Unheard: Music from the Interwar Period
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Label: Channel Classics
Cat No: CCS40517
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Release Date: 18th August 2017
Contents
Works
Indiskretionen (4) for string quartet, op.20Pieces (5) for string quartet, op.30
String Quartet no.2, op.28
Fragment of an unfinished String Quartet
Lieder (4)
Rechenschaft uber uns
Artists
Ebony QuartetBarbara Kozelj (mezzo-soprano)
Daniel Reuss (narrator)
Works
Indiskretionen (4) for string quartet, op.20Pieces (5) for string quartet, op.30
String Quartet no.2, op.28
Fragment of an unfinished String Quartet
Lieder (4)
Rechenschaft uber uns
Artists
Ebony QuartetBarbara Kozelj (mezzo-soprano)
Daniel Reuss (narrator)
About
This CD is unheard, for, as far as we know, none of this music has ever been issued before. But this recording is also unheard-of, since every piece conveys an uncompromising, selfless idealism, on which the Nazis laid a curse, but which went to make the music of the interwar period so rich and engrossing. In short, the present CD provides a supplement to the incomplete history of the music of this period, and brings unjustly forgotten composers to life once again. The Ebony Quartet consists of musicians from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. For many years they have formed the string nucleus of the Ebony Band, while also performing regularly as a quartet.
Together with the Ebony Band the quartet was awarded an Edison Klassiek in 1994 for the recording of Erwin Schulhoff's Concerto for string quartet and winds. The Ebony Band was founded in 1990 by Werner Herbers, former principal oboist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The ensemble has devoted itself to the rediscovery and rehabilitation of music from the interwar period that was unknown, forgotten or considered lost. For many years a busy concert schedule took the Ebony Band as far as the USA, but its present mission is to document repertoire and issue hitherto unpublished works and CDs.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Kahn - Fragment eines unvollendeten Streichquartetts
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2Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 1
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3Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 2
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4Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 3
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5Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 4
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6Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 5
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7Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 6
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8Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 7
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9Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 8
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10Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 9
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11Susskind - Rechenschaft uber uns - 10
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12Hauer - Funf Stucke fur Quartett op.30 - Ausdrucksvoll bewegt
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13Hauer - Funf Stucke fur Quartett op.30 - Ruhig
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14Hauer - Funf Stucke fur Quartett op.30 - Belebt
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15Hauer - Funf Stucke fur Quartett op.30 - Langsam
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16Hauer - Funf Stucke fur Quartett op.30 - Lebhaft
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17Susskind - Vier Lieder - Zauber bei Tag
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18Susskind - Vier Lieder - Heimweg
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19Susskind - Vier Lieder - Die Geliebte
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20Susskind - Vier Lieder - Der Sterbliche
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21Jokl - Zweites Streichquartett op.28 - Andantino
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22Jokl - Zweites Streichquartett op.28 - Allegro assai
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23Jokl - Zweites Streichquartett op.28 - Adagio
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24Gruenberg - Vier Indiskretionen fur String Quartett op.20 - Allegro con spirito
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25Gruenberg - Vier Indiskretionen fur String Quartett op.20 - Lento sostenuto e espressivo
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26Gruenberg - Vier Indiskretionen fur String Quartett op.20 - Moderato grazioso e delicato
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27Gruenberg - Vier Indiskretionen fur String Quartett op.20 - Allegro giocoso
Europadisc Review
In the two decades or so since Deccas groundbreaking Entartete Musik series revived interest in music proscribed as degenerate in the 1930s and 40s by the Nazi regime, there has been an upsurge of interest in the works of composers like Haas, Krsa, Ullmann and Klein who died in the Nazi death camps, as well as those like Korngold and Goldschmidt who were forced into exile. In recent years, the Ebony Band (all members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam) has unearthed more undiscovered gems from this darkest period of twentieth-century cultural history, and now on this new Channel Classics disc four of its string players performing as the Ebony Quartet present a fascinating collection of works for string quartet, all receiving their first commercial recordings.
Only the names of Matthias Hauer and Hans (or Jan) Walter Ssskind will be familiar even to specialist collectors: Hauer (1883-1959) is known as a pioneer (before Schoenberg!) of twelve-tone compositional techniques, though more by reputation than through acquaintance with his actual music. Ssskind (1913-1980) was better known in later years to British and American audiences as the conductor Walter Susskind. Erich Itor Kahn (1905-1956), Otto Jokl (1891-1963) and Louis Gruenberg (1884-1964) all took refuge in the United States, and are virtually unknown today, despite links with such important figures as Schoenberg and Ren Leibowitz.
All the music here captures the vibrant yet troubled creative atmosphere of central Europe during the interwar years, thanks to exceptionally vivid and committed performances from the Ebony Quartet. Kahns string quartet fragment opens proceedings with intimations of unspeakable world-weariness before becoming more animated but eventually petering out, incomplete, like Bachs unfinished fugue from The Art of Fugue. Hauers Five Pieces are composed not in twelve-note style but in a surprisingly accessible late atonal medium which finds room for clusters of expressive consonances, expansive slow music and energetic fast movements, while Jokls Second String Quartet inhabits an expressionistic medium that recalls Zemlinsky rather than Schoenberg, and is just as finely crafted. Gruenbergs mischievously-titled Four Indiscretions incorporate allusions to popular music, mixing the folk-like and the jazzy, suggesting open spaces as much as smoky cabarets.
The two works by Ssskind find string quartet joined by solo voice. In the Four Songs, the Ebony Quartet are joined by soprano Barbara Kozelj in settings of poems by the composers near-namesake and fellow Prague German, Wilhelm Emanuel Sskind (1901-1970). These are strikingly nuanced performances of beautifully fashioned music which capture much of the fragile angst of the late expressionist era. Most striking of all, however, is the cycle Rechenschaft ber uns [Accountability for us], settings of spoken agitprop texts by the German communist poet Louis Frnberg (1909-1957). They are delivered with a tremendous feeling of downtrodden anger and defiance by narrator Daniel Reuss, while the close mirroring of text in the music at some points recalls the Schoenberg of Pierrot Lunaire.
For those listeners who have already discovered the expressive potency of music by Pavel Haas, Hans Krsa and their contemporaries, this disc is essential further listening. The Ebony Quartet have found some real treasures here, missing links in the history of the twentieth-century string quartet. With detailed notes by producer Werner Herbers, and predictably fine recorded sound from Channel Classics, this is one of the most interesting releases to come our way so far this year. Compelling listening indeed!
Only the names of Matthias Hauer and Hans (or Jan) Walter Ssskind will be familiar even to specialist collectors: Hauer (1883-1959) is known as a pioneer (before Schoenberg!) of twelve-tone compositional techniques, though more by reputation than through acquaintance with his actual music. Ssskind (1913-1980) was better known in later years to British and American audiences as the conductor Walter Susskind. Erich Itor Kahn (1905-1956), Otto Jokl (1891-1963) and Louis Gruenberg (1884-1964) all took refuge in the United States, and are virtually unknown today, despite links with such important figures as Schoenberg and Ren Leibowitz.
All the music here captures the vibrant yet troubled creative atmosphere of central Europe during the interwar years, thanks to exceptionally vivid and committed performances from the Ebony Quartet. Kahns string quartet fragment opens proceedings with intimations of unspeakable world-weariness before becoming more animated but eventually petering out, incomplete, like Bachs unfinished fugue from The Art of Fugue. Hauers Five Pieces are composed not in twelve-note style but in a surprisingly accessible late atonal medium which finds room for clusters of expressive consonances, expansive slow music and energetic fast movements, while Jokls Second String Quartet inhabits an expressionistic medium that recalls Zemlinsky rather than Schoenberg, and is just as finely crafted. Gruenbergs mischievously-titled Four Indiscretions incorporate allusions to popular music, mixing the folk-like and the jazzy, suggesting open spaces as much as smoky cabarets.
The two works by Ssskind find string quartet joined by solo voice. In the Four Songs, the Ebony Quartet are joined by soprano Barbara Kozelj in settings of poems by the composers near-namesake and fellow Prague German, Wilhelm Emanuel Sskind (1901-1970). These are strikingly nuanced performances of beautifully fashioned music which capture much of the fragile angst of the late expressionist era. Most striking of all, however, is the cycle Rechenschaft ber uns [Accountability for us], settings of spoken agitprop texts by the German communist poet Louis Frnberg (1909-1957). They are delivered with a tremendous feeling of downtrodden anger and defiance by narrator Daniel Reuss, while the close mirroring of text in the music at some points recalls the Schoenberg of Pierrot Lunaire.
For those listeners who have already discovered the expressive potency of music by Pavel Haas, Hans Krsa and their contemporaries, this disc is essential further listening. The Ebony Quartet have found some real treasures here, missing links in the history of the twentieth-century string quartet. With detailed notes by producer Werner Herbers, and predictably fine recorded sound from Channel Classics, this is one of the most interesting releases to come our way so far this year. Compelling listening indeed!
Reviews
All the pieces the Ebony Quartet play could roughly be described as expressionist, with their chromaticism constantly flirting with atonality. Kahns Quartet Fragment, probably composed around 1924, is strikingly lyrical, and recalls the quartet writing of Zemlinsky more than anyone. The ghost of Bergs Lyric Suite seems to lurk behind parts of Jokls Second Quartet, just as there are echoes of Janček in Gruenbergs Four Indiscretions. All these pieces are played with tremendous commitment and finesse by the Ebony Quartet, who transmit their belief in its enduring quality in every bar. Andrew ClementsThe Guardian 16 August 2017
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