Friedrich Eck (1767-1838)
Violin Concerto No.1 in E major (publ.1790)
Violin Concerto No.2 in G major (publ. 1790)
Violin Concerto No.5 in A major (1803)
Tanja Becker-Bender (violin), Mannheim Chamber Orchestra/Johannes Schlaefli
rec. 2016, Epiphaniaskirche Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
cpo 777 975-2 [68]
Friedrich Eck was almost certainly the composer of ‘Mozart in E flat major’, the so-called Concerto No.6, K.268 first recorded by Jacques Thibaud with Malcolm Sargent in 1927 as well as by Christian Ferras in the 1950s and Mayumi Fujikawa in 1980. That Eck was a near-contemporary – in fact Mozart’s junior by eleven years – makes the whole attribution the spicier. The sixth edition of the Köchel catalogue removed the concerto adding it to a list of spurious works and noting it as K. Anh.C 14.04. Such historical matters as these aren’t mentioned in the booklet which very properly confines itself to the business in hand, three concertos written by the virtuosically-inclined Eck, two published in 1790 and one in 1803.
A boy prodigy, who was late to refine his art under the tutelage of Viotti, Eck was also a friend of Mozart who termed him a violinist ‘according to his taste’. The first two concertos certainly conform to a pattern – a long first movement, with cadenza, buttressed by some imaginative orchestral touches that support an athletic soloist. The central movements are all termed Romances and the finales energetic Rondos. The Mannheim Chamber Orchestra under Johannes Schlaefli is invariably a smallish-sounding modern instrument band but has a firm bass line and personable horns and winds. Eck makes constant technical demands of his soloist cast in a terpsichorean galant ethos and Tanja Becker-Bender employs her own cadenzas, a notably fine and convincing one for the Concerto in E major, a work with a songful central movement that takes the violin into the highest registers without concern for altitudinal wellbeing. Roulades, tricky runs and double-stopping are features of the demands in Eck’s finales.
The Concerto in G major was dedicated to Viotti and shows an increase in dynamism and contrast. Virtuosic flourishes are constant, but the Italianate Romance affords reprieve with its hint of tristesse, before the resumption of frolics in the finale, with horns popping, and the violin leading the dance. The Concerto in A major of 1803 encodes shades of Mannheim whilst looking to the romantic future in certain ways, which is doubtless why Eck termed it his ‘nouveau concerto’ in a note in the score. With this, his last published work Eck studded the concerto with discerning features, both expressive and structural. His trademark flourishes are there, of course – perhaps one reason why he is not more prominently admired, as listeners are apt to point to empty writing – but so too is the way the soloist opens the Romance over orchestral pizzicati, as well as the sense of bigger characterisation of each element of the work. Becker-Bender herself suggests a parallel with Mozart’s ‘Turkish’ concerto in the finale and though I can’t hear any Janissary or other components, I can hear a boldness and confidence of expression.
I have not heard any competing versions of these three concertos.
The recording is splendidly judged and the notes are apropos. Becker-Bender plays with precision, athleticism and a soaring clarity and, in my experience, tends to be at her best when the music is not overtly romantic. This is repertoire that suits her perfectly and I don’t mean that as a back-handed compliment.
Jonathan Woolf
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