Jazz Violin Concertos
Herbert Berger (b.1969)
‘Metropoles Suite’: Concerto for violin and string orchestra (2014)
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000)
‘Wings’; A concert piece for solo violin, string orchestra and rhythm section (1973)
Sabina Hank (b.1976)
‘Three songs for an abandoned angel’: Concerto for solo violin, string orchestra and drums (2008)
Christian Lettner (drums), Orchestra Musica Vitae/Benjamin Schmid (violin)
rec. 2020-21, Nygatan 6, Växjö, Sweden
Gramola 99284 [63]
In my last batch of review discs I listened to a favourite violinist – Rachel Barton-Pine – blaze her way through a contemporary violin concerto written in the style of heavy metal. Now I have another favourite player, the wonderful Benjamin Schmid turning his hand to three “Jazz Violin Concertos”. A common feature between both discs is that the players are long-term devotees of the genres in question and the works have likewise been written by composers whose main work both as performers and writers has been in those fields. So the result is not some middle of the road pastiche confection but instead effective, impressive wholly engaging music that represents a fusion between the genres. If I did not wholly “get” the Barton Pine performance despite her compelling advocacy, this Schmid disc is a triumph from first to last. My response is no doubt in part due to a greater personal affinity for the jazz idiom, but I also feel that the actual compositions offered here ‘work’ better. Schmid not only plays but also directs the Swedish group Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra of which he has been Artistic Director since the 2020/21 season. A group photograph on the liner booklet shows fourteen players plus Schmid of whom I assume one is kit drummer Christian Lettner. The playing of this ensemble – which I had not heard before – is simply phenomenal; easily virtuosic for sure but also wholly idiomatic and Schmid in his liner note rightly praises the superb artistic collaboration between him and the ensemble.
None of the works offered here are newly composed and Schmid reveals in the same liner that he has been playing some of them for over twenty years. So this is music completely embedded in his performing DNA which is exactly how it sounds. He not only makes light of the many technical hurdles but the idiom is understood and absorbed. This is no Yehudi Menuhin diddling his way through the odd Sweet Georgia Brown beside Grappelli, this is the real thing that I can imagine appealing as much to jazz aficionados as virtuoso violin fans. Alongside the high quality of music and music-making, Gramola have provided a vibrant recording that places Schmid within the ensemble but realistically ‘present’. My only tiny quibble is that it would have been good for Gramola, complimenting Schmid’s personal note, to include some biographical detail about the composers in question.
The disc opens with Herbert Berger’s Metropoles Suite. Neither the liner nor indeed Berger’s own website is very forthcoming about this work’s origins – mainly because the website does not appear to have many/any updates for a decade! However some web trawling reveals that it is a reworking of Berger’s original composition for harmonica and strings (he plays jazz saxophone and harmonica as well as composing) that was released on an album in 2018. I have just heard a few excerpts from that original album which sounds great too but the wider range of violin, allied to a greater variety of technique, double stoppings and the like seems to result in greater expressive diversity. The work in is four movements with each representing a different city and mood. The opening Insomnia represents Berger’s (and Schmid’s) home town of Salzburg. After a shuddering opening this is actually a rather bright and upbeat movement which immediately establishes the performing credentials of all concerned. The jazz bass – presumably Musica Vitae’s regular player – drives the music ideally allowing Schmid to riff and improvise above it. A notable feature of Berger’s writing is that the main string group writing has the sound and feel of big band arranging with active part writing closely voiced. Its an exciting muscular sound that is brilliantly executed here. In direct comparison the following Gulda work uses the strings as more of a standard harmonic bed with the added note chords supporting the main ‘jazz’ elements provided by soloist and rhythm section. But returning to Berger’s suite; the second movement is a brooding atmospheric tango – with more than a hint of Astor Piazzolla – titled El largo Adiós which is inspired by Barcelona. The third movement jazz-waltz À la minute could only be Parisian even allowing for the hint of gipsy jazz that Schmid detects. The closing movement Avienda is inspired by Maputo – the capital of Mozambique – which again features a rather moody 1:30 introduction before a foot-tappingly bass groove propels the suite to an exhilarating close. Here and throughout the disc Schmid is called upon to supply various improvised solos which are as musically effective as they are technically thrilling – again the sense of big band string writing is very evident. This is a genuine discovery – the whole work runs to around twenty-five minutes and it is a delight to listen to – and it must be tremendous, if demanding, fun to play.
The recording of Friedrich Gulda’s Wings – A Concert Piece for Solo Violin, String Orchestra and Rhythm Section is actually Schmid’s second – I have not heard the first which is of a live performance released by Austrian Radio. There are parallels between Gulda and Schmid as performers. Both won major classical competitions when quite young and established themselves as major international virtuosi. Yet both also have a deep identification with jazz with Gulda composing several works in the idiom. The Concert piece is in four distinct sections. It opens with the ensemble literally “tuning up” before a near six minute violin cadenza punctuated by brief string group interjections. This opening Liberamente section has more of the feel of a traditional violin cadenza albeit with occasional jazz-like harmonies or gestures. Of course Schmid plays it quite magnificently. The second movement Lento is the section where the accompanying string writing is more ‘standard’ in its lush linearity and a slightly M-O-R rhythm section configurations. But over that Schmid’s playing is genuinely thrilling. This in turn leads to a second shorter Liberamente section with pizzicato ensemble strings giving it more of an extended recitative feel than cadenza although the sheer bravura of Schmid’s playing keeps him very much front and centre. The closing Allegro assai with an electric bass line has an unmistakably 1970’s jazz-funk groove. In lesser hands than Schmid and the Musica Vitae this might well sound slightly arch but here the complete immersion in the style makes for a genuinely exciting conclusion. I would suggest that even the most zealous jazz purist would be hard put not to be impressed by what they hear here.
Searching the web for information about Sabina Hank produces about as much detail as for Herbert Berger – although the two seem to have collaborated together on various jazz projects. Hank – another Salzburg native – was commissioned by Schmid to produce her concerto Three Songs for an Abandoned Angel in 2008. Again I find this to be a wholly convincing work both as a piece for virtuoso violin but also crossing over into the ‘classical’ world of the concerto. This is – as are both the other two works as well – fusion in the very best sense of the word with the strengths and characteristics of the different genres cross-fertilising and benefitting the other. With Sabina Hank this ease across genres should not be that surprising given her training and background; she studied at the world famous Salzburg Mozarteum from the age of 5 on piano followed by 5 years at the Anton Bruckner University Linz on voice and jazz piano. Her own performing discography as singer and composer reveals a strikingly individual musical voice both literally and as composer/arranger. As far as I can tell from fairly scant online information this would appear to be the only time that Hank has written something not for her own specific use on this kind of scale – the work runs to just over twenty minutes. The title of “Three Songs” is telling in that each movement/section does have a distinct sense of being a “song without words”. Between the second and third movements is a two minute cadenza written by Schmid. The work opens with Dauntless Departure which builds into a driving ensemble passage which lasts a full three minutes before the soloist enters with a minute long extemporisation which outlines chordal progressions in a quasi Bachian style. Ultimately this gives way to a free-wheelingly good natured passage which allows Schmid to demonstrate how well he can improvise. The leads without a break into the second ‘song’; Soul’s Concealment. This starts with some wonderfully lush string chords closely voiced which slowly morphs into a steady swinging beat. Schmid’s solo part acts more as an embellishment over the ensemble writing but as ever he plays this with an easy almost nonchalant virtuosity that suits the relaxed mood of the piece perfectly. Interestingly Schmid’s cadenza is not the virtuoso display that might have been expected. Instead it is a rather reflective almost baroque solo with fewer obvious jazz-isms either. The mood is instantly broken by the closing song; Breakthrough. By some distance this is the shortest movement of the concerto with the ensemble chasing after Schmid’s scampering solo violin to joyous effect. This is a suitably upbeat and energetic conclusion to a very attractive work that again I can imagine is both enjoyable but demanding to play. Suffice to say that having listened to this work I have subsequently sought out – and enjoyed very much – Hank’s own albums as performer.
Overall a genuinely excellent programme of three quite different and individual works that combine to make an wholly engaging disc. Especially so when played with the skill, panache and empathy that is shown here. I was hoping this disc would be good but I am delighted at just how good it has turned out to be.
Nick Barnard
Previous review: Jonathan Woolf (October 2023)
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