MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline

 

Ernst TOCH (1887–1964)
Violin Sonata No. 2, op.44 (1928) [13:16]

Burlesken, for piano, op.31 (1923) [9:28]

Three Impromptus, for cello, op.90c (1963) [9:11]

Piano Quintet, op.64 (1938) [37:02]

Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Annette von Hehn (violin), Julia–Maria Kretz (violin), Hartmut Rohde (viola), Frank Dodge (cello), Daniel Blumenthal (piano))

rec. 4-5 May 2007, 20-21 December 2007 (Piano Quintet only), Siemens Villa, Berlin DDD
NAXOS 8.559324 [68:57] 

 

Experience Classicsonline


For too many years, Ernst Toch was a figure rarely encountered, certainly never in the concert hall (in over 40 years of concert going I’ve never heard a work of his live) and seldom on record. There have been some valuable LP recordings of his work – William Steinberg and the Pittsburg Symphony recorded the 3rd Symphony, which they commissioned, on Capitol (P8364 and it was re-issued in the 1990s in the EMI Matrix series
EMI 5658682) and it’s a fine performance. The 5th Symphony was recorded by the Louisville Orchestra, under Robert Whitney (now available on TROY 0212 with music by other composers or on Louisville First Edition FECD035 where it is coupled with other Louisville recordings of Toch’s Peter Pan, Notturno and the Miniature Overture).  An handful of chamber works appeared over the years on various American labels – the 1st Violin Sonata and some piano music on Mainstream S502, together with the notorious Geographical Fugue for speaking chorus. More recently, CPO has done Toch proud by recording the complete Symphonies and String Quartets as well as the fine Cello Concerto and the Dance Suite, op.30. 

So why has it taken so long for us to catch up with this composer? I think the answer is fairly easy to find. There’s the obvious time it takes, after the death of a composer, for the public to “re-discover” him even though, to some of us, he never went away! – Alan Rawsthorne, for instance, has only recently started to gain the recognition he deserves, thanks, mainly, to Naxos’s major series of recordings of his music – but the second reason is more pertinent. Toch’s music is non-tonal. It isn’t atonal, far from it, but he treats tonality with a very free mind, and because of this, his music doesn’t flow as easily as some – Hindemith for instance. There are, I have always felt, to be similarities with Hindemith, the same bluff sense of humour, the same questioning use of form and tonality, the superb craftsmanship in the construction of their works. But Hindemith is a more tonal composer and thus it’s easier to follow his argument, even in his biggest instrumental works, such as the Die Harmonie der Welt Symphony (a work well worth getting to know in Blomstedt’s magnificent San Francisco recording on Decca 4752642). But I digress. 

So what do we have on this disk? A bright and zesty Violin Sonata gets things off to a sparkling start. It’s quite short but really full of good things. The Burlesken are a different matter. The word "burlesque" derrives from the italian burla, which means a joke, or the original French word burlesque, which confirms a piece of art as ridiculous and slightly outrageous, but mainly in a funny way. Basically, burlesque means "in an upside down style". These three pieces certainly do that. Ths first one is serious, but yet it has a quirkiness about it, the fast middle one continues the idiosyncrasy, whilst the final piece, named The Jugglar, is a rollicking encore piece. The Three Impromptus for solo cello are from a much later period in Toch’s life and they’re more thoughtful, more contemplative, more subtly humorous. 

The main work here is a big Piano Quintet and the names of the four movements – The Lyrical Part, The Whimsical Part, The Contemplative Part and The Dramatic Part – seem to sum up Toch’s compositional outlook. The first, lyrical, movement is rich and thickly textured with a strong vein of lyricism and Toch keeps a forward driving Allegro tempo until the end, when a slow, quiet, coda brings matters to rest. The Whimsical Part is a skittish scherzo with contrasting middle section, it is most comical and not, perhaps, what you might expect from this composer. The Contemplative Part is full of gentle lyricism, and there’s a touch of real pathos. The Dramatic Part is all headlong rush and terse argument and, this might come as a surprise, there’s more than a slight hint of Korngold in some of the writing! 

Ernst Toch is a very fine composer and it is to be hoped that we can now get to grips with his large and varied catalogue. He deserves our attention and this excellent disk, with fine performances and crystal clear recording, is another step along the way.

Bob Briggs 

see also Review by Jonathan Woolf




 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.