Out of Vienna
Alban Berg (1885-1935)
Lyric Suite (1926)
Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
Five Pieces for String Quartet, WV68 (1923-1924)
Anton Webern (1883-1945)
Five Movements for String Quartet, Op.5 (1909)
Langsamer Satz (1905)
Leonkoro Quartet
rec. 2025, Reitstadel, Neumarkt, Germany
Alpha 1196 [63]
This was my first exposure to the Leonkoro Quartet, founded in Berlin in 2019. The ensemble on this recording consists of the brothers Jonathan and Lukas Schwarz, first violin and cello respectively, the second violinist Amelie Wallner and the violist Mayu Konoe. In 2023, they recorded for Mirare the quartets by Ravel and Schumann, not reviewed here. This new disc is mightily impressive in what overall is challenging music.
The title of the programme suggests that these works may have been performed in Vienna shortly before and after World War I. Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite, one of the composer’s undisputed masterpieces, has received numerous recordings. I compared the new account with two illustrious predecessors, by the Alban Berg Quartett (EMI/Warner) and by the Juilliard Quartet (Sony). The Leonkoro Quartet can withstand this comparison in every way. They have mastered the work, and they play with much warmth, more like the Alban Berg than the Juilliard. With outstandingly transparent recorded sound, all the effects – pizzicato, sul ponticello, muted strings – really tell. The players do not shortchange the humour present in places, yet there is a palpable feeling of grief and desolation at the conclusion. This performance made me appreciate the piece more than ever before, something I have found rather a challenge in the past.
The Five Pieces by the Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff are quite a contrast. These character pieces, as Nicolas Derny writes in the booklet note, “look at the Baroque genre through surrealist lenses and mock various traditions”. In that way, they reminded me of Hindemith’s acerbic music of the 1920s. There are a waltz, serenade, polka, tango and tarantella.
The first movement, Alla Valse viennese, is a fierce parody of a Viennese waltz, with pizzicato cello opposite the other strings. The following Alla Serenata is played muted, but contains ostinato passages that can be quite vehement. The short Alla Czeca polka with its unusual accents has an entertaining folk-like tune later in the movement. The Alla Tango milonga, at nearly five minutes, is the longest. Its tango rhythm can be quite sensuous, but also melancholy and sinuous. The work concludes with a fast and furious Alla Tarantella. The Leonkoro capture the flavour of these pieces superbly. I had not known the work before listening to this recording, but – as for most of Schulhoff’s work with which I am acquainted – I am certain to return to this account again and again.
Like much of Anton Webern’s music, his Five Movements require especially focused attention in their brevity. There is a great deal of variety among them. Freely atonal, they cover the gamut from meditative, dark and mysterious to explosive and cutting. They show the composer’s fascination with sonority, and employ such modes as col legno, pizzicato and arco.
The final track, Webern’s early Langsamer Satz, could not be more different. Its rich, warm tonality is like a balm after the later work. It sounds nothing like the mature Webern, but it is a fine and memorable piece. As everything here, it receives a committed and captivating performance.
I have derived much pleasure from this disc. The well-balanced programme is performed masterfully and recorded handsomely. The product as a whole is up to Alpha’s high standards, despite the rather short discussion of the music in the accompanying booklet.
Leslie Wright
Previous review: John France
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