MAX BRUCH: Suite after Russian Folk Melodies, Op. 79b; Serenade in C Minor after Swedish Melodies for String Orchestra; Swedish Dances–Suites No. 1 and No. 2, Op. 63 – SWR Radio-Orchestra Kaiserslautern/Werner Andreas Albert – CPO 777 385-2, 58:22 [Distrib. by Naxos] ****:
The music of Max Bruch (1838-1920) has consistently provided a safe haven for music conservatives who like their melodies lush and the orchestration resplendent. After the 1898 publication of Balakirev’s Assemblage of Popular Russian Songs, Bruch set down Songs and Dances for Violin and Piano, Op. 79 (1903), of which he subsequently orchestrated four of the six Russian songs and dances, along with three Swedish melodies. In the Suite After Russian Folksongs, we can hear the Song of the Volga Boatmen in the sixth dance, not as a dire dirge but as an aerial, animated dance without somber overtones. The opening dance utilizes English horn and harp effectively, a bit imitative of Richard Strauss; the mild Adagio leads to a lively Vivace section that echoes light strains in Dvorak and Humperdinck. The Tanz, No. 3, keeps a steadfast, martial rhythm then trips more gingerly for a brief moment, only to resume the dervish dance with triangle that hints at the oriental side of the Russian steppe and the fast movement from Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony. A brief Adagio segues to the Trauermarsch
whose harmonies and violin soli lie neatly between Wagner and Mahler.
The C Minor String Serenade on Swedish Melodies (1916) belongs to Bruch’s advanced age, published posthumously. In five relatively brief movements, the Serenade opens with a resolute march whose counter-theme is transparently scored and whose rhythm approaches a gavotte that trips darkly in staccati. The Andante occupies most of the Serenade, marked by a viola and cello tune that Grieg might have penned. An Allegro ostinato tune that remains four-square throughout the movement, fashioned rather like an except from Dvorak‘s Op. 22. So, too, the Andante sostenuto generates some affecting pathos, a rather intimate moment reminiscent of Grieg’s Holberg Suite. Lastly, a miniature March in canon, which become homophonic and pizzicato, the harmonies a cross between Dvorak and Lars Erik Larsson.
There are two sets of eight Swedish Dances, Op. 63 (1892), and it seems reasonable that Bruch meant to parallel Dvorak’s sets of Slavonic Dances or rival the twenty-one of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances. If memory serves, Kurt Masur may have been among the earliest purveyors on records of this sweet music. Each of the dances or mood-pieces has a short duration, only one of them–the Adagio con espressione from the first set–extending much beyond two minutes. Clever, resonant use of woodwinds, French horn, and strings aligns this eminently melodious cycle with Dvorak’s folk spirit. The fifth of the first cycle–Langsam, nicht schleppend–conveys an Elgarian affect. Veteran maestro Werner Andreas Albert set these charming Bruch works down in March 2003 and May 2004. The rich, warm ambiance of the whole makes for safe, unruffled, musical feathers.
–Gary Lemco
