Heinrich Sutermeister (1910-1995)
Orchestral Works – Volume Two
Consolatio philosophiae – Scène dramatique pour voix haute et orchestra (1977)
Ich reise weit – excerpt from Romeo und Julia (1940)
Sieben Liebesbriefe for tenor and orchestra (1935)
Sechs Liebesbriefe for soprano and orchestra (1979)
Juliane Banse (soprano), Benjamin Bruns (tenor)
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz/Rainer Held
rec. 2022, Philharmonie, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Toccata Classics TOCC0608 [72]
Before receiving this disc I did not know the name of Heinrich Sutermeister and had not heard a note of his music. But I have been on something on a roll of remarkable discoveries recently courtesy of Toccata Classics, with composers such as Thomas de Hartmann and Mischa Spoliansky hitting my musical sweet spot. So I thought if this new disc passes the Toccata-test it might pass mine too. And indeed this is another very impressive disc of powerful music receiving polished performances in a fine recording accompanied by excellent documentation – including all texts in German and English translation [Consolatio’s Latin text is also included]. The disc is marked as Volume Two of Sutermeister’s Orchestral music – Volume one was very positively reviewed on this site here.
Although termed “orchestral works” all of the music on this new disc are songs with orchestra. According to the excellent and detailed liner note by Christian Heindl, Sutermeister’s major contribution to the repertoire are his ten stage operas plus several radio operas alongside a series of choral works. So clearly the human voice and by extension the texts sung are central sources of inspiration for this composer. One comment in Heindl’s notes that is a little questionable; he states that “….a genre completely or largely neglected by many composers [is] the orchestral song.” Perhaps not mention that to Strauss, Mahler, Zemlinsky, Berlioz, Ravel, add another dozen names at your leisure … Sutermeister had a long creative career – the music on this disc alone spans forty four years from the scintillating Sieben Liebesbriefe of 1935 to the companion set of Sechs Liebesbriefe of 1979. According to Heindl, Swiss-born Sutermeister’s moment of musical revelation came after a study trip to Paris where he encountered the music of the French Impressionists and his fellow countryman Arthur Honegger. However his period of study was firmly Germanic and indeed it is contemporary German composers who are the closest musical companions with almost nothing of the French School of composing audible in these scores.
Heindl also mentions cites an artistic friendship with Carl Orff and Werner Egk starting this time in pre-War Germany. Of course Orff’s most famous work Carmina Burana is a near contemporary [1936] of the Sieben Liebesbriefe and while the Sutermeister does not try to be as explicitly colourful as the Orff there are interesting little parallels as though the two composers had discussed how to create certain orchestral colours albeit with very different musical goals. I like the idea between the two sets of Liebesbriefe on this disc very much. There are settings of literally what the title implies – love letters. Sutermeister took a selection of letters by 18th century authors describing “Aspects of Love”. These run the gamut of ardent, poignant, reflective, sorrowful. All of which are skilfully illustrated by Sutermeister’s rich and effective orchestral palette. The parallels with Orff are in his use of an extended percussion section – the tuned element especially to the fore – alongside an orchestral piano with a harpsichord and harmonium also contributing unexpected but effective parts. They are sung by German tenor Benjamin Bruns. I had not heard him before but it strikes me that he is quite excellent in this cycle. The nature of setting prose and not poetry is that is can be “wordy” – not only does Bruns have an attractive and supple voice but he is very agile and vocally nimble. This allows him to characterise the texts – whether boisterous or bleak – very effectively. The clarity of diction and intent is well supported too by the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under Rainer Held. The Toccata engineering is likewise a model of balance and sophistication with all the detail of Sutermeister’s complex scoring easily audible while placing the vocal soloist realistically in front of the orchestra. Sutermeister was just twenty five when he wrote this work and as such it is remarkably confident and effective – not overblown– in its musical and dramatic gestures. Certainly this deserves to be better-known – running to 27:29 it would make a good alternative to an instrumental concerto in a concert and the idiom is intelligible and attractive from the first listen.
Chronologically the next work is a brief excerpt [3:21] from Sutermeister’s 1940 opera Romeo und Julia. This is performed by soprano Juliane Banse who performs all of the works on the disc except the Sieben Liebesbriefe. Hers is a big dramatic voice, again well attuned to the inherent drama and power of the writing but one that is perhaps rather too mature for the role of a teenaged Juliet [a case of the Madama Butterfly effect – how to write a role where the vocal part demands a mature and experienced singer but the dramatisation is of a youthful naive character]. The excerpt is taken from the final section of the opera when Juliet ponders her simulated death due to Friar Laurence’s potion. I assume the original part of the opera was also written for string accompaniment alone as here – certainly this makes for a powerful inward-looking arioso. An extended orchestral suite from the opera was included in Volume One of this series so clearly this is a work that would benefit from a complete modern recording.
The disc opens with a much later work – the Consolatio philosophiae – Scène dramatique pour voix haute et orchestra of 1977. This works is written in eight sections and runs for 20:45. The text is taken from the Latin writings of the writer Boethius (c.480-524). This is a dialogue “on matters of happiness, truth, death and other fundamental topics of essential significance to every human” according to the liner. Written in one continuous arc and of a fairly musically austere nature this is a concentrated and demanding work for listeners and performers alike. Banse sings with great authority and presence in a work that one must assume was unfamiliar. I have to admit that I do not find her voice as immediately attractive as Benjamin Bruns’ but without doubt her sense of commanding characterisation and presence is impressive. In the forty two years that separate this work from the Sieben Liebesbriefe Sutermeiter’s handling of the orchestra has become less overtly “brilliant” and perhaps subtler. The harmonic language has not changed greatly so the relative modernisms of 1935 can seem quite traditional by 1977 but that said I do find this to be a compelling piece that again certainly deserves to be more widely known.
The disc closes with the latest work presented here. In 1979 Sutermeister returned to the idea of the Liebesbriefe with a further set of six but here set for female voice – the original commission was for the famous Swiss soprano Edith Mathis. The concept is identical to the original set although somewhat shorter running to 20:36. Indeed the final soprano song Cherubino a cavallo sets the same letter as the final tenor song although in the earlier set it is called Der Kavalier. The harpsichord makes another appearance as a latter-day continuo given the arioso style of much of the word setting. Sutermeister’s use of the orchestra is just as skilled and subtle as before although perhaps a little less consciously colourful. Whether it is the nature of the actual music or the type of voice that sings it here, this soprano set seems somehow weightier with a less playful expressive range than the earlier tenor cycle. Given my limited knowledge or familiarity with these scores my sense is that while Banse sings very well, the type of voice she has which is very well suited to the ‘dramatic scene’ of the Consolatio philosophiae is less supple across the Sechs Liebesbriefe.
All the works on this generously filled disc are indicated as first recordings. Given the quality of the presentation and performances here these are as good a debut on disc as I could imagine. For anyone interested in 20th century Germanic songs with orchestra this will prove to be an attractive and rewarding discovery.
Nick Barnard
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