I was first introduced to Alban
Berg at secondary school. One of the set works for the A Level music exam had
been the Violin Concerto. So, in the library there were several scores and a few
copies of an LP, which I think was the Deutsche Grammophon edition with Henryk
Szeryng, violin and Jean Martinon conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony
Orchestra. I was bowled over by this 12-tone composition: it has remained one
of my favourite violin concertos for more than half a century.
The first track presents Andrew Davis orchestration of Berg’s Piano Sonata, op.1. This accomplished piece was written during 1907-08 when he was studying composition with Arnold Schoenberg. Originally meant to have had a slow movement and a finale, it ended up standalone. It is conceived in standard sonata-allegro form. The liner notes mention the structurally conventional fact of the repeated exposition. Harmonically, this work is very chromatic, presenting unstable key centres, whole tone scales, with sometimes dense, often polyphonic, music. In its original incarnation, it demands a highly technical pianism. Andrew Davies explains that “its emotional and dramatic range is enormous.” His view was that this new orchestration needed to relate to “the sonorities of the era” – those of Mahler, Schoenberg, Zemlinsky and Schrecker. Previous attempts to achieve this seem to have used a chamber ensemble, rather than a large post-romantic orchestra. The result is a wonderful tapestry of sound. The mood varies from gentle to fervent, with a satisfyingly gentle conclusion. The organic nature of the sonata form seems to be continually unfolding, leading the listener on a magical, if sometimes disconcerting, journey. I listened several times to this hauntingly lovely re-creation of Berg’s early masterwork for my review: it has suddenly become one of my favourite Berg pieces.
The second number that has been orchestrated by Andrew Davis is the Passacaglia: Symphonic Fragment of theme and eleven variations sketched, but uncompleted, around 1913. The booklet reminds the listener that it was conceived a few years after his friend and fellow student Anton Webern’s eponymous “first official opus” in 1908. It is possible that the surviving sketches were originally meant to be part of a Symphony. The entire Passacaglia is based on a nine bar theme in G minor, encompassing all the twelve tones of the scale. There follow some 11 variations. These are full of drama, enhanced by the constantly changing tempi. Davis notes that “the connection to the theme is at times obscure…” Perhaps they stretched Berg’s ability at that time to derive a whole symphony from a single motif. The final variation ebbs away after only three bars. The added value of this short, four minute miniature, is that they “are indicative of the experimental nature of what Berg was contemplating at the time…” They offer a foretaste of Wozzeck and the Three Orchestral Pieces.
The Three Pieces for orchestra were composed during the opening stages of the First World War. They present a frightening musical image of the horrors unfolding at that time. It has been pointed out that they have Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for orchestra as an inspiration. Yet, they sound nothing like the elder man. In fact, Mahler is the stylistic arbiter. One commentator has suggested that it is Mahler’s Eleventh Symphony, in the same way that Brahms One is Beethoven’s 10th (or is it 11th?).
In fact, seeing it as a symphony
has Berg’s blessing. In a programme note he suggested that the Präludium represented
the first movement, Reigen (Round Dance) a combination of scherzo and
slow movement, with the Marsch, the finale. This Marsch is the longest
movement in the Suite, nearly as long as the others combined. This is disturbing
music, which is complex, imaginative and ingenious in its structure and
instrumentation. The musicologist Theodor W. Adorno once suggested to Berg that
it sounded like Schoenberg’s Five Pieces and the finale of Mahler’s 9th
played “all at the same time.” He was apparently delighted by this
“compliment.”
The present recording succeeds in integrating the impressionism of the first movement, the dance metaphors of Reigen and the downright intricacy of the march, including the anarchic coda with is terrifying hammer blow conclusion. It is played here in its 1929 revision. The Three Pieces were dedicated to Arnold Schoenberg on his 40th birthday. It was not performed in full until 1930, however the first two movements were played at a concert in Berlin during June 1923.
The movingly beautiful Violin Concerto (1935) was the last major work that Berg composed. Finished in the year of his death, it is also one of his greatest. It was dedicated to “The memory of an angel.” The angel in question was the daughter of Gustav Mahler’s widow Alma. After Mahler’s death she had married the architect Walter Gropius and they had a daughter, Manon. Sadly she died of polio, aged only eighteen.
The entire work is a perfect
balance of lyricism and drama. The performance by James Ehnes is full of magic.
He tends towards optimism, which seems to bolster Berg’s contention that serial
music could also be romantic. I was taken by his interpretation of this concerto
and the integration of the various stylistic innovations such as the Bach
chorale, the waltz like theme and the Carinthian folk tune. The balance between
the structural serialism and the more tonal moments is well managed here. There
is a tenderness of tone that sings of affection but sometimes echoes despair, a
tempestuous protest against life’s tragedy, and a sad, requiem like epilogue.
It is an interesting detail that Berg wrote his Violin Concerto in his summer house at Wörthersee in Carinthia, Austria. This was only a short distance from the village of Pörtschach where Johannes Brahms had conceived his own example of the genre. Finally, it is a minor tragedy that Alban Berg never heard this undoubted triumph performed. He died before the premiere could be arranged.
The booklet notes, printed in
English, German and French are by Gavin Plumley. They give a detailed
introduction to all four works. A valuable extra is “A note by the conductor.”
In fact, this is a long, essay length, appreciation of Berg’s music as well as
an explanation of his approach to the orchestration of the Sonata and the
Passacaglia. There are several photographs of the composer, the recording
session, the violin soloist and the orchestra and conductor. I did feel that
the cover photograph of James Ehnes was somewhat dour for this splendid recording.
Something more appropriate, more enticing, to celebrate the prescient nature of
this music and performance would have been better.
This is a remarkable disc. I enjoyed the two transcribed works, which genuinely add to our appreciation and understanding of Alban Berg’s earlier achievement. The performance of the two works of genius - the Three Pieces for orchestra and the Violin Concerto - are revelatory in their sympathy and understanding. It is an album that all enthusiasts of the composer must own.
Track Listing:Alban Berg (1885-1935)
Piano Sonata, op.1 (1907-08), orchestrated 2021 by Andrew Davis (b.1944)
Passacaglia (c.1913) Symphonic Fragment of theme and eleven variations, orchestrated 2021 by Andrew Davis
Three Orchestral Pieces, op.6 (1914-15, rev.1929)
Violin Concerto (1935), revised 1996 by Douglas Jarman (b.1942)
James Ehnes (violin), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Davis
rec.20-21 February 2022, Watford Colosseum, Hertfordshire.
CHANDOS SACD CHSA 5270
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