Entartete Musik
Estelle Lefort (mezzo soprano), Evi Roelants (soprano)
Koenraad Sterckx (piano), Didier Poskin (cello)
Vlaams Radiokoor
Soloists of the Brussels Philharmonic/Bart Van Reyn
rec. 2022, Zaal Malibran, De Munt, Brussels, Belgium
Antarctica Records AR051 [56]

The concept of Entartete Musik and how it was promoted by the Nazi Third Reich has been studied and performed by a wide range of artists and labels in recent decades. The single most substantial survey was one of Decca’s last great series of recordings as an independent label. For many collectors – including myself – this revealed the remarkable musical treasures and their creators that had been buried beneath the appalling dogma of the national socialist regime with an enduring legacy of neglect that lasted for the best part of half a century. So following the reawakening of appreciation for this music there have been many recordings exploring the rich artistic trove of Music and Art the Nazis failed to suppress.

This new disc is one such collection. Conductor Bart Van Reyn directs an unusually mixed programme with works by ten different composers variously performed by unaccompanied choir, choir with instrumental group, solo songs – Art or Cabaret – with piano or instrumental group, solo piano or piano and instrument. This range of styles and performers might suggest a lack of coherence or continuity but in fact the programme has been extremely intelligently conceived with the diversity providing the listener with a fascinating insight into the expressive and musical range of the music presented here. If nothing else the fundamental absurdity of the notion of “degenerate music” is laid bare by this powerfully beautiful and moving collection.

Further good news is that the standard of the performances across this disc is wonderfully high. The choral or solo singing is stunningly beautiful, the instrumental playing is alert and characterful and this is all backed up by top drawer engineering and production. There is a note that says “this is a high resolution audio recording” but there is no indication that this is a DSD/SA-CD disc but it certainly sounds very fine. Before considering the music this disc contains there is a significant ‘but’. The accompanying documentation is frustratingly poor. I suspect this recording was originally linked to a Belgian Radio concert/broadcast? The liner reads like part of a more extended programme note that has been edited down. So part of the “introduction” is repeated verbatim in the following “programme notes”. These notes then include information about Franz Schreker even though no music by him is included on the CD. The rest of the featured composers are mentioned in passing but crucially the performed works are not discussed in any detail. Neither does the liner note include any texts/even sources of texts. There is a QR code which takes you to the Antarctica website from where a pdf of the lyrics can be downloaded [not much use if the scanner is on your phone and the download is minute…] Furthermore, the download is in the original language only – no English translations. Which given that these songs are not familiar but that the significance of the words is a crucial part of the impact of these deeply moving works is hugely frustrating. Further furthermore ten of the fourteen pieces presented here are performed in arrangements – three a cappella choral arrangements by the great Clytus Gottwald, five more by Daniel Capelletti [who Google seems convinced is a football defender for Vicenza!] plus a couple of others. The frustration is all these arrangements are very good indeed but I would love to know when/why they were made, how do they differ from the originals and what was the purpose in doing the arrangement. Too much of the time it feels as if Antarctica Records have done the hard thing – produce a disc of powerful music beautifully performed – and completely diminished its impact with tenth-rate documentation and presentation – not even composer dates or composition dates are supplied.

But returning to the music – the programme itself is very intelligently sequenced with variety and contrast creating interesting and effective stylistic juxtapositions. The disc is bookended by two Gottwald choral arrangements of Gustav Mahler. First is the radiant Urlicht familiar from its appearance towards the end of The Resurrection Symphony. From the very first bars the tonal beauty, refined control and immaculate balancing of the Vlaams Radiokoor [Flemish Radio Choir] under principal conductor Bart Van Reyn is apparent. Listeners will have their own reaction to the ‘value’ of such choral arrangements. For me I find them – when done as well as here – to be a wonderful addition to the repertoire and one that provides new light and insights into often much-loved music. The Urlicht is already familiar albeit as a choral/orchestral work however the Im Abendrot that closes the disc is more unexpected as it is impressive. Gottwald takes the same Joseph von Eichendorff poem set by Strauss as part of the Four Last Songs but uses the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No.5. I accept that that will seem like a musical Frankenstein’s monster to some but I find the result – especially as sung here – beautiful and moving. After the visionary ecstasy of the Urlicht, Mischa Spoliansky’s Das Lila-Lied brings the listener back to Weimar Berlin with something of a bump. The solo songs are taken by Estelle Lefort backed by a small group drawn from the Brussels Philharmonic consisting of clarinet, violin, cello, bass and piano. They play quite brilliantly and Capelletti has arranged these with authentic character and skill. Lefort performs with that perfect blend of wild abandon and piercing sophistication. She is a member of the main choir too which gives you an idea of the individual standard and calibre of the singers. Ute Lemper included this song as part of her “Berlin Cabaret Songs” disc for Decca with a larger ensemble under Robert Ziegler. The significance of this 1920 [which obviously pre-dates the rise of the Nazis] song is that it is considered one of the first gay anthems.

The solo piano Fox-trot from Erwin Schulhoff’s Suite Dansante de jazz is again familiar from other recordings but it receives a suitably nervy, modernist performance here by Koenraad Sterckx. Lefort contributes two more songs; Weill’s sensuous Youkali from Marie Galante –part of the incidental music he provided for a play written in Paris after he left Germany in the early 30’s where it was originally an instrumental movement – tango-habanera. Here Lefort’s classical training is more to the fore but the casual ease of the singing and accompanying arrangement is understatedly apt and skilled. Another Spoliansky song L’heure Bleue [the hour of parting] follows and again Lemper included this in her Decca collection. Lemper is much more interventionist in her performance – “characterising” just about every single word. For me this risks toppling over into the mannered and the Matrix Ensemble arrangement likewise feels a little too complex albeit well played. Lefort’s ‘straighter’ performance works better for me – especially once I found the English words online but not on antarctica’s website…..

The Vlaams Radiokoor returns for an arrangement by Gottwald of an Alma Mahler-Werfel song; Die stille Stadt. After the acerbic angularity and wit of the cabaret songs this returns to a beautifully mellifluous almost meditative song which is one of Mahler-Werfel’s very first works being the first of the Fünf Lieder, composed circa 1900-01, published 1910. Next is the harmonically simpler, almost hymn-like Ich wander durch Theresienstadt. This is another arrangement of a solo song for the full choir. The superficial simplicity hides a depth of emotion and meaning that is profoundly moving – especially when performed with the unaffected beauty it is here.

“I wander through Theresienstadt, my heart as heavy as lead, until suddenly my path comes to an end, right there by the bastion. There I remain, standing by the bridge, and looking out into the valley: I would so gladly go farther, I would so gladly go home! Home! – you wonderful word, you make my heart heavy. They took me far from my home, and now I no longer have one. I turn around, sick at heart and wan, things are so difficult for me: Theresienstadt, Theresienstadt, just when will sorrow have an end, when will we be free again?”

The composer was Ilse Weber whose work I had not encountered before. Weber along with her husband was sent to the ‘model’ concentration camp Theresienstadt where she continued her pre-war work of writing poetry and children’s stories. Many of the poems she set to music – often quite simply – which she then sang accompanying herself on the guitar. In the camp she worked as a night nurse in the children’s infirmary. By 1944 when the children were being sent to Auschwitz, Weber volunteered to go so as not to break up her family group or leave the children to face that journey alone. She and her younger son Tommy were murdered the day they arrived at Auschwitz. Another Weber song – Wiegala – is included later in this recital. This is a lullaby of heart-breaking simplicity sung by the ladies of the choir with a solo beautifully taken by Evi Roelants. The arrangement here is by Alain de Ley with an oh-so-sensitive accompaniment for just bass, cello and clarinet. Weber’s legacy has been recorded and documented but it was one I had not previously encountered. Even on a disc of such high artistic and musical standards these two songs stand out and I found them profoundly moving.

Another sharp stylistic juxtaposition after Weber’s Ich wandre is found in Hanns Eisler’s Der Graben [The Ditch] which was a setting of Kurt Tucholsky’s 1926 poem criticising war. Eisler did not make his setting until 1959 so not officially an “entartete” song. This is the only setting on the disc which combines the full instrumental group with the choir. Again this is an example when understanding/being able to follow the text is vital as there is a stark/deliberate contrast between the rather “hearty” setting and Tucholsky’s bitter text.

Gideon Klein was another prisoner at Theresienstadt before being murdered at Fürstengrube in early 1945. Two of his works are included – Czech and Russian Folk Songs – Uz Mne Kone Vyvadeji and the Lullaby – Ukolébavka for cello and piano. The former is Klein’s own arrangement made during his internment at Theresienstadt for unaccompanied male chorus. The style of this chorus is very much in the tradition of similar Czech choruses by Smetana or Leoš Janáček and again the performance here is a model of lovingly phrased and sophisticated ensemble singing. The Lullaby – Ukolébavka was another work from Klien’s time in Theresienstadt and was written in 1943. Again the liner fails to mention the work at all let alone that it was originally a song set to Hebrew words. Articles online make clear that this seemingly simple work – again played here with genuine sensitivity – has layers of meaning and symbolism that would have been clear to its original captive audience. Of course the modern listener does not need to be aware of these extra-musical contexts but for a recital wholly focussed on those same contexts to omit this information is head-shakingly frustrating.

Before reaching the closing balm of the Mahler Adagietto there are two final works. Viktor Ullmann’s 3 Jiddische Lieder Op.53 of which No.1 Berjoskele is included and Carlo Sigmund Taube’s Ein jüdisches Kind. Ullmann was another Theresienstadt inmate and Auschwitz victim. During his time at Theresienstadt he produced some twenty works of which this song written in 1944 is part. Estelle Lefort again sings accompanied by Koenraad Sterckx. To my ear she finds a perfect balance between folk-like simplicity and purity but with a classical technique allowing control of long lines and expressive yet unaffected phrasing. Apparently Ullmann actively embraced his Hebrew faith and wider Jewish culture after his imprisonment. I had not heard these songs before (although as with much of this programme alternative versions do exist) but there is an emotional density to this writing that is wholly compelling. The final composer represented is Carlo Sigmund Taube and his touchingly beautiful Ein jüdisches Kind. Daniel Capelletti has arranged this for female voices with instrumental ensemble accompaniment. The words were by his wife Erika and was written in Theresienstadt before he, his wife and children were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz. Unlike other composers here, this is the only work by Taube to survive the War. The text and the context of the work’s creation and subsequent history load this brief but touching piece with additional meaning. Again I have nothing but praise for the unmannered yet utterly appropriate style of the performance.

Much of the music offered here can be found in alternative performances many of which are very fine too. But the unique strength of this disc is the varied use of soloists and instrumentations as well as the individual and collective skill of all involved. But rarely has a disc which is of such impressive music so well performed and recorded been so badly let down by the accompanying documentation – or more to the point its utter lack. All of this music is of a stature and merit to be enjoyed in its own right but clearly the cumulative impact of this type of recital comes from the how, where and when of the various pieces. Allied to that, all of the set texts have a resonance that makes their comprehension a vital part of the listener’s ability to appreciate them. I am at a loss to understand how the post-production team at Antarctica could feel that the documentary presentation of this quite excellent disc was anything but thoroughly inadequate.

Nick Barnard

Contents
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) arr. Clytus Gottwald (1925-2023)
Das Knaben Wunderhorn XII. Urlicht (1899)
Mischa Spoliansky (1898-1985) arr. Daniel Cappelletti
Das Lila-Lied (1920)
Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
Suite dansante en jazz WV98 – Fox-trot (1931)
Kurt Weill (1900-1950) arr. Daniel Cappelletti
Marie Galante – Youkali (1934)
Mischa Spoliansky (1898-1985) arr. Daniel Cappelletti
L’heure Bleue (1928)
Alma Mahler-Werfel (1879-1964) arr. Clytus Gottwald (1925-2023)
Fünf Lieder – No.1 Die stille Stadt (1900?)
Ilse Weber (1903-1944) arr. Winfried Radeke
Ich wander durch Theresienstadt (1943)
Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) arr. Daniel CappellettiDer Graben (1959)
Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944)
3 Jiddische Lieder Op.53 No.1 Berjoskele (1944)
Gideon Klein (1919-1945)
Czech and Russian Folk Songs – Uz Mne Kone Vyvadeji (1942)
Ilse Weber (1903-1944) arr. Alain De Ley
Wiegala (1943?)
Carlo Sigmund Taube (1897-1944)
Ein jüdisches Kind (1942)
Gideon Klein (1919-1945)
Lullaby – Ukolébavka (1943)
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) arr. Clytus Gottwald (1925-2023)
Symphony No.5 in C sharp minor IV. Adagietto “Im Abendrot” (1904)