April 28, 2012

  • Review: Robert Fuchs' Serenades (A master teacher's famous last Serenades)

     

    Robert Fuchs: Serenades 3-5
    Cologne Chamber Orchestra/Christian Ludwig
    Naxos 8.572607
    Total Time:  68:54
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    You will perhaps never read a review of any of thesecomposer’s works and see the name Robert Fuchs (1847-1927): Enescu, Korngold,Mahler, Schmidt, Schreker, Sibelius, Wolf, or Zemlinsky.  Each of these composers were pupils of RobertFuchs at the Vienna Conservatory, one of the great composition teachers of the19th century.  Brahms himselfwas an advocate of Fuchs music which should also certainly have someweight.  And one period critic pointed tohis influence in Mahler’s second symphony! Though Fuchs music was somewhat popular in his own day, it was already losingfavor by the end of his death and even biographical musicological resourcesdismiss him.  Even today there are a mere26 recordings of Fuchs’ music in the catalog. The first serenade only received its US premiere in 2009!  His three symphonies have yet to make it todisc and would indeed be fascinating to hear against the work of hiscontemporaries.  The five serenades werehis best known works (he was sometimes called the “Serenader Fox”) and they havenow been surveyed for Naxos by the Cologne Chamber Orchestra of which this isthe second disc containing the last three works.

    The Serenade No. 3,Op. 21 (1874) is cast in four movements. Some period context is perhaps appropriate to get a sense of where thiswork falls historically.  The year 1874saw the completion of the fourth symphonies of both Bruckner and Dvorak, Grieg’sfirst take on his incidental music for PeerGynt, and Smetana had begun work on his MaVlast and Tchaikovsky his first piano concerto.  Dovrak’s own Serenade for Strings would appear the following year.  Into this amazingly fertile musical milieucomes this third serenade.  It opens witha delicate “Romanze” and is followed by a fine minuet.  Sibelius’ ValseTriste could certainly said to be a much later kindred spirit of thisopening movement which does seriously make one think of that composer’s musicin its opening bars.  The second movementfinds us a bit closer to that of Brahms own first orchestral serenade from1857-58.  The third movement featuressome quite fascinating string writing and a light march-like main theme withinteresting harmonic ideas.  The finalmovement is a bit of exotic writing cast in a fiery Hungarian-influenced style.  The latter no doubt bringing full circle thework’s dedication to Her Imperial Highness Elizabeth of Austria.

    The fourth serenade appeared some twenty years later in 1895and perhaps more adequately reflects the multi-movement form with five distinctmovements.  A lot had happened musicallyin those preceding twenty years with the form of the symphony being expandedand the early Impressionist music of France beginning to appear.  Mahler’s third and Rachmaninov’s firstsymphonies belong to this year, as does some of Sibelius’ Leminkainen movementsand Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel.  The latter more definitely hearkening to thechanges in Austrian music to come.  Withinthe confines of this serenade most admired by Brahms, one finds some musicalstamps that would become part of the styles we hear in Hugo Wolf and FranzSchmidt.  The emotional heart of theserenade, the “Adagio,” would no doubt be of interest to Schmidt with itsharmonic modulations becoming a hallmark of that composer’s style.  The string writer here is a bit denser andchromatic harmony is also much more in the forefront of often gorgeous melodicideas from the start of the opening “Andante sostenuto.”  The second movement is a scherzo-like “Allegrettograzioso.”  The “Menuett” certainly isthe most gorgeous melodies in the suite with beautiful horn writing.  The latter becomes a part of thechromatically rich “Adagio” in ways that certainly have one thinking Mahler attimes.

    The final serenade appeared shortly after its predecessorand is for small orchestra.  The fourmovements follow a similar pattern of slow opening movement, a more substantial“Allegro grazioso” and brief “allegretto” before a quick-paced finale.  As much fin-de-siecle that one might apply tothe previous serenade, here the music seems like a more reflective look back atthe century as Brahms is certainly a worthy contemporary sharing this work’ssound with a bit of Johann Strauss referenced stylistically in the concludingmovement.

    The Cologne Chamber Orchestra perfectly captures this greatmusic in fabulous performances that are well-recorded.  They play these pieces not as overtlyRomantic Brahmsian knockoffs, but for the great works that they are giving themthe sort of emotional weight and depth one expects in the serenade form andwhich can be heard in performances of similar works by Brahms, Dvorak, orTchaikovsky that became the more familiar expressions of this 19thcentury multi-movement form.  Yet, Fuch’sserenades are certainly more fascinating to hear than Brahms own massiveapproaches to the form—of course, in Brahms case these are more like symphoniesin all but title!  The interesting shiftsof harmony and melodic content make the works here all integral discoveries toa deeper appreciation of Austrian symphonic music.  Closer familiarity will certainly deepen theawareness of the music by Fuchs’ more famous pupils, some of who would changeour perceptions of melody, enrich our harmony, and even live to influencepopular music well into our own century.

    Highly recommended!