range of musical styles, from accompanied fugues which clearly are derived from the the tradition of the great Haydn choral works, though to dramatic arias which Verdi would have been happy to acknowledge. The choral writing is particularly impressive - with some chant-like passages as well as some expansive passages. Suppé has a real harmonic gift as well as an ability to keep the music moving forward, even in the most expressive passages. He often uses ostinato figures to achieve this. One movement is in the unusual time signature of 15/8.  So a real surprise and a piece to come back to. It does make me keen to discover what else there is of Suppé’s out there.

W F E Bach: Westphalens Freude

Day 178

Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach: Westphalens Freude

Soloists

Das Kleine Konzert

Hermann Max

For the final work in this exploration of the Bach family I go forward a further generation to the only one of Bach's grandsons who composed. W F E Bach (1759- 1845). He was a Kapellmeister in Berlin and lived long enough to meet Schumann at the unveiling of a monument to his grandfather JSB. He was modest about his own achievements, saying 'Heredity can tend to run out of ideas' . This secular cantata dates from 1788 and celebrates the accession to the Prussian Throne of FriedrichWilhelm II. It is very much of the world of Early Haydn Mozart and Gluck and it well put together with some charming melodies and some attractive wind writing. You would never call it a masterpiece but on its own terms it works well and clearly went down well with the Emperor, because he offered WFE the post in Berlin.

WFE also wrote a piece for 6 hands at the piano which is played by two (female) pupils in the middle of the keyboard with the (male) teacher putting his arms round them both to play the very top and very bottom parts of the piece. It is quite fun though it would hardly be allowed today!

This ends my exploration of a handful of Bachs. What is extraordinary is how the family died out. You would think that having had 20 children JSB would have had lots of descendants but in fact WFE's children were the last undisputed members of JSB's line.  I say undisputed because there are various accounts of some illegitimate children in direct descent and some people in Oklahoma of all places claim to be direct descendants. We may well never know the truth. 

For the next project I am going to look at various settings of the Requiem.

J C F Bach: Die Amerikanerin

Day 177

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach: Die Amerikanerin

Magdalena Kožená

Musica antiqua köln

Reinhard Goebel

JCF Bach was the fourth son of JSB to become a composer, although of the four he is the least well known. This cantata for solo voice and strings is an attractive work dating from 1776. The title and the year are pure coincidence - although the piece is called the American woman it has nothing to do with the USA - it was originally entitled A Moor's Song and American seems to have been a catch all phrase meaning exotic.

For 1776 the music seems quite old fashioned - much of it is reminiscent of Handel, particularly the dotted rhythms in the opening movement, though some of it does sound more like Gluck. It is quite attractive in its way though not particularly memorable and it does rather just come to a stop rather than any sort of proper conclusion.  It is obviously the work of a highly competent musician but I wouldn't put it any higher than that.

J M Bach: Dem Menschen ist gesetzt, einmal zu sterben

 Day 176

Johan Michael Bach: Dem Menschen ist gesetzt, einmal zu sterben

Yorkshire Bach Choir

Peter Seymour

Johan Michael Bach (1648-1694) was JSB's father in law. I got confused by this - how could his wife's father's name be Bach? - but the explanation is that JSB married his first cousin on his father's side, hence the same name. So JMB was not a blood relation of JSB but was still very much part of his musical world. 

This is music from the generation before JSB and is very much in the tradition of Schutz. It is setting for double choir and continuo of words of St Paul for use at a funeral service. I found it impressive and moving. It is fairly simply in design, with alternation between the two choirs throughout. It is mainly in slow moving block harmony but has some more overtly contrapuntal passages at times - particularly towards the end. JM Bach doesn't seem to have composed very much music - he was also an instrument maker - but on the basis of this piece he had a real talent. 

W F Bach: Sinfonia in F

Day 175

W F Bach Sinfonia in F Fk67

CPE Bach chamber orchestra

Hartmut Haenchen

W F Bach was JSB’ first-born son and thus comes from half a generation earlier than J C Bach. This shows in this music, which has one foot in the baroque and one in the classical era. I found it fascinating and much more worthy of attention that the music of CPE and JC which I head in the previous two days (admitting that that is only a very small sample). 

It is curious mixture of Handel, Vivaldi and Haydn. Much of it has is in the spirit of a trio sonata (though there are often independent viola parts) but there are also times when it looks forward to Haydn. The harmonic language is advanced for the time with some very surprising discords and changes of key and there are some rhythmic tricks which Haydn would have been proud of.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this music - WF tends to have been overshadowed by CPE and JC. He was certainly less successful in his lifetime and ended up in near poverty, but that is no reason to assume that the judgement of his contemporaries was right.