Listening to Beethoven #205 – Der Wachtelslag WoO 129

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Peanuts comic strip, drawn by Charles M. Schulz (c)PNTS

Der Wachtelslag WoO 129 for voice and piano (1803, Beethoven aged 32)

Dedication not known
Text Samuel Friedrich Sauter

Duration 3’45”

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

The guide to this song on the website of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn lists it as a ‘box office hit’. Certainly Beethoven was aware of the popularity of Der Wachtelschlag (The Call of the Quail), informing the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, “I am offering you the following works for 300 gulden: A quail song, the text of which you may know. It consists of three verses, but my setting is entirely durchkomponiert (through-composed)”

For some reason the publishers did not take the song and it was released the following year by Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir in Vienna. The autograph score hints at another dedication to Count Browne, but this did not carry over to the original.

For Susan Youens, writing booklet notes for Signum Classics, the song “belongs to the antique tradition of bird calls in music…a bird whose calls invoke God”. She compares Beethoven’s setting with a later one from Schubert. “Both men inevitably devised the same dotted rhythmic figure for the quail’s calls”. Beethoven, however, “takes the poem far more seriously and from the perspective of the human being who listens to these worshipful injunctions. Ranging farther afield tonally than his younger contemporary, Beethoven’s storms are more tempestuous (the low bass rumble of thunder is a particularly wonderful detail), his acclamations of God’s praise grander, and his pleas for God’s aid more plangent.”

Thoughts

This is surely one of Beethoven’s most descriptive and dramatic songs – and is an indication of his development into a song composer of greater experimentation. The form of the song is quite unusual, being through-composed and taking an operatic air at times. Beethoven also brings the piano and voice close together in a shared depiction of the source material.

As Youens notes above, the rumble of the piano, low in the left hand, is a brilliant dramatic touch, while the ‘recitative’ nature of some of his vocal writing brings Handel to mind (to this ear at least!). Around the time of this song Beethoven had been working on a large, dramatic score (Christus am Ölberge, to be covered shortly) and this may be a fruitful result of the inspiration from that stage work.

It certainly makes a strong impact!

Recordings used

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Jörg Demus (piano) (Deutsche Grammophon)
Peter Schreier (tenor), András Schiff (piano) (Decca)
Barbara Hendricks (soprano), Love Derwinger (piano) (Arte Verum)
Christopher Maltman (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano) (Signum Classics)
Hermann Prey (baritone), Leonard Hokanson (Capriccio)

Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau is the ideal singer for this song, forcefully bringing it to life with the equally fervent tones of Jörg Demus. Yet his is not the only way to express Beethoven’s thoughts – Peter Schreier and András Schiff may be higher up the register (F major rather than D), and they glower less, but they still invest plenty of feeling in the text. The other versions listed are also very fine – including soprano Barbara Hendricks and Love Derwinger, at the same higher pitch but with a sharper tone from the singer. Christopher Maltman and Hermann Prey complete a formidable discography.

Also written in 1803 Krommer Symphony no.2 in D major Op.40

Next up Christus am Ölberge (Christ on the Mount of Olives), Op.85

Listening to Beethoven #206 – 3 Marches for piano duet Op.45

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ballesio-duet
The duet by Giuseppe Ballesio

3 Marches for piano duet Op.45 (1803, Beethoven aged 32)

Dedication Princess Esterházy
Duration 14′

no.1 in C minor
no.2 in E flat major
no.3 in D major

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

Beethoven’s return to the piano duet came through a commission from Count von Browne, the dedicatee of his three String Trios Op.9. Peter Hill, writing booklet notes for one of his last recordings for Delphian in 2020 (with Benjamin Frith), refers to a story given by Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries. Ries had been entertaining the Browne house with music by Beethoven, and mischievously included a march of his own which he passed off as a piece by his teacher. It was well received, but the joke backfired when he had to repeat the piece in the company of Beethoven himself.

Fortunately Beethoven saw the funny side, and also got the commission. As Hill notes, the three marches bear no resemblance to another famous march from later in the year – the funeral march second movement of the Eroica symphony – being substantial works in their own right.

Thoughts

These are really meaty pieces, close on five minutes each in duration. They are clearly structured with bold, contrasting ‘trio’ sections, too – much more so than the relatively slight collections of dances we have had from Beethoven to date.

The first piece has a grand stature, very upright and noble as the first theme is vigorously announced. As it progresses, however, Beethoven introduces a few subtle doubts, playing with major and minor tonality in a way Schubert might have done. There is quite a substantial middle section, which possibly hints at the forthcoming Fifth symphony.

The second march retains a heroic air, due partly to its key of E flat major, though its trio moves into A flat major for a playful section powered entirely by a rumbling bass note low down in the register of the piano. There are some unpredictable, fantasia-like elements here, but the familiar rumble is never far away.

The bracing third march is also powered by the bass, Beethoven moving into D major for a triumphant finale which is notable for its staccato, sharply dotted rhythms.

Recordings used and Spotify playlist

Peter Hill & Benjamin Frith (Delphian)
Amy and Sara Hamann (Grand Piano)
Jörg Demus & Norman Shetler (Deutsche Grammophon)

Amy and Sara Hamann have recorded the marches twice – once on a modern Yamaha instrument and again on an instrument from Nanette Streicher, née Stein, ca. 1815. Both interpretations are lively, though on the original instrument there is extra bite to the rhythms. Peter Hill and Benjamin Frith clearly enjoy their account, with a natural give and take between the two. Demus and Shetler go slower on the first march, to good effect, before an extra snap to the rhythms of the second and third.

Also written in 1803 Viotti Trio for two violins and cello in E major

Next up Der Wachtelschlag WoO 129

In concert – Daniel Lozakovich, CBSO / Fabien Gabel – Beethoven Violin Concerto & Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

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Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major Op. 61 (1806)
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique Op. 14 (1829-30)

Daniel Lozakovich (violin, above), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Fabien Gabel

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday 2 February 2022

Written by Richard Whitehouse. Photo credit (Lozkanovich) Maison Simons

Juxtaposing these works in a single concert made good sense such that one wonders why this coupling has not been played more often, not least when the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra sounded fully aware of the very different motivations which lay behind each piece.

One of several concertos in-itself a first half, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was performed by Daniel Lozakovich – who, just into his 20s, already has a worldwide reputation. His finespun if never meagre tone proved eminently suited to this most inward of its composer’s orchestral works, as was his deftly inflected vibrato. The expansive first movement proceeded securely, Fabien Gabel galvanizing tuttis and preventing the development from losing momentum (due credit to Matthew Hardy’s immaculate timpani playing) before a heady surge into the reprise.

Any sense of Lozakovich – who gave the Kreisler cadenza with real fervour – eschewing ‘give and take’ with the orchestra had gone by the Larghetto, its variations unfolded eloquently and with no lack of expressive contrasts, abetted by felicitous playing from the CBSO woodwind. His impulsive approach to the linking passage into the ensuing Rondo then set the course for a finale which, though just a shade headlong compared with what went before, had a vitality and insouciance such as carried through to the close. The pathos that Lozakovich brought to its central episode and whimsy teased out of its coda (whose closing chords were a little too emphatic) were undoubted highpoints, and the soloist returned to acknowledge considerable applause with an artless reading of the Allemande that commences Bach’s Second Partita.

Whereas Beethoven’s concerto took over half a century to enjoy wider acceptance, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique was immediately recognized (however grudgingly) as a trailblazer in the emergent Romantic aesthetic. It was left to later generations to equal out its ‘symphonic’ undertow with its ‘fantastic’ overlay, Gabel’s astute handling of the prolix if never unwieldy structure making for the best of both worlds – not least his conveying the sonata design that focusses the alternate dejection and elation of Rêveries-Passions, or those ominous asides which offset the ingratiating charms of Un bal. The highlight, though, was an unfailingly cohesive Scène aux champs – its fraught culmination emerging inevitably from then back into the evocative outer sections with plangent cor anglais playing from Rachel Pankhurst.

Having (rightly) included the first movement’s repeat, Gabel did not take that in the Marche au supplice which consequently was over all too soon, though its high drama prepared well for a final Songe d’une nuit du Sabbat whose heightened flights of fancy were once again held in check by a sure sense of where this music was headed. Offstage contributions were convincingly drawn into the overall texture, and if the closing pages can yield even more of a ‘white-knuckle ride’, the visceral impact of Berlioz’s garish imaginings was never in doubt.

Nor, for that matter, was the sheer unanimity of the CBSO’s response across what is so much more than an extended showpiece. After next week’s Rush Hour Concert, the orchestra can be heard in a scarcely less virtuosic programme that concludes with Stravinsky’s Firebird suite.

For more information on the current CBSO season, visit their website. Meanwhile click on the links for information on the artists Daniel Lozakovich and Fabien Gabel.

In concert – CBSO Centre Stage: Mozart and Brahms Quintets

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Mozart Horn Quintet in E flat major K407 (1782)
Brahms String Quintet no. 1 in F major Op. 88 (1882)

CBSO Soloists: Mark Philips (horn), Philip Brett and Charlotte Skinner (violins),Christopher Yates and Catherine Bower (violas), Arthur Boutillier (cello)

CBSO Centre, Birmingham
Thursday 3 February 2022 2pm

Written by Richard Whitehouse

The Centre Stage series, featuring musicians from City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, continued this afternoon with an attractive coupling of quintets written exactly a century apart and which are among the most characteristic works of their respective composers’ maturities.

His first piece for the virtuoso Joseph Leutgeb (quite frequently the butt of Mozart’s scabrous humour, though for whom he went on to write four concertos) the Horn Quintet remains one of Mozart’s most engaging chamber pieces – not least through the presence of two violas that yield additional tonal depth to the lively outer Allegros, besides reinforcing the limpid pathos of the Andante. A little reticent toward the outset, Mark Philips came into his own during that central movement with its wistful poise and elegant interaction with those middle registers of the strings. Nor was there any lack of wit in the scintillating finale, its writing for the horn of no less agility than that found in the parallel movements of Mozart’s concertos; all the while suggesting the association between composer and musician was, after all, an endearing one.

Although he had originally intended his Piano Quintet to be a string quintet with two cellos, Brahms only got round to composing what became his First String Quintet as he was nearing fifty. Eschewing both the immediacy of his sextets and the austerity of his quartets, this piece typifies the ruminative warmth but also the expressive ambivalence of his music henceforth – not least an opening movement whose emotional surges are kept in check by the burnished richness of ensemble. The highlight, of the work as of this performance, is a slow movement that offsets its underlying introspection with two scherzo-like episodes whose effervescence carries over the finale – an Allegro of an impetus not so often encountered in Brahms’s later music, while culminating in a coda such as reinforces the home-key with exhilarating effect.

Such, at any rate, was the impression left by an assured and involving performance of a piece which conveyed the extent of this ‘dark horse’ among Brahms’s chamber compositions. Next week sees an ensemble from the CBSO tackle the epic expanse of Schubert’s String Quintet.

You can read more about that next Centre Stage recital, and book tickets, on the CBSO website

On Record – Group Listening: Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works, Vol. 2 (PRAH Recordings)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The first Group Listening album was such a success that clarinettist Stephen Black and pianist Paul Jones have returned for a second instalment. The project celebrates their favourite music – a wide range of electronica, Krautrock and dance-infused classics – by rearranging it for clarinet and piano, with a few electronic twists on the side.

In the course of their work the pair can bring new life to tracks we all thought we knew.

What’s the music like?

Rather special. Both performers play with a great deal of expression, really bringing the music to life and highlighting parts we hadn’t reckoned with before. They are clever with their arrangements, too, giving the melodic lead to the piano on occasion. Robbie Basho’s Blue Crystal Fire is one such example, where Black explores the throaty lower end of the clarinet register while Jones’ piano spins out the tune.

Much of the music is bright and positive, and the first track – a spacious arrangement of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s Sunset Village – sets the mood perfectly. The appearance of the theme to the 1970s kids tv show Camberwick Green is a humourous shock, joyfully played by both performers, before we hear a radical reworking of Laraaji’s All Of A Sudden. This is where a few risks can go a long way, in this case with the help of a one-touch keyboard rhythm effect.

The Group Listening cover of Malcolm Neon’s Y Cwsg is playful, while Hollywood Dream Trip – originally by Syrinx – is expansive. The original work Five Hundred Miles is unexpectedly poignant, eavesdropping on phone conversations and messages while the instruments work softly voiced conversations of their own. The steady ticking of Seeland has a similar, meditative effect.

Does it all work?

It does – like looking at familiar pictures from unexpected angles and discovering more about them. What really comes across is the love these two musicians have for the music they have arranged and played.

Is it recommended?

Yes. This set of selected works is a blend of cover and remix, throwing new light on music that is revealed to have more dimensions with every listen. A subtly joyous experience.

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