REGER (arr.
Kolisch) Violin Concerto
Elena Denisova
(vn); Gustav Mahler Ensemble; Alexei
Kornienko, cond
OEHMS 1862 (47:00)
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New classical music releases reviewed in detail by Gavin Dixon
Saturday, 28 January 2017
Reger Violin Concerto Elena Denisova
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“Reduced” versions of Reger’s Violin Concerto are
becoming increasingly popular on disc, both in the chamber orchestration by
Adolf Busch and, as here, the even smaller ensemble version by Rudolf Kolisch.
The implicit slight against Reger’s own orchestration seems unfair—his use of
orchestra isn’t the most imaginative aspect of his art, but it’s more than serviceable,
and both of his concertos (this and the Piano Concerto) play out on a grand
symphonic scale that only a full orchestra can convey.
The Kolisch version was intended for Schoenberg’s
Society for Private Musical Performances (the two men were brothers-in-law),
although the society had disbanded by the time it was complete, and the first
performance took place in Vienna in 1922—this from the excellent liner notes to
the present release, by Dr. Jürgen Schaarwächter. They also tell us that Reger
was the most performed composer at the society’s concerts, a startling
revelation, given his more recent obscurity, and the difficulty we have today in
acknowledging his place in the history of Modernism. The manuscript of the
Kolisch arrangement was lost after the first performance, and only came to
light in 1986, among the violinist’s papers, by then at the Houghton Library of
Harvard University.
In common with other SPMP arrangements, this one fills
out the missing mid-range textures with piano and harmonium (the other ensemble
instruments are flute, clarinet, horn, string trio, and double bass). Listening
to other SPMP arrangements, those by Schoenberg himself and by Erwin Stein, one
of the goals appears to have been to hide the keyboard instruments, so they
offer support but only as a background presence. Kolisch is less subtle, and
the piano in particular is often dominant in the textures here, especially so
in the present recording, emphasizing the chamber dimensions. But the playing
of the ensemble is excellent, particularly from the wind soloists: the horn
becomes particularly prominent in Kolisch’s arrangement, and the round but
emphatic tone of the player here is ideal.
That roundness of tone may be aided by the recorded
sound, although the engineers (from ORF, who made the recording) have misjudged
the resonance. Microphones seem to be placed well back in a very warm acoustic
(the Nuer Saal des Kärnter Landeskonservatoriums, Austria, where the recording
was made in 2003). This may be intended to compensate for the small ensemble,
to give a sense of orchestral scale, but the result is a wash of sound, with much
ensemble detail lost.
Even the soloist, Elena Denisova, sounds distant,
although, fortunately, she has a sufficiently focused and muscular tone to
maintain the necessary presence. Her sound is warm, and her phrasing generous,
and my only complaint is a slight lack of security in some of the more tortuous
passagework—all the notes are there, but the evenness of tone production
sometimes suffers.
This recording follows another of the Kolisch
transcription, from Winfried Rademacher and the Linos Ensemble (Capriccio
5137). Aside from the drier acoustic, the biggest difference is the running
time, with the Rademacher at least 10 minutes longer. That difference may be
due to the fact that Denisova engages the services of a conductor, Alexei
Kornienko, who sculpts and propels the phrases convincingly, while the
conductorless Linos Ensemble has a tendency to wallow and meander.
Both are good performances though, and, as the rendition
of the solo part should be the guiding concern, there is little to separate them.
That said, chamber arrangements of Reger’s orchestral works remain curiosity
items at best, especially as the original version of the Violin Concerto is
also well represented on disc, with Ulf Wallin (CPO 777736) and Tanja
Becker-Bender (Hyperion 67892) current favorites for the top spot.
This review appears in Fanfare magazine issue 40:5.
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