Postwar Sounds, Switzerland – ROLF LIEBERMANN: Furioso; RICHARD STRAUSS: Metamorphosen; ARTHUR HONEGGER: Symphony No. 3 (Symphonie liturgique) – Philharmonisches Orchester Lübeck/ Roman Brogli-Sacher – Musicaphon multichannel SACD [Distr. by Qualiton] 69:02 **1/2:
This is a pretty intriguing program as long as you don’t require musical feng shui, because the late-Romantic outpourings of Metamorphosen clash with the resolutely modernist bookends by Liebermann and Honegger. Inclusion of another Swiss modernist such as Othmar Schoeck or Frank Martin might have made more sense but would probably have netted more ho-hum results.
As it is, the Liebermann is the real ear-opener here. A student of twelve-tone composer Wladimir Vogel, Swiss composer Rolf Liebermann wrote in a variety of styles, including a light-classical vein. While supposedly influenced by twelve-tone technique, Furioso barely shows it. Instead, we have a composition that has the motoric energy of Honegger or early Prokofiev and in fact reminded me of the driving rhythms of post-War American composers such as William Schuman and Peter Mennin. In the midst of all this thundering and glittering energy is an Andante that brings a surprising bit of release until we return to the slashing gestures of the opening. I’m glad to make the acquaintance of this brief but striking work.
The other bookend is Arthur Honegger’s Third Symphony, along with his other wartime symphony, No. 2, the Swiss composer’s most respected. Like the Liebermann, the Honegger is a tense and troubled work with an island of comparative calm at its heart. The CD booklet reproduces Honegger’s program notes to the symphony. They’re a little overheated and overwritten for my taste, but they suggest that the symphony follows the same basic program as Honegger’s marvelous late Cantate de Noel. The music proceeds from the apocalyptic gloom that is Wartime Europe, through the cry of despair of those who suffer, to the still-troubled finale where glints of hope emerge. Subtitled Liturgique, the symphony takes its form and substance from the Catholic mass: the first movement is entitled Dies irae (“Day of Wrath”), the second De profundis clamavi (“From the depths I cried”), and the third Dona nobis pacem (“Grant us peace”).
Given that context, Strauss’s Metamorphosen makes more sense since it furnishes the same sense of relief that the central sections of the Liebermann and Honegger supply. A bittersweet stream of Wagnerian continuous melody, Metamorphosen is Strauss’s reaction to the misery of war, and especially the destruction of Germany’s cultural icons. The chief motif of the work is the first four measures from the Marcia funebre second movement of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, which appears in fragments until it is quoted verbatim toward the end.
I have to say that the Liebermann and Honegger pieces are more my meat than the High Romanticism of Strauss, but there’s no denying the sad power of Strauss’s work, and this seems to me a very good performance that, nonetheless, won’t erase memories of Karajan or Previn. In the Honegger, there is less competition, and Brogli-Sacher’s performance strikes me as quite effective—intense and riveting. As for the Liebermann, I have nothing with which to compare the performance, but again, I’m impressed with what I hear. The orchestra plays with taut control and brings real color to the piece.
I’m not at all as happy with the live recording. It is mostly a close-up affair though there are oddities of balance. Percussion, for example, is very much up front and personal, but brass occasionally seems backward in placement. The acoustic is also very dry, lending a glare to the upper strings and two-dimensionality to the whole. Even making concessions for the less-than-ideal conditions attending live recording, this is pretty raw. Too bad, because all the music here calls for first-rate sound.
– Lee Passarella
