Franz Berwald - Chamber Music (Susan Tomes; Gaudier Ensemble)

Information

Composer: Franz Berwald

CD1:

• (01) Quartet for piano & wind in E flat minor
• (04) Piano Trio No. 2 in F minor
• (08) Grand Septet in B flat major

CD2:

• (01) Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor
• (04) Duo for piano & violin in D minor
• (07) Piano Trio No. 4 in C major

Susan Tomes, piano
Gaudier Ensemble
Marieke Blankestijn, violin
Fiona McCapra, violin (Quintet)
Iris Juda, viola
Christoph Marks, cello
Stephen Williams, double bass
Richard Hosford, clarinet
Robin O'Neill, bassoon
Jonathan Williams, horn

Date: 1995 (CD1), 1996 (CD2)
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDD22053

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Review

I think it’s fair to say that Berwald is still best known for his excellent symphonies, which now boast a number of different versions. The chamber music has made slower headway into the repertoire, though Hyperion, as usual, has been right at the forefront of recorded interest in the composer. This excellent pair of discs were, I gather, quite a success first time round and now, at the twofer Dyad price, are set to be all over again

The works included here span nearly forty years of Berwald’s life and even liner-note writer and Scandinavian expert Robert Layton admits they are not all on the same level of inspiration. That said, even the weaker pieces are never less than enjoyable. It certainly helps that the playing throughout is so warmly sympathetic and captured in such beautifully balanced sound.

The earliest work is the Piano Quartet in E flat, written when the composer was only 23 but already with a number of chamber pieces under his belt. It’s laid out in a conventional three-movement structure and is indebted to Hummel and Spohr among others. It’s not wildly original but boasts some attractive melodic invention, particularly the short central adagio and sparkling finale, with its interesting modulations and glittering, Weber-like piano writing.

The Grand Septet is much more mature, modelled on Beethoven’s ever-popular Septet and delightfully inventive. Layton tells us that formally it anticipated the Sinfonie singulière by incorporating the scherzo into the slow movement, thus having a weighty central movement that doubles as both. The invention is definitely more inspired, with touches that remind one of Schubert; something I thought more than once throughout this set.

The pianist Hilda Thegerström seems to have been the inspiration behind a number of his chamber works with piano, and his Piano Trio in F minor is an interesting work. It is ostensibly in four movements but these are played without a break, with a seamless flow of memorable ideas. Some tunes recall Mendelssohn in their grace and sparkle, and there is real rhythmic vitality here with some original harmonic touches – witness the piano flurries in track 6, 0:38 on.

The second disc includes the later Piano Trio in C major, which is also an attractive work, though listening for a few weeks has given me more of a soft spot for that earlier F minor piece. The best work on this companion disc seems to me to be the Piano Quintet of 1853, another Thegerström inspiration. She played it in private but the first public performance did not take place for another forty years. It’s a bold, muscular piece that again incorporates a scherzo into another movement, this time the opening allegro, and is brimful of melodic and harmonic invention, something the players exploit to the full.

The Duo for piano and violin is another neglected piece, a shame as it also has much to commend it, including an attractive folk-like central andante. The high jinx of the finale show pianist Susan Tomes to be at her best, virtuosic but never showy or empty.

Indeed, this could go for the whole team, who work together to produce a blend that is pure, natural and always at the service of the music. This is delightful, urbane music that any lover of 19th Century chamber music will revel in.

-- Tony Haywood, MusicWeb International

More reviews:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/franz-berwald-chamber-music-mw0001402811

CD1:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/berwald-chamber-works
http://www.classical-music.com/review/berwald-13

CD2:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/berwald-chamber-music-volume-2
http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/n/nxs53970a.php

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Franz Berwald (23 July 1796 – 3 April 1868) was a Swedish Romantic composer. He made his living as an orthopedic surgeon and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory, and became more appreciated as a composer after his death than he had been in his lifetime. Berwald's music was not recognised favourably in Sweden during his lifetime, even drawing hostile newspaper reviews, but fared a little better in Germany and Austria. Among four symphonies, his best known works, the first was the only one that was performed in his lifetime. His 4th symphony was premiered in 1878, ten years after Berwald's death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Berwald

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The Gaudier Ensemble is a chamber group which was formed in 1989 in London. The group consists of 11 players of mixed nationalities The group performs music for winds, strings, and piano, typically from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Beside works by well known composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Dvorák, the group often delves into the less familiar repertoire like Spohr, Berwald, and Francaix. Its first recording appeared in 1990 on the ASV label, the Schubert Octet in F major. Subsequent recordings by the Gaudier players have been issued on the Hyperion label.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gaudier-ensemble-mn0001644724/biography

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