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About Arcana

My name is Ben Hogwood, editor of the Arcana music site (arcana.fm)

Listening to Beethoven #209 – Notturno in D major Op.42

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beethoven-viola

Beethoven’s viola © Beethoven Haus Bonn

Notturno in D major Op.42 arranged for viola and piano by Franz Xaver Kleinheinz under Beethoven’s guidance) (1804, Beethoven aged 33)

Dedication unknown
Duration 28′

1. Marcia: Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Menuetto: Allegretto
4. Adagio – Scherzo: Allegro molto – Adagio – Allegro molto – Adagio
5. Allegretto alla Polacca
6. Andante quasi allegretto – Variations 1-4 – Allegro – Tempo I
7. Marcia: Allegro

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by Ben Hogwood

Background and Critical Reception

Nicholas Marston, writing booklet notes for a Hyperion recording of the Notturno, notes, “The growing amateur market for music in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries encouraged publishers to increase their profits by issuing suitable works in all manner of instrumental arrangements.”

In this spirit, the Notturno in D major is essentially a recasting of the Serenade in D major Op.8, a versatile piece where Beethoven had already authorised an arrangement for flute and piano. This one, completed with the composer’s compliance, was for Beethoven’s own instrument (the viola) and piano.

Beethoven, says Marston, “had little respect for the practice and attempted to exercise some control over it”. Yet the Nocturne was released by the Leipzig publisher Hoffmeister and Kühnel in 1804 in an arrangement by Franz Xaver Kleinheinz (c1770-1832), who was also responsible for the arrangement of Beethoven’s Serenade Op.25 for flute and piano. The score was approved by Beethoven, though not without corrections – made in a fit of pique.

The piece retains its substantial dimensions, being in the originally cast seven movements.

Thoughts

Kleinheinz has, to these ears at least, done a thoroughly good job with Beethoven’s original, giving the viola one of its most substantial pieces from the early 19th century. The brisk, upbeat first movement falls nicely into the instrument’s confines, while the tender side of the viola is revealed in soft, soulful double stopping in the second movement Adagio, together with lyrical passages and a central episode in the minor key with more serious thinking.

The Menuetto is brisk and breezy, while the drama heightens in the central fourth movement Adagio, with several abrupt changes of speed and mood. The relative turmoil of this is complemented by the nimble Allegretto alla Polacca. The substantial penultimate movement Andante quasi Allegretto finds a great deal of expression in the viola’s hands, while the final Marcia has an appreciable heft.

Recordings used and Spotify links

Paul Coletti (viola), Leslie Howard (piano) (Hyperion)
Gérard Caussé, François-René Duchâble (Erato)
Nobuko Imai, Roger Vignoles (Chandos)
Nils Mönkemeyer, Nicholas Rimmer (Genuin)
Simon Rowland-Jones, Niel Immelman (Meridian)

Some fine versions here, especially those of Nobuko Imai, Gerard Caussé and Paul Coletti. Coletti and Howard provide excellent companion pieces int the fiery early Mendelssohn sonata and Schumann’s Märchenbilder to put the piece in context.

You can listen to clips from the Coletti-Howard account on the Hyperion website, while the rest you can hear in full on this Spotify playlist:

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1804 Eberl Symphony in D minor, Op. 34

Next up Tremate, empi tremate Op.116

On Record – Nightlands: Moonshine (Western Vinyl)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Nightlands, the solo project of The War On Drugs bassist Dave Hartley, has reached its third instalment. Moonshine reflects a change in the pace of his home personal life, since leaving Philadelphia for the relatively deserted area of Asheville.

When crafting his music, Hartley has looked to build massive layers of keyboards and vocals on top of each other, creating ‘stacks’ of sound. They are in keeping with the album’s artwork, as the press release describes. “The surrealistic album art by Austin-based illustrator Jaime Zuverza depicts an archway opening to the stars over the surface of an idyllic sea flanked by both moon and sun”, it says. “Similarly, Moonshine reveals portals within portals leading to ever deeper places in Hartley’s vocal-centered labyrinth.”

What’s the music like?

As wide open as that introduction suggests it will be, but in spite of the big textures there is a touching intimacy too. On occasion it feels like the one person you are talking to has gone out for a quick smoke under the stars in a massive vista, and will be back inside shortly. The music pans out to give space to these thoughts, which are often tender and warm.

They are not without sharp-edged feeling, however. Stare Into The Sun has a direct observation on political machinations. “You’ve got your sheep but you’re no shepherd”, sings Hartley. “What does it mean…to buy everyone, and send someone’s son to Afghanistan?” No Kiss For The Lonely is equally pertinent, with its observation of “no love for you refugees, no rest for the weary”.

Most of the time, however, the album inhabits a calming place, the big vocals and keyboards complemented by languid saxophone lines and impressively supple rhythm tracks. The music unfolds with a slow and very natural groove, and Hartley’s warm-hearted vocals become its principle feature, often finding a style of music akin to a less troubled Bon Iver.

With You is a prime example, inhabiting a serene and content place, while Blue Wave goes even calmer, its keyboards like a slowly running stream.

Does it all work?

It does, especially at either end of the day. Moonshine has some very evocative moments, and it is beautifully written, rewarding background listening but also offering more to those paying attention to the lyrics.

Is it recommended?

Is it recommended?

Yes – an album of starry Americana that deserves its place in the moonlight.

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BBC Proms #26 – The Labèques, BBC Symphony Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov: Julian Anderson premiere, Martinů & Rachmaninoff

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Prom 26 – Katia and Marielle Labèque (pianos), BBC Symphony Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov (above)

Anderson Symphony No. 2 ‘Prague Panoramas’ (2020-22) (BBC co-commission: World premiere of complete work)
Martinů Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra H292 (1943)
Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances Op.45 (1940)

Royal Albert Hall, London
Friday 5 August 2022

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photo (c) Chris Christodoulou

An unusually well-assembled concert this evening with what might be termed a programme of ‘three-by-threes’ – each of these three works having three movements which, in each case, results in a broadly symmetrical design, not least the Second Symphony by Julian Anderson (with the conductor, below).

Inspired by Josef Sudek’s photographs of Prague while utilizing two medieval Czech hymns, Prague Panoramas (might Prague Pictures be even more apposite?) is typical in its fusing evocativeness with precision. Not least the preludial opening movement, its stark alternation of quick-fire chords and silence evolving into aspiring melodic lines as build to a tumultuous if quickly curtailed climax, though this linear aspect comes to dominate the nocturnal central movement with its expressive intensifications then fades against a backdrop of bell resonance and luminously modal polyphony. The finale is a deftly organized rondo – its energetic main material, inspired by Josef Lada’s almost Rabelaisian depictions of pub brawls, interspersed with more lyrical ideas through to the heady peroration later subsiding into a calm postlude.

Although its first two movements had been heard in Munich and Prague, this was the work’s first complete performance and found the BBC Symphony at its collective best – not least the lambently interweaving woodwind and strings, the visceral impact of brass and a substantial array of percussion whose contribution was pervasive. Semyon Bychkov (under-appreciated as an exponent of contemporary music) duly brought out that unity-within-diversity such as gave this work an underlying focus across the 32 minutes of its eventful yet cohesive course.

From Prague-inspired music by a British composer to that by a Czech composer in America – Martinů’s Concerto for Two Pianos may never have gained the plaudits of his earlier Double Concerto but it typifies this composer’s exile in a tried-and-tested interplay of folk-inflected melodicism with a harmonic acerbity recalling Prokofiev and rhythmic dexterity redolent of Stravinsky. Its undoubted highlight is a central Adagio whose almost ‘harmonie’ woodwind writing and circling piano figuration (had the composer come across the gamelan-influenced music of Colin McPhee?) feels mesmeric and affecting. Neither outer movement comes close in their audibly contrived amalgam of the rumbustious and lyrical, but this is music in which Katia and Marielle Labèque excel and tonight’s performance could rarely have been equalled.

Nor was there any doubting Bychkov’s authority in Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances that followed the interval. Admittedly this now regularly played while technically exacting piece needed more rehearsal than the BBCSO was able to give it on this occasion, though the outer sections of the first dance had just the right ominous incisiveness and its middle part featured winsome alto saxophone from Martin Robertson. The second dance had irony and angularity aplenty, as was slightly offset by the strings’ less than unanimous response towards the close.

Its sombre ambivalence and intricate textures give the central span of the final dance a quality unique in this composer: if Bychkov might have endowed it with even greater intensity, there was no doubting his identity with this music here or on the way to its resplendent apotheosis.

For more information, click on the names of composer Julian Anderson – and for more on the artists, click on the names of Katia and Marielle Labèque, Semyon Bychkov and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. For more on this year’s BBC Proms as it continues, head to the Proms website

For more information, click on the names of composers Kalevi Aho and Kaija Saariaho – and for more on the artists, click on the names of Carolina Eyck, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Switched On – Kuedo: Infinite Window (Brainfeeder)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Kuedo, the pseudonym for Berlin-based producer Jamie Teasdale, moves to the Ninja Tune family for third album Infinite Window, the first since 2016’s Slow Knife.

In the interim Teasdale has been extremely busy, collaborating with Flying Lotus on the Blade Runner: Black Out 2022 OST and scoring two films.

This album explores Teasdale’s love of contrasting styles of music, principally spaced out ambient synths and the more rhythm-based work of producers like Frank Ocean and The Weeknd, and looks to bring them together in a wholly complementary way.

What’s the music like?

Excellent. Teasdale’s prowess as a film composer is immediately evident, as it is easy to picture scenes to go with his descriptive writing. He also masters the combination of R&B and more through-composed synth music, meaning that we get emotive pictures set to rhythms that vary between intricate and driven.

The sound picture is slightly glitchy, with the vast backdrops given small dots of detail in the foreground, a bit like looking at a scene from Stranger Things where those white dots swirl in close to the viewer.

Harlequin Hallway simmers nicely and drops the beats, one of many occasions where Kuedo really flexes his muscles and drives the music forward. The title track acts as a kind of opening credits montage. Positioned halfway through, it gets just the right blend of moody introspection and pure strength from the rhythm section, while the synths, initially bubbling under, surge to the surface with simmering energy.

Sliding Through Our Fingers is a great start, rippling synth lines spreading out in the manner of Tangerine Dream to fill a massive space. The fluttering rhythms on Shadow Dance are brilliantly done, while Skybleed Magic has a really impressive scope, and feels like a sci-fi theme in waiting

Does it all work?

Impressively so. The album is really well structured, telling a story of contrasting moods and colours, but staying very true to a single path. There is a lot of energy just beneath the surface, especially when Kuedo is spinning those intricate synth lines, but the big drum tracks ensure that it is released in a wholly satisfying way.

Is it recommended?

Definitely. You could approach this album from the direction of Vangelis or Burial – and either way you would fine plenty to enjoy. Deeply impressive and consistently rewarding.

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BBC Proms #25 – Carolina Eyck, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / John Storgårds: Kalevi Aho Theremin Concerto, Saariaho & Shostakovich

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Prom 25 – Carolina Eyck (theremin), BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / John Storgårds

Aho Eight Seasons (Concerto for Theremin & Chamber Orchestra) (2011) (London premiere)
Saariaho Vista (2019) (Proms premiere)
Shostakovich Symphony no.15 in A major Op.141 (1971)

Royal Albert Hall, London
Thursday 4 August 2022

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photo (c) Chris Christodoulou

John Storgårds has given some memorable Proms with the BBC Philharmonic in the decade since he became this orchestra’s guest conductor, and tonight was no exception for featuring a theremin concerto by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. Its title Eight Seasons should be taken advisedly – the eight continuous sections encompassing a period from autumn to spring, as is reflected in the mostly restrained yet constantly changing textures which define a progression from the richness of Harvest to Midnight Sun with its serenity informed by new potential.

An instrument as fascinating to watch being played as it is to hear, the theremin has become the victim of its own ubiquity as an enhancer of atmosphere in film-scores and for musicians from Brian Wilson to Jonny Greenwood. Carolina Eyck was a dedicated exponent (evident in her encore-demonstration) – not least in the latter stages when her vocalise proved an enticing extension of her instrumental prowess, and the myriad timbral shifts more than compensated for the intermittent blandness of Aho’s acutely fastidious if not consistently involving music.

The layout of this piece (wind quintet and percussion alongside reduced strings) necessitated an early interval to prepare for those relatively lavish forces of Vista, Kaija Saariaho’s latest return to the orchestra and inspired by traversing the Californian coast from Los Angeles to San Diego. This is embodied over two cumulative movements – the expectancy of Horizons duly fulfilled with the mounting activity of Targets which itself subsides into an intensified recollection of the opening, now sounding as expansive as that ‘vista’ envisaged by the title.

Music so complex needs a sure hand to maintain its focus, the BBC Philharmonic responding with alacrity to Storgård’s attentive direction while he steered a convincing trajectory through what is likely Saariaho’s finest large-scale work for years – the intricacy and translucency of her writing having a panache which ensured this was manifestly a showpiece with substance. In particular, the sense of ideas being tentatively anticipated then vividly recalled added much to the evocative quality of music as formally substantial as it sounded expressively involving.

From recent Finnish orchestral works to Shostakovich’s last and most equivocal symphony is a fair step aesthetically, but Storgårds ensured the succession was a meaningful one. If it did not evince the ultimate in ominous irony, those laughs elicited from the opening movement’s stealthy activity and allusive inanity were for real – as, more regrettably, were those hesitant coughs denoting uneasy response to the slow movement’s emotional intensity as heightened by its sparseness of gesture, while not forgetting an eloquent response by cellist Peter Dixon.

Nor was the percussion found wanting in its almost concertante role, to the fore in a scherzo where the whimsical and sardonic found an unlikely accord. From its sombre initial gestures, Storgårds then had the measure of a finale whose central passacaglia built toward a powerful climax, and while tension dropped with the resumption of earlier ideas, the spectral transition into the coda was judiciously handled with the latter mesmeric in its deft profundity. Should the BBC Philharmonic need a new chief conductor, Storgårds might be worth approaching.

For more information, click on the names of composers Kalevi Aho and Kaija Saariaho – and for more on the artists, click on the names of Carolina Eyck, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra