Roger SESSIONS (1896-1985); Stephan WOLPE (1902-1972)
Violin Concerto (1935) [28.53] Paul Zukofsky
(violin)
Symphony (1956) [25.53]
Orchestre
Philharmonique/Gunther Schuller (Sessions); Orchestra of the 20th Century/Arthur
Weisburg
CRI American masters
CD676 [54.57]
Amazon
USA
Chacun a son goût! This is just a short note to welcome the first
opportunity to hear Stephan Wolpe's legendary Symphony in Three Movements
of 1955, in what appears to have been its first (and live) recording in New
York of 1981 (originally available on CRI SD 503). Wolpe was a radical composer
and a restless man, a citizen of the world who lived in several countries,
none of which embraced him wholeheartedly. The influence of Webern, with
whom he studied after fleeing from Berlin in 1933, is evident, and Stravinsky
is not far behind. Later New York, Philadelphia & Darmstadt figure.
He is something of a cult figure, recently recorded fairly extensively on
CD. His Enactments for three pianos (& three page turners whose
task, as I recall, was little less demanding than that of the pianists!)
was of mind-boggling complexity, and is well remembered as a highlight of
a summer festival at South Bank of a programme selected by Harrison Birtwistle,
before minimal music and easy listening took over marketing support and that
annual event went determinedly down-market.
The music of the Symphony is quick-thinking, with rapid changes and combinations
of sonority. It is a lucid, but engagingly wayward, work based upon a two-bar
theme of eight tones heard at the beginning. The first movement is relatively
placid, but the second is energetic, with angular, strident music 'splintered
& dispersed with increasing intensity'. The third is exuberant &
athletic, with a Stravinskian feel and passages of scherzando fun, leading
eventually to a cooler coda. We have listened to it some four times and found
attention easily maintained - it is the sort of music which needs repetition
to absorb it and is ideal for a CD because opportunities to hear it live
are likely to remain rare. Without having seen the score, my impression is
that this performance was somewhat rough and ready, and that it could make
a far more persuasive impression with a specialist conductor like Knussen
or Brabins, and would benefit from modern recording - the balance here is
sometimes odd.
In contrast to the Wolpe, I found the Sessions concerto failed to engage
or retain my interest; a rather academic and dour piece, which I would not
seek to hear again.
Wolpe can more easily be approached through his piano music, which is recorded
by Geoffrey Douglas Madge on
CPO
999 055-2 [mid-price], and on
Largo
5120 by the composer's daughter Katerina Wolpe (who is not
quite equal to Stephan Wolpe's extreme virtuosic demands).
Peter Grahame Woolf
see also review by Rob Barnett
who found the sessions more engaging than the Wolpe. As Peter says
Chacun a son goût!
