“Gathering Winter Fuel”, Good King Wenceslas, 1904, credit Wikimedia Commons
Endnotes, November-December 2024
In this edition: Walter Braunfels, ‘lost’ Germanic romanticism * Bruckner from SOMM * Symphony No. 4 by Matthew Taylor * Christmas music from Albion, reviewed by Stuart Millson
The Dutton Epoch label is one of those enterprising record companies, unafraid to take a chance on composers who, for whatever reason, have sunk into obscurity — quite undeserved in the case of Walter Braunfels (1882-1954), an admirer of Wagner and early-20th century opera composer who fell foul of the Third Reich’s artistic policy because of partial Jewish ancestry. The ban on Braunfels was the German public’s loss, as in his music we find solace, sentiment, drama, depth and direction: such as in the Sarabande of his Orchester–Suite e–Moll fur grosses Orchester, op. 48 (written between 1933 and 36); and the lyrically ‘fresh-air’ sense of meditation at the opening of his Hebridentanze, op. 70 (a Scottish-influenced divertimento for piano and orchestra, written post-war, and seemingly untainted by conflict or bitterness).
The latter piece sees pianist Piers Lane (who has championed such works as the Delius concerto) working his magic alongside and above the warm strings and fluttering woodwind of the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Austrian maestro, Johannes Wildner. If you are seeking music that is, purely and simply, a pleasure — a tonal, accessible, seemingly unclouded delight, the music of Braunfels could not be a better recommendation. Also on the programme is the intriguing concerto-combination of violin, viola and two French horns in the Sinfonia Concertante, another post-war work by Braunfels, but this time offering tense, gloomier orchestral vistas; the excellent soloists and orchestra alike, sounding deep, dark, heartfelt in the generous, warm acoustic of the Watford Colosseum (the soloists being: Ernst Kovacic, violin; Thomas Selditz, viola; and horn-players, Tim Thorpe and Tom Rumsby).
Walter Braunfels, credit Wikipedia
German romanticism of an earlier period is served up, courtesy of SOMM Records, in the fourth part of their Bruckner retrospective for the composer’s commemorative 200th birthday year. The Fifth Symphony — beautifully austere in its grand, mysterious half-light — is conducted in a vintage performance by Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. ‘Bruckner 5’ shares a similar outlook to the relentless Sixth and Ninth symphonies: the composer seems to have little time for even glimpses of radiance, charting, instead, a long course of nervy exploration through craggy mountains, but at least giving us a touch of the ‘Austrian vernacular’ in an earnest, sometimes gallumphing ländler-type scherzo. In the slow movement, there is a sense of Wagner’s Parsifal or Lohengrin drifting in the background, with a truly sacred pause preceding a moment of intensity just two or three minutes in, as if we are all to bow our heads in reverence. Brass chorales in the last movement — like fanfares from a distant Gormenghast — set us up for a finale of monumental proportions; a great exhaling of the pent-up energy from the earlier sections, with brass thundering out like multiple cathedral organs.
For the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra on the 8th December 1963 (their live, stereo broadcast performance forming the first part of SOMM’s two-disc set), Bruckner was natural repertoire. But the ensemble does more than just take the 1878 symphony in its stride: here we find inspirational playing — measured, even slow, in tempo (especially in the cavernous opening moments) — that transcends any mere studio or routine concert performance. Bravo to Siva Oke and technical recording specialist, Lani Spahr, for tracking down these electrifying performances from radio archives and making them available to us.
Disc two comprises the String Quintet in F major (dated a year after the Fifth Symphony) and the delightful, lighter Intermezzo, both works remastered from old mono records made in 1956. The QR discussed another, more modern performance of the Quintet recently, so we will not go into enormous detail about this performance — apart from saying that it is one of complete Brucknerian authenticity, with beautiful playing (even in mono sound) by the Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet — Ferdinand Stangler playing the second viola. A must for any Bruckner enthusiast and an essential album for those in love with vintage and classic performances.
English composer, Matthew Taylor, born 1964, studied under senior modern British composer, Robin Holloway, at Cambridge in 1983 — also attracting the attention of Leonard Bernstein who invited the budding young musician to participate in the famous Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Thanks to the Nimbus label, supporters of resolutely tonal contemporary music can enjoy Taylor’s impressive orchestral works, especially the outgoing Symphony No. 4, Op. 54 — framed as it is by two Giubiloso passages, reminiscent in their full-flowing power of the music of Carl Nielsen. Played with emphatic, sit-up-and-go energy by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Kenneth Woods, the performance is captured in a wide, full-fathom sound by the Nimbus recording team; bringing out, too, the attractive lower-register tone of the BBC Welsh orchestra in a nearly-12-minute long slow movement, in which structure and direction do not flag. The project forms part of the Nimbus 21st Century Symphony Project — a major rebuttal to those modernists, convinced that the symphonic form is outmoded. The Fifth Symphony also appears on the disc – a darker piece, with sometimes a more ‘chamber’ feel, and tense adagio sections and harsh fanfares. The English Symphony Orchestra gives a deeply-felt performance. And the CD cover artwork, a scene of the South Wales coast, helps to make this an eye-catching release.
Finally, as wintry candlelight and Yuletide thoughts enter our consciousness, what could be finer, more spiritual accompaniments to the season than A Christmas Fantasia and Ralph Vaughan Williams — Carols from Herefordshire, both issued by Albion Records and featuring the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, under William Vann. The Christmas Fantasia disc takes us to an almost imaginary (or in parts of the land, wholly real) traditional English December landscape of frost and snow; of huddled congregations in mediaeval churches, where the ethereal sounds of Holst, Howells, Ireland, Finzi, Maconchy, Vann and Vaughan Williams awake the mind’s-eye to the stable’s ‘Little Door’ (Howells), where farm animals keep watch over The Holy Boy (Ireland). There is a warming Wassail Song from Vaughan Williams reminding us that the fireside of a country inn is part of Christmas, too. The album concludes with the composer’s famous Fantasia on Christmas Carols, with organist Jamie Andrews and Ashley Riches, bass-baritone, weaving their magical qualities into what is a deeply evocative seasonal patchwork of music that could only come from Albion’s own shores.
Carols from Herefordshire offer us a similar atmosphere, with such pieces as God Rest You Merry Gentlemen, Dives and Lazarus and The Angel Gabriel performed not only by William Vann’s Chapel Choir, but in recital-type versions by Derek Welton, bass-baritone, and piano accompanist, Iain Burnside. Delightful and heartwarming in every respect, and a tribute to the work of the Vaughan Williams Society (whose dedication to the music of these islands knows no bounds), surely the two CDs are the perfect Christmas gift.
CD details:
Braunfels, Orchester suite etc., Dutton Epoch, CDLX 7355.
Bruckner from the Archives, Vol. 4, Symphony No. 5, String Quintet, SOMM ARIADNE 5031-2.
Matthew Taylor, Symphony No. 4 etc., NIMBUS ALLIANCE, NI 6406.
A Christmas Fantasia, ALBION RECORDS, ALBCD063.
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Carols from Herefordshire, ALBCD064.
Stuart Millson is the Classical Music Editor of The Quarterly Review.
