Strauss: Concertante Works
Julie Price, bassoon; Tasmin Little, violin. Michael McHale, piano.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Michael Collins, clarinet
Chandos 20034
Total Time:  76:53
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

For fans of Richard Strauss’ music, this new Chandos release will fill in a host of gaps of marginalia in the composer’s vast output.  The album pulls together four fairly rare works that will be unfamiliar to most listeners, apart from the Burleske for piano and orchestra which opens the album.  The other real draw here will be one of these last performances by violinist Tasmin Little of the violin concerto as the virtuoso plans to retire from performing.  All but one of these pieces comes from early in Strauss’ output.

Strauss’ Burleske (1885-86) is in the grand Romantic tradition and is like a mini-concerto of sorts.  Michael McHale tackles this piece well with gestures that sometimes feel more Rachmaninov-like in the opening bars.  The performance is overall quite good making for a strong opening to the album that can hold its own against others in the catalog.

The other three pieces though are going to be the more intriguing for Strauss fans.  The quite intimate Duett-Concertino, TRV 293 (1947) is a charming piece.  The clarinet and bassoon take on character-like dialogue with rather beautiful writing for both.  While there is no program, Strauss had a mild suggestion of a fairy (the clarinet) and a bear (the bassoon) that might have only been the germ of what would evolve into this little work.  Written toward the end of his life, the piece has a very conservative tonal palette.  The gestures are still quite like his other mature works, but they have been tamped down in a piece that spins along.  To see just how “old-fashioned” the piece is one need listen no further than the beautiful clarinet Romanze, TRV 80 (1879) which has a rather Mozartean quality.  It is from his earliest days of composition when he was still not quite writing music enraptured by Wagnerian harmony.

The more substantial Violin Concerto in d, TRV 110 (1881-82) was composed for his violin teacher, Benno Walter.  Walter would perform this in a piano reduction form to some appreciation and then in 1890 again in its orchestral version.  This too is a fairly convention work in the tradition of Brahms.  A traditional opening movement features some beautifully lyrical writing and a little rhythmic interest along the way.  The orchestral writing stays fairly traditional but is already quite competent.  There is a brief slow movement and a rondo finale.  For those who know the Strauss of the tone poems and grandiose symphonic chromaticism, this will seem almost anachronistic.  Fortunately, it has Tasmin Little to advocate for the piece giving it as fine a performance as one would hope.

This collection of conservative Romanticism from a composer known more for his expansive chromaticism and orchestral color will be a place to hear some of the ways this later style evolved.  For those who dislike that distinct Strauss style, this will be some pleasant and engaging Late-Romantic music that is firmly in line with other music of the 1870s and 1880s.

The performances here are all quite excellent.  Michael Collins finds gorgeous tone for the clarinet pieces where he is the soloist.  He also is on the podium to provide a larger continuity to the approach in all these works.  The BBC orchestra is in top form as well and captured in an excellent sonic picture with the violin being imaged a bit forward.

Ben-Haim: Evocations-Works for Violin
Itamar Zorman, violin. Amy Yang, piano.
BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Philippe Bach
BIS 2398
Total Time:  65:00
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

BIS bring together a collection of music for violin by composer Paul Ben-Haim (1897-1984).  Born in Munich, Ben-Haim would work as an assistant conductor with Bruno Walter and Hans Knappertsbusch early in his career.  He would emigrate to Tel Aviv in 1933 essentially escaping the horrors to come in Nazi Germany.  Among his most famous students are Elihu Inbal and Henri Lazaroff.  Ben-Haim would become one of the most important Israeli composers of his time.  His music is noted for its merging of European and Middle Eastern musical styles as it explored folk dances and rhythms from the region of Palestine.  This current release brings together his collected works for violin.  Three chamber works and three works for violin and orchestra round off this important release.

An inherent sadness casts its shadow across Evocation (1942).  Written in memory of the violinist Andreas Weissgerber, the piece opens with a mournful motif that becomes a unifying force in the piece.  Structurally, Ben-Haim sticks to a traditional sonata form and the music has its foot firmly in the world of Romanticism.  The solo line is truly gorgeous and explores this melodic structure expanding throughout its register with a blend of insistent virtuosic writing and nuanced lyricism.  More vigorous writing seems to hint at the evils of Europe trying to overwhelm the beauty.  The piece is really a remarkable work that eventually moves to a more personal expression of grief in its final bars with hints at Eastern-European Jewish music.

Three original chamber works are also included on the album.  The Berceuse Sfaradite (1945) is one of the early examples of Ben-Haim use of Sephardic folk song and is among his most popular pieces.  For contrast, there is the later Three Songs Without Words.  Written in 1951, these pieces provide some contrast to the earlier work.  Here one can sense Ben-Haim beginning to explore more Middle Eastern harmonies and melodic shapes as he incorporates Sephardic music here.  The title connects to the more familiar collections of piano music by Mendelssohn.  One can hear further explorations of Arabic traditions as Ben-Haim’s music continued to work towards a blend of East and West traditions in one of his last works, the Three Studies for Solo Violin (1981) composed for Yehudi Menuhin.  They are almost like little fleeting thoughts composed by an ailing composer looking back at his work.  As a bonus, Zorman includes a transcription of a “Toccata” from the 5 Pieces for Piano, Op. 34 (1943) arranged by his father.  It adds a personal touch to an equally moving album.

At the center of the release is Ben-Haim’s Violin Concerto (1960) written for Zvi Zeitlin.  The integration of Western and Eastern musical traditions is on clear display here in a work that adheres to traditional form and structure.  It is a well-balanced piece that opens with a sonata allegro movement, shifts to a touching song-like central movement, and concludes with an exciting folkish dance.  Into these Western structures, Ben-Haim applies more Middle Eastern musical approaches with attempts to incorporate quarter tones, long melismatic writing, and the use of a Sephardic-like melody in the third movement.  These are all part of what would be identified as the “Mediterranean Style” developing in Israeli music.

Ben-Haim’s music is a blend of the modern and romantic.  Echoes of his approach can be heard in composers exploring musical material outside of the serialist academic worlds.  There is a very deep emotional quality to his music, even when it is at its more cerebral, that helps communicate his ideas clearly.  This is aided by the use of traditional structures which allow for an easier entry point for listeners.  The performances here are really superb and committed.  Zorman is able to walk that line between the Classical violin style and the necessary folkish nods that appear in the music.  It is clear he loves this music and that emotional connection comes through in the performances.  BIS’s release is a perfect way to begin to acquaint oneself with this music.