Juozas GRUODIS (1884-1948)
Sonata for Violin and Piano (1922) [22:14]
Piano Sonata No 2 [17:23]
‘Joys and Sorrows’ A Suite of Songs arranged by Christopher Horner and John Lenehan [13:14]
Four pieces for Violin and Piano [12:19]
Christopher Horner (violin); John Lenehan (piano)
rec. 25-27 September 2013, Wyastone, Monmouthshire, Wales
DISCOVERY DMV113 [65:12]
According to the excellent, and highly-informative sleeve-notes
by Algirdas Jonas Janatjeva, Juozas Gruodis was one of the most eminent and
original Lithuanian composers of the first half of the 20th century.
His is yet another in the ever-growing list of new composers’ names
hitting CD catalogues, especially as smaller European countries surface from
former relative obscurity. Janatjeva goes on to say that Gruodis’s emergence
into the musical life of the time was as a promoter of progressive artistic
ideas. As such, he was determined to raise the level of the budding Lithuanian
professional music scene to European standards.
Gruodis began his career as an organist, working in remote villages and small
towns up until he had turned thirty. Initially self-taught, as far as music
theory was concerned, he went on to study in Moscow, first taking private
lessons before finally entering the Conservatory there in 1915. However, he
was conscripted into the Russian army as a military bandmaster and, with failing
health, visited Yalta several times to receive treatment at the Sanatorium.
This consequently somewhat prolonged his studies, but he eventually obtained
a diploma in 1920. After returning to Lithuania and receiving a state scholarship,
he continued his composition studies at Leipzig Conservatoire. Returning to
Lithuania, he was firstly appointed second conductor at the State Theatre
in Kaunas, before becoming Director of the Kaunas State Music School. He was
instrumental in the School becoming a Conservatoire in 1933, where he was
granted a professorship three years later. Declining health saw him concentrate
on teaching, rather than administrative duties, and he died in 1948.
His artistic output is relative modest in quantity, but he was among the first
to compose large-scale works in Lithuania. He was more productive in minor
genres, and especially in arrangements of folk-songs from the countryside.
Generally-speaking his musical style is late-romantic, but with the addition
of some quite significant impressionist, and even expressionist traits in
some of his later works. He attempted the synthesis of modernity, to some
degree, with national character, by seeking to combine special elements of
Lithuanian folk music — especially the ‘sutartinės’,
ancient polyphonic songs — with contemporary expressive measures such
as some dissonant harmonies that seemed daring at the time.
The Sonata for Violin and Piano in D minor is one of Gruodis’s
major works and the first-ever contribution to this genre by a Lithuanian
composer. Overall the Sonata combines sincere lyricism, moments of dramatic
passion and even mischievous playfulness. For a work from the composer’s
Leipzig student-days, it bursts with youthful ardour and joie de vivre.
In all four movements, in fact, Gruodis uses entire melodies or elements taken
from his country’s folk-songs. The first movement presents the violin
with an intense romantic melody, after a short piano introduction, and this
sets the tone for the movement as such. Chordal juxtapositions and resolutions
often seem slightly unusual, though never disconcerting, and, in fact, as
the CD progresses this becomes a fingerprint of the composer’s writing,
especially on those occasions where modal harmony is encountered. Here the
second theme is apparently based on the authentic melody of a lyrical folk-song.
The slow movement is particularly attractive, not so much heart-on-sleeve
emotion for pure effect, but rather founded on simple sincerity, and where
folk origins are never that far removed. As the sleeve-note points out, the
ensuing scherzo focuses on rhythm instead of melodic invention, and consequently
it can appear angular and unpredictable, giving it a decidedly more contemporary
feel than the sonata as a whole. Again an authentic melody from the sutartinės
forms the principal subject of the finale, essentially a good-humoured movement
interspersed with more lyrical episodes. This culminates in a particularly
impressive coda where chromatic harmony gives way to a more-solidly diatonic
close.
The Piano Sonata No. 2 is also a Leipzig student-work where the given
academic assignment dictated a strict three-movement form and somewhat less
complicated writing. The conventional sonata-form first movement therefore
contrasts energy and passion with simple lyrical expression, all still imbued
with a certain mild harmonic piquancy. The middle slow movement is based on
a popular Lithuanian folk-song, which the composer later published as a separate
piano piece ‘Lietuvoj’ (‘In Lithuania’). The sonata
concludes with a cheerful dance-like finale, almost with shades of Percy Grainger
at times. As befits a work that started out as an assignment, there is some
impressive contrapuntal writing along the way, and the cheeky ending is appropriate
for this fairly short closing movement.
The sleeve-notes go on to say that in most of the composer’s solo songs,
he sought to emphasize the meaning of a poetic text, certain phrases or even
separate words. The result is that his vocal lines are somewhat contrasting
in nature, switching between broad singing cantilenas and recitative. Melodic
features also derive from harmonies within the quite independent piano accompaniments.
Joys and Sorrows is a suite of original songs arranged for violin
and piano by the two performers on this CD. The quality and emotion of the
original text is exceptionally well captured in Gruodis’s scores. The
relatively short seven-piece set contains much descriptive music, which suits
the now wordless violin and piano ensemble to perfection.
In fact Gruodis himself transcribed some of his pieces, originally in other
genres, for this combination. The CD finishes with four of these. Oriental
Dance was written as a piece of incidental music for a play about the
life of a Jewish religious and political figure of the 17th century.
It conveys an effectively appropriate air of exoticism. À la Chopin
is the composer’s transcription of ‘Variation No. 6’ from
his ‘Variations in B flat major for piano’ – again composed
during his Leipzig days. Given that it dates originally from 1921, the piece
seems strangely more like ‘Homage to Piazzolla’, rather than to
Chopin, given its harmonic flirtations and melodic directions, even though
the Argentinian tango-composer was born only that same year. The final two
pieces are arrangements of two numbers from the composer’s only ballet,
and represent scenes from a wedding celebration at the bottom of the Baltic
Sea – Waltz from Jūrate and Kastysis and Song of the
Sea, respectively.
The recording and presentation are first-rate, and Horner and Lenehan are
certainly excellent advocates for the cause. They clearly show a passion for,
yet innate sensitivity to the composer’s quite individual style of writing.
Gruodis was, in fact, a competent player of both violin and piano, and seems
to have applied this knowledge to get the best out of each instrument. In
such a partnership where the musical content is so equally shared between
the players, pianist, Lenehan, scores just marginally higher in the quality
of his technical performance overall than his violin-playing partner, Horner.
If you are looking for something new, and decidedly refreshing, and aren’t
especially well versed in music from Lithuania, or specifically by Juozas
Gruodis, then this charming and interesting addition to the repertoire would
make an excellent purchase. No doubt it will lead to some further investigation
of the composer’s, and his country’s music.
Philip R Buttall
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