Whether orchestral
or chamber the music of Ernst Krenek
has not exactly made it into the repertoire
and I’m not sure if this disc will especially
help the cause. This is through no fault
of these superb performers who are utterly
committed to making the music work.
The same goes for the record company
whose dedication to the promotion of
Krenek can be seen from their listings.
That said, the short playing time of
this disc may not endear it to many.
The music is in fact very fine and rewards
repeated listening. The performances
are outstanding. It’s just that, as
my wife commented, it’s some of the
hardest music to concentrate on that
she has ever heard. It’s contrapuntal,
busy and mostly dodecaphonic. The ideas
are not difficult in themselves but
the way they are intermixed with so
many others is not always easy to follow.
As for the form it is straightforward
and in the booklet notes he writes:
"the structure (of Symphonische
Musik fur neun Soloinstrumente)
is entirely uncomplicated and quite
comprehensible upon first listening,
to such a degree even that I am of the
opinion that no analysis is necessary".
In 1940, his good friend
the Greek conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos
was to write to him thinking of Krenek’s
success in the 1920s with the first
two symphonies, the ‘Symphonic Music’
and the opera ‘Jonny spielt auf’. He
told Krenek that he had drifted too
far away from his audiences, not the
audiences from him. In response the
composer attempted to do something about
this schism.
The works recorded
here are well matched and spread over
a forty year period so it’s interesting
to compare them.
There is no doubt that
the earlier ‘Symphonic Music’ is the
easier work to grasp and assimilate.
It falls into two exactly equal movements
and is a product of the composer’s earlier
style much admired by Mitropoulos. The
scoring is for two violins, viola, cello,
double-bass, flute, oboe, clarinet and
bassoon - in other words a chamber orchestra.
It is not unlike Alban Berg’s Chamber
Symphony but less complex both to
the listener and I think to the performers
- although I’ve not had access to the
score. The scoring varies magically
and solo instruments may be exposed
to play something like a romantic melody.
There’s an example in the flute part
in the second movement. The two movements
have no Italian speed indications. Both
include a variety of tempi, with the
first movement predominantly fast and
the second slow. This begins with a
gloomy double bass solo which might
almost be comical were it not for the
fact that it bears a distant family
resemblance to Mahler’s 1st
Symphony, movement three. The line is
treated fugally, at first on strings,
the volume never really rising. Then,
like a fresh mountain stream a contrasting
solo flute takes over, soon to be accompanied
by the rest of the wind. I mention this
because for me the first five minutes
or so of this work amount to some of
the most sensitive music by Krenek or
any dodecaphonic composer I know. Dare
I say that from 4.54 the harmonies are
almost romantic? The tempo gradually
builds using the dotted rhythms heard
right at the start of movement one.
By 1962 Krenek had
moved on again. In comparison the ‘Alpbach
Quintett’ (Alpbach is a Tyrolean village)
for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and
bassoon with percussion is a tougher
nut to crack. It is a dance piece using
serial technique and was choreographed
by Yvonne Georgi. Its form is especially
interesting. Back in 1922 Krenek had
had his 1st Symphony successfully
performed and it follows a unique plan
of nine shortish movements, covering
a thirty minute span, which were linked,
not however altogether clearly by material
and related tempo. In the ‘Alpbach Quintett’,
over one hundred and seventy opus numbers
further down the line, we have eleven,
even shorter movements, six marked with
roman numerals and with the even numbered
sections called Intermezzi dividing
them up. Each of these is scored for
a different woodwind instrument, each
of which is accompanied by a ‘matching’
percussion instrument. For example the
horn associated with hunting is placed
with the militaristic side-drum. The
silky clarinet, is paired slightly differently
with the contrasting woodblock and the
odd flourish on a variety of percussion.
The work’s structure according to Meret
Forster in his valuable booklet notes
"accentuates a symmetric general
design that corresponds to the tempo
instructions". The longest movement,
at almost four minutes, is the central
panel, movement five. So, the piece
as a whole is beautifully balanced and
satisfying as a form and so delicately
orchestrated. Again I emphasize that
it is superbly played and ideally recorded.
The style of this work though often
witty and virtuosic is post-Webernian
pointillism and it is in this piece
that it is hard to keep one’s concentration,
although the short movements and the
regularly changing colours do help.
The work now seems dated despite the
fact that one can admire it on all of
the above levels.
For those of you who
are following this series, this disc
of rarely heard and recorded Krenek
is obviously a must. For the inquisitive
outsider, of which I am definitely one,
I would recommend that you start your
‘Krenek experience’ with the symphonies
recorded complete on CPO.
Gary Higginson
for details
Peterson Quartet; Wieland Welzel (percussion)
