TCHAIKOVSKY: String Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70 “Souvenir de Florence”; KORNGOLD: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10 – The Nash Ensemble – Hyperion CDA68406 (12/6/23) (70:09) [Distr. by PIAS] *****:
Tchaikovsky, uncomfortable with the rigors of sextet writing, wrestled with his 1886 promised composition to Eugen Albrecht of the St Petersburg Chamber Music Society for a period of three years, then revising the work in 1892 for public performance. The title reflects Tchaikovsky’s fond memories of Italy, especially Florence, which had first provided him with a duet for violin and cello that grew in girth and emotive weight into the powerful sextet.
The Nash Ensemble (rec. 9-11 January 2023): Stephanie Gonley and Jonathan Stone, violins; Lars Anders Tomter and Rachel Roberts, violas; Adrian Brendel and Gemma Rosefield, cellos – launches into the first movement, Allegro con spirito, with its fervent D minor thrust, much in the manner of the opening of Schumann’s first movement of his Rhenish Symphony. The second subject, in A major, assumes a tender, lyrical character, and Tchaikovsky uses the sequential rhythmic impulse in repeated forms to provide structural unity to his sonata form. The development section wanders into A-flat minor, allowing the cellos their place in the melodic sunshine. When the recap occurs, the music plays with parallel harmonies in reverse of their original appearance.
The second movement, a D major Andante cantabile e con moto, proves highly reminiscent of the earlier Serenade for Strings, Op. 48, with the first violin’s intoning the melody over pizzicato accompaniment, soon joined by the cello for what must be a direct evocation of Florence. The musical impulse remains balletic, easily transposable as a duet in Swan Lake. This music modulates to A major for a lushly harmonized declamation. The middle section reverts to the initial key of the score, D minor, in angular accents and eerie tremolos, perhaps an intimation of mortality. The da capo has the cello play the lyrical theme over fast pizzicatos, until the music returns to the initial D major center.
The last two movements indulge Tchaikovsky’s penchant for Russian folk song and dance, as he had employed in the final movement of his Serenade for Strings. The Allegretto moderato opens from the viola a dreamy accompaniment, which itself becomes contrapuntal, then unisono, in the cello parts. The rhythmic energy becomes propulsive, the bowing more saltando and martial, especially in the middle section in A major. Harmonically, Tchaikovsky is unafraid to involve tritones that add a distinctive edginess to the procession.
Rustic energies suffuse the last movement, a D minor Allegro vivace, and the Nash Ensemble is quick to deliver a whirlwind account. Typically, to demonstrate his “academic correctness of form,” Tchaikovsky inserts periods of counterpoint, perhaps inappropriate to the otherwise earthy atmosphere. The music has assumed a modal, Aeolian character, with a C major middle section for relief of the grueling tension. The influence of the Mendelssohn Octet, Op. 20 has well revealed itself, though Tchaikovsky’s craft has become self-conscious. The sweet theme returns in a conciliatory D major, the tempo increasing to a long pedal point; then, more vivace to the statement of the folk’s final victory over academic considerations.
The Rose Quartet and selected guests first premiered the Sextet in D Major by Erich Wolfgang Korngold in 1917, dedicated to Dr. Karl Ritter von Wiener, President of the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Along with his 1912 Sinfonietta and the opera Violanta, Korngold had made for himself a reputation of distinction with the Vienna public and with esteemed contemporary musicians.
The Korngold Sextet opens Moderato – Allegro, the sonorities distinctly Brahmsian in character but more audacious in harmonic and tempo shifts, 4/4 and 2/2. If the initial impulse seems “spiky,” the music soon settles into Viennese warmth, and the secondary tune (“calm and flowing”), proceeds in B major with tremolo support. The essential verve and restlessness of the music, in three separate tempo markings, indulges in leaps in the melodic line and eerie parallel fourths. Moments of muscular polyphony pass us, the melodic line passionate and insistent, occasionally resorting to parallel seventh chords. The two violins pair off, sometimes inviting the viola to stand by them against the lower three instruments. Each instrument has a moment in the sun, then they blend in luxurious, colorful harmony.
The second movement Adagio begins with a melancholy figure for solo cello. The strings achieve a fuller sonority in double stops, as the sonority resembles examples from Mahler. The D major opening has been interrupted by a D minor chord, while the triplets’ motions invest an unease to the progress of the music. The emotive range of this movement becomes intensified by modal harmonies, many of which verge on the extremes of the tonal centers. The cello again emerges as the primary sufferer in this fateful journey, again marked by parallel sevenths. A haze of nostalgia fills the atmosphere, the violin in high register while the other strings lament. For the final transition into G major, Korngold asks for natural harmonics (with added 6ths and 9ths) to assert themselves in tandem with old-world, un-earthly portamentos.
Movement three, an F major Intermezzo, is to be played “with graciousness.” A postcard tribute to Old Vienna, Korngold gave it the epithet “Motif of the Cheerful Heart.” The music suddenly bursts forth in great animation prior to a waltz mood, though the harmonies in the mediant beckon both to Mahler and Schubert. The composer directly asks for sentimentality in the execution of this charming love letter of “fire and humor” (so designated for the last movement) to the city from which he would bid fond farewell in his emigration to America.
The fourth movement (Presto) moves in high spirits, racing along in sonata form disguised in quirky jolts and humorous sonorities. The second theme, jaunty and robust, derives from the singing cello in E-flat major, with buffa interruptions from violins and violas in octaves, including col legno and strummed effects. There are occasional references to the previous movements, and a slower section with further echoes of sentimentality. When the tempo slows down, Korngold introduces double-stops and triple-stops in the members, so the chordal effect resembles a rustic accordion. At the close, the music returns with lusty energy to the opening theme of the first movement before the emphatic high-speed conclusion. In all, a disc of variegated colors and awesome musicianship!
—Gary Lemco
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From Hyperion/PIAS, the Nash Ensemble performing string sextets by Tchaikovsky and Korngold. Classical Music Review by Gary Lemco.
