Search - Joseph Marx, Tonya Lemoh :: Tonya Lemoh Plays Joseph Marx

Lush Late Romantic Solo Piano Music

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 08/31/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There has been a mini-swell of interest in the music of the Austro-German late-romantic composer Joseph Marx, a hold-out against the modernism of such contemporaries as Berg, Webern and Schönberg. Marx has always been known mostly for his songs, but lately there have been recordings of some of his big orchestral works, e.g. Joseph Marx: Nature Trilogy, Joseph Marx: Alt-Wiener Serenaden; Partita in Modo Antico; Sinfonia in Modo Classico, some orchestral songs Joseph Marx: Orchestral Songs and piano concertos Joseph Marx: The Piano Concertos. Now comes this disc of solo piano music played by the talented young Australian pianist Tonya Lemoh. I had never heard any of these works before and was immediately won over by a number of them. It is true that the musical style may, in some instances, be a bit overripe, but on the whole these are attractive, lush, tuneful, cleverly written and always interesting pieces.



The Six Pieces for Piano (1916) opens with an expansive tripartite 'Rhapsody' whose harmonic language is more akin to Mahler and Reger than to, say, Brahms, although the sense of form is reminiscent of the late Brahms solo pieces. The 'Prelude' (coupled with a Fugue) is like a Chopin prelude except that it makes much use of impressionist harmonies. The 'Fugue', in four voices, displays Marx's complete mastery of counterpoint which does not obscure its melodic interest. 'Albumblatt' is delicately rapturous, sounding almost Debussyan. 'Arabeske' makes use of filigree garbed in Scriabinesque chords of the fourth coupled with modal melodies. 'Ballade', marked 'erzählend' ('narrating') tells a story, although no program is provided by the composer -- the score is inscribed 'Frau Anna 26 Juli 1915' and one wonders if the story lies there! The last of the six pieces 'Humoreske' is a lighthearted piece in 2/4 with a delicious middle section in 3/4 time that evokes long-gone days of the Viennese waltz.



'Herbst-Legende' ('Autumn Legend') is a somewhat nondescript five-minute ballade whose B section is impressionistic and Chopinesque. 'Carneval' ('Carnival', alternately called 'Nachtstück', or 'Nocturne', by the composer) is quiet, reflective, serene. 'Canzone' ('Song') is a lyrical outpouring with a wholly endearing melody. 'Die Flur der Engel' ('The Angel's Meadow') has a hushed beginning followed by simple slow arpeggios which create a feeling of rapture or awe. It is reported that these last four pieces are appearing in their first recordings.



Tonya Lemoh is a peripatetic young pianist who has studied a number of places including the US, England, Sierra Leone (!), Australia and Denmark. She is currently on the piano faculty of the University of Copenhagen. This is her second album, her first on the Chandos label. She makes a fine impression with this disc of otherwise virtually unknown music that certainly deserves to be better known.



Scott Morrison"