Satire or Masterpiece? Both. Simply Outstanding!
J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 11/24/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you're like me, the only music you've known by Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek (1860-1945) is his overture to 'Donna Diana,' which used to be played a lot, but frankly I can't remember the last time I heard it. (It may be familiar to some as the theme song for the old radio program 'Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.') And if that's all you know of him, you're in for a big surprise with this CD. This is high-octane stuff. Not only is Reznicek a superb orchestrator, he's got big ideas, and he is able to pull them off. But first some background: Reznicek, a near-contemporary of Richard Strauss, was unlucky in life. Where Strauss went from triumph to triumph, Reznicek fell prey to all sorts of bad luck--his first wife and two children died, he lost fine positions through no fault of his own, his music was praised and then ignored. He wrote three tone poems that bear on all this. The first, 'Schlemihl,' is more or less a self-portrait. (For those of you who don't know, a schlemiel is, according to Leo Rosten, a 'born loser,' the fellow who is 'always knocking things off the table.') The second, Der Sieger' ('The Winner' or 'The Victor') is the subject of this tone poem. The third, apparently now lost, is 'Frieden' ('Peace'), about which little is now known, although it apparently had its première in 1915; perhaps the score and parts were lost in WWI.
'The Winner' is almost certainly a satire on the life and music of Richard Strauss. Although the two men were friends, it is quite likely that 'Der Sieger' was written with more than a touch of jealousy and bile. This 48 minute piece has three large movements: 'Ascent, and Female Companion,' 'The Dance around the Golden Calf,' and 'The Death.' In the first, the hero ('Heldenleben,' get it?) is described in a written introduction by Reznicek as cold and hard and accompanied by a female companion of the same ilk (Strauss and his wife, the notably ambitious and difficult soprano, Pauline de Ahna?). He goes from victory to victory. And in II greed and ambition become the main focus. Finally, in III, the hero becomes ill, his companion decamps and the 'winner' faces a lonely death. This all sounds incredibly vicious and heartless, but indeed the music is humorous at the same time it mimics Strauss's orchestral style to a T. One doesn't know whether to chuckle, to tsk, or to simply gape in admiration at the quality of the music qua music. I finally found myself primarily doing the latter. I could be amused and a little scandalized by the human aspects of this score, but mostly I became more and more smitten by the raw quality of the writing. This is superb stuff here, fully the equal of Strauss but with a quality all its own. Indeed, if I had to characterize the music I'd say that it is somewhere in between Strauss and Mahler (and in the death scene, with some aspects of Bruckner). The irony and sarcasm (oh, those E flat clarinets!) are really more Mahlerian. The melodic ideas are first-rate, counterpoint flows like water and is only noticeable as such when one really listens carefully, the orchestration is absolutely on a par with the two other masters, the form is clear and yet complex enough to intrigue, the harmonies chromatic without being tortured.
Of course, one thing Reznicek is satirizing here is the use by Strauss of aspects of his own life for artistic purposes as well as publicity. It makes one think of the use current-day celebrities make of their own personal lives (Madonna, say?). Strauss was doing, or would do, something that almost no one before him had done in such tone poems as 'Sinfonia domestica' and 'Alpensinfonie' or, most obviously, his opera 'Intermezzo,' which reenacts scenes from Strauss's life complete with termagant wife and skat games. Here, finally, in the closing moments, when contralto soloist and chorus are introduced, there is a verbal context for the whole thing that underlines Reznicek's own resignation to life: 'If a world's wealth for you is lost/Don't feel regret about it, it's nothing./And if a world's wealth you've won,/Don't be happy about it, it's nothing./Pains and pleasures pass on,/Pass by in the world, it's nothing.'
The performance here is smashing. Michail Jurowski (himself the son of a composer and father of a rising conductor, Vladimir Jurowski) is in utter control of his forces. The West German Radio Orchestra (Cologne), expanded by extra brass and woodwinds and a huge string complement, are fully up to the task of this big score. Alto Beate Koepp and the Symphony Chorus do their small bit admirably as well.
The only drawback to this recording--and I don't think it's that much of one--is the short timing: 48'26". These same musicians have recorded Reznicek's 'Schlemihl' (along with the 'Raskolnikov' overture) but I've not heard it. I intend to rectify that. The excellent booklet notes by Eckhardt van den Hoogen (inelegantly and occasionally inaccurately translated by Susan Marie Praeder--cpo really ought to find a more graceful German/English translator) make a plea to anyone who might have information about any surviving score or parts for the lost 'Frieden' to contact him or the producer of the CD.
Reznicek, although known to me as a name and as the composer of a piece atypical of his larger output, is a real find. I'm eager for more.
[Postscript: I just learned that Classicstoday.com has given this disc one of its 'Classical Internet Awards 2004' citations.]
Scott Morrison"
Track Listings (3) - Disc #1