Goetz: Six songs

Day 358

Hermann Goetz: Six songs

Geheimnis 

Schließe mir die Augen beide

Wandervöglein

Ein Frühlingstraum

Der Früling commit

Wanders Nachtlied

Olaf Bär

Helmet Deutsch

I came across Goetz when we played his symphony on a student orchestra course. I have also heard his rather good opera on the Taming of the Shrew. Goetz is a rather forgotten figure these days but his memory is preserved in the music criticism of George Bernard Shaw who rated him very highly as a composer. Shaw’s music criticism is always a delight to read. 

These half a dozen songs were attractive - between them they had a good range of emotions from cheerful though to solemn. Goetz was a conservative figure. His dates are 1840 - 1876, but he inhabits the musical world of the 1820s and 1830s, with just a hint of awareness of later developments. Goetz was a fairly prolific song composer given that he died in his mid 30s and there is probably a great deal more to explore in his song repertoire. I’ve certainly enjoyed hearing these pieces; they help to show why Shaw had such a high opinion of the composer. 

Schütz: The Christmas Story

Day 357

Schütz: The Christmas Story

Yale Schola Cantorum

David Hill

Over the years I have heard a few bits and piece of Schütz, mostly as items in choral concerts where I was playing in other pieces. I can't say that the music has made much of an impression on me one way or another. I felt rather the same about this setting of the Christmas story. Much of it is in fairly fluid recitative - Schütz was at pains to explain that he used the modern ideas of operatic recitative rather than the older plainsong-based approach. This is interpreted with choral interludes with some attractive instrumental writing which is reminiscent of Monteverdi or Gabrieli. The whole thing was perfectly pleasant but didn't really make much of an impact on me.  Again I am pleased to have heard it as it is something which is written about quite a lot, but I don't feel inclined to spend much more time exploring more Schütz.

Symanowska: Piano pieces

Day 356

Maria Symanowska: Piano pieces

6 Minuets

Fantasie 

Sławomir Dobrzański

Symanowska  (1789-1831)was perhaps the first professional female composer in Poland. She was extremely well connected musically and seems to have been well regarded as a composer and pianist. Several pieces are dedicated to her. One of these is a tiny one page piano piece by Beethoven (WoO 60) which some sources claim is dedicated to her, although accurate information is hard to come by.

The 6 minuets are largely domestic in character and would be within the capabilities of a good amateur pianist. They are largely in a fairly conservative idiom reminiscent of Haydn and early Beethoven but there are traces, particularly in the last one, of what would become in Chopin's hands the mazurka.

The fantasy is a more substantial piece with some virtuoso flourishes. I found it very uneven. Some of the material was highly developed with some free piano writing and explorations of quite advanced chromatic harmony. But other parts of the piece were trivial and mechanical. It was an odd mixture which didn't really come off - but there was enough here of interest so show that Symanowska had real talent. But claims that she is a substantial figure in her own right seem to me to be special pleading.

Paderewski: Overture

Day 355

Paderewski: Overture in E Flat

Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

Antoni Wit

Paderewski was probably the most famous pianist in the world in the early 20th century - there are lots of references to him in popular song and literature. He was also the Prime Minister of Poland in the post-war years and signed the treaty of Versailles on behalf of the Polish government. One of the outcomes of negotiations for settling the post-war order was the creation of the free city of Danzig so it seems appropriate that I listen to some of his music as I stay in Gdansk, the modern name for Danzig.

Paderewski mainly wrote piano music but there are some substantial piece, including a symphony which lasts 75 mins and the opera Manru. This overture from 1884 is an early work - it appears not to have been published in the composer’s lifetime. I found it an attractive piece which has obvious kinship with the works of Greig and Dvořák and perhaps Borodin as an example of what might be termed gentle nationalism. It had a melodic freshness which was very compelling.

Bacewicz: Overture

Day 354

Bacewicz: Overture

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Sakari Oramo

As I am Poland for a short pre-Christmas break I thought it would be a goods opportunity to catch up with some of the Polish composers I have not previously covered in this project. Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) was one of the first female composers in Poland. I had hear the name but had not encountered any of her music before. For some reason, I am not sure why, I was expecting that she would have been a representative of the avant garde but this was very much a piece in the Central European style of Hindemith or Walton. It was bright and breezy with a more lyrical middle section. I detected nothing specifically Polish in the piece - it could have been my any number of mid 20th century composers. Nothing wrong with that of course: it was an attractive piece which would make a good, if not particularly memorable, opening to a concert. 

Lalo: Two songs

Day 353

Lalo: Two songs

Tristesse 

Les Petis Coups

Tassis Christoyannis

Jeff Cohen

Today was a day of travel so had very little time to listen to anything. These two songs by Lalo were a delight. I have heard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol and I have the new recording of Le Roi D’Ys ready to listen to but otherwise he is not a composer I am familiar with. The first of these two songs is a highly emotional song in the best tradition of the French Mélodie with some luscious harmonies. The second by constraint is an irresistibly witty strophic song which has great verve and charm. So these two tiny examples of Lalo’s work have certainly whetted my appetite for further exploration of a composer who had previously hardly entered my musical world. That’s one of the great benefits of this project.

Lekeu: Piano quartet

Day 352

Lekeu: Piano quartet in B minor

Quatuor Kandinsky

Lekeu was one of the great hopes of music who died young before he could achieve full artistic maturity. He was only 24 when he died. This piano quartet dates from the very end of his life and is unfinished. He only completed the first movement and though there is a completion of the second movement by D’Indy. This recording was of the first movement only. 

This is a typical piece of overheated late 19th century French chamber music, very much in the tradition of César Franck and his school. Had the work been completed it would have been a substantial addition to the repertoire and would probably have tested the stamina of performers and audiences alike. As it there was some attractive music here but I though that it was over written and at times the piano was in danger of overwhelming the string instruments. That’s not an uncommon fault in a young person’s music and no doubt had Lekeu reached maturity he would have developed a greater command of his material and learned the benefits of concision. 

So an interesting example of ‘what might have been’. I don’t know that it stands as a piece worth listening to frequently in its own right.