Frank Martin (1890-1974)
Piano Quintet À ma femme (1919)
Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944)
String Quartet No.3, Op.46 (1943)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Piano Quintet No. 1 in D minor, Op.89 (1905)
Hinrich Alpers (piano), Schumann Quartett
rec. 2024, Gewandhaus, Leipzig, Germany
Berlin Classics 0303971BC [70]
The programme present twentieth-century chamber music by three composers not normally associated with one another. None of the pieces have been overexposed either; Frank Martin’s Piano Quintet may be the least recorded of the lot. It is, then, a unique combination of works, and all receive exemplary performances.
Martin’s Piano Quintet was new to me. If I had not seen the composer’s name, I might not have guessed the piece was his; this early work does not resemble the sound of his mature style. Yet it is very accomplished, and I found it most to my liking on this programme. There are influences of Fauré and Ravel, to be sure, but also originality. Like in some of his later compositions, seriousness and elegiac quality pervade the work.
The first movement begins on the strings in a moderate tempo before the piano joins in. There is much variety in the way the composer treats the strings with the piano. The piano part becomes quite soloistic at times, accompanied by pizzicato strings,; next, the reverse happens. There is especially beautiful writing for the cello’s high range. The second movement, a minuet, starts with a really catchy melody in the piano, while the second theme contrasts in its darker quality. The trio has a lyrical theme in the strings with the piano running beneath. The movement builds with some vehemence and ends decisively.
The slow movement commences with string triplets and piano chords. The booklet’s annotator Julia Kiefer likens this to the spirit of Bach. Indeed, those triplets remind me more than a little of those in Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. The music becomes dramatic, and the movement ends quietly and sorrowfully. The finale, marked Presto, is a positive contrast—light and folkish. The dancelike theme then turns into a march that becomes forceful before the lighter theme returns. The work, however, concludes on a minor chord, quietly, lyrically and rather sadly. The musicians clearly have the measure of the piece.
Viktor Ullmann, an assimilated Jew from Prague, was one of the composers deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1942. He wrote his third, and final, string quartet there the year before he was sent to his death in Auschwitz’s gas chambers. The quartet betrays the angst of Ullmann’s life in the camps, but also has its lighter moments. It is a short work, under 15 minutes. From its start, one can observe the influence of the Second Viennese School with its chromaticism. It also has an arresting theme. A grotesque scherzo follows without a break. Its sardonic nature interests with both pizzicato and arco passages, and with repeated unison chords. It actually can be quite captivating. It just stops before the mysterious and unsettling Largo movement begins. The finale bursts in with jagged unison chords before becoming fast and nervous. The quartet concludes with a repeat of the work’s opening theme and a low unison note in the major key. It is unusual that each movement is shorter than its predecessor (4:44, 3:35, 3:26, 2:32). The Schumann Quartett play with obvious enthusiasm.
Gabriel Fauré composed two each of piano quartets and piano quintets. The piano quartets, especially the first, have been for many years a staple of the chamber music repertoire, the quintets less so. Fauré began composing his First Piano Quintet as early as 1887 when he wrote down the theme that would eventually be in the work’s final movement. He then made a draft of the quintet in 1890, but was not satisfied with it. He returned to it again in 1894, but still was not happy. It was only in 1905 that he completed the piece, which was premiered in March 1906.
The work is in three movements, whereas the other quintet and the quartets are in the usual four. Although the work does not sound like anyone else’s, it does not immediately grab the listener as the First Piano Quartet does. It begins with rippling, broken piano chords over a lyrical, modal theme on the strings that is unmistakably by Fauré. The Adagio second movement, generally ruminative, begins with high strings over quiet piano chords. It does build up rather dramatically, but seems a bit long for its material. The finale lightens the mood with a piano theme and pizzicato strings. It can become heavy and Brahmsian, too, but concludes with some vivacity. I do not find the work nearly as memorable as the piano quartets, but maybe that is just me. The Schumanns capture the nature of this quintet well. Still, the performance in no way supersedes the Domus account on Hyperion that also includes Fauré’s Second Piano Quintet.
Anyone attracted to this particular programme should not hesitate to acquire the disc. There are, of course, other options for these pieces, and many for the Fauré. I know I will return to the disc primarily for Martin’s Quintet.
Leslie Wright
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