More interesting repertoire
from Naxos. I hadn’t heard of Marion
Bauer and, looking her up in Norman
Lebrecht’s ‘Complete Companion to 20th
Century Music’, discovered that she
was "Author of romantic piano pieces
with flowery titles ...". Judging
by the contents of this new CD there
is more to Bauer than this. Appetite
whetted, I read in the booklet notes
that she was not only a composer, but
was also a teacher, writer and critic.
The word ‘indefatigable’ seems to sum
her up; with initial studies with Nadia
Boulanger, a substantial catalogue of
music, wide authorship of books on music
and executive functions on the boards
of organisations supporting American
music. The world always has a shortage
of such figures, and whatever one’s
opinion of her music, her position as
a kingpin - or should that be ‘queenpin’
- in the development of American music
in the first half of the 20th
century must be recognised and respected.
After Lebrecht’s brief
dismissal of her compositional oeuvre,
I was pleasantly surprised to find that
Marion Bauer’s work is often of a very
high quality indeed. The opening of
A Lament on an American Theme contains
something of the Vaughan Williams pastoral
feeling. Originally a movement for string
quartet, its modal harmonies are supposed
to ‘suggest the mist over the African
plains’, but I was hard put to find
the promised ‘primitive, elemental atmosphere.’
The title is a trifle misleading, but
this is a remarkably effective and expressive
piece in its own right. If the name
‘Bartók’ instead of ‘Bauer’ appeared
on the score, we would all be nodding
wisely over the artistic promise of
an emotionally charged, possibly youthful
work by the master.
The Concertino
continues in the romantic idiom of the
Lament, but with the solo instruments
allowing the music to flow in a more
lyrical fashion. The soloists serenade
each other, intertwine in contrapuntal
conversation and soar and dive over
deceptively simple accompaniments in
the strings. It’s a bit like Hindemith,
but without the Teutonic heaviness.
The Trio Sonata
introduces a Parisian, impressionistic
style, ‘conversational chamber music’
as described in the booklet by Diana
Ambache, the pianist on these recordings.
It is approachable, pleasantly inoffensive
music which imposes few intellectual
demands. I appreciated less the flautist’s
constant heavy vibrato, which clogs
up the performance like the clammy dead
hand of an insensitive singer.
The Symphonic Suite
was the highlight on this disc for
me. Bauer’s Jewish family, those that
remained in Alsace after a number of
her ancestors had moved to the U.S.
in the nineteenth century, suffered
cruelly under the Nazis. The first movement
expresses her deep sense of loss, and
there are chromatically underpinned
and unsettling moments of angst and
anguish. The rich sonorities of the
string orchestra
suit Bauer’s powerful message well,
and at its best could stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with other dramatic wartime works by
the likes of Martinů, Strauss or
Schönberg.
The Duo for
oboe and clarinet should be added to
any self-respecting wind ensemble’s
repertoire – if only so that the other
members can pay a quick visit to the
bar. Bauer plays with the apparently
restrictive medium of two wind instruments
as if it were a liberation: extended,
expressive solos and completely idiomatic,
lively writing creating a satisfying
whole for listener and performer alike.
The American Youth
Concerto is the least interesting
piece for me here. It has an integrity
and nobility which is superficially
attractive, and it is of course written
with younger players in mind.
Meaning what? That young musicians will
respond more to a sub-Dvořák, Schumann,
Rachmaninoff idiom? Bauer will have
known the kind of student - at the High
School for Music and Art in New York
- for whom she was writing, and judging
by the piece’s subsequent popularity
she must have hit the nail on the head.
For some young players, the opportunity
to perform a work which is substantial,
effective, fun, and distinctly ‘American’
must be quite a buzz. For me, the whole
thing is a bit lumpy and inane.
On the whole, this
is another interesting addition to a
relatively neglected area in composition,
and I’ve enjoyed making this little
foray into regions with which I would
probably never have bothered, left to
my own humanly frail and narrow devices.
The sound quality is nicely clear, and
the performances range from good to
grandly excellent. At her best, Marion
Bauer is a composer deserving of greater
serious recognition, but like too many
composers who have that one ‘hit’ she
seems destined to be dragged down by
her Op. 36; more than somewhat.
Dominy Clements
see also reviews
from Adam
Binks and Mark
Morris
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