Benjamin Frankel - Violin & Viola Concertos; Serenade (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Benjamin Frankel

• (01) Violin Concerto, Op. 24 'In memory of the six million'
• (05) Viola Concerto, Op. 45
• (08) Serenata Concertante for Piano Trio and Orchestra, Op. 37

Ulf Hoelscher, violin

Brett Dean, viola

Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Werner Andreas Albert, conductor

Date: 1998

Label: cpo

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Benjamin-Frankel-1906-1973-Violinkonzert-In-Memory-of-the-Six-Million/hnum/7626366

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Review

The Violin Concerto, which made Benjamin Frankel’s name with the concert public when it was premiered in 1951 (he was already well known as a film composer) is inscribed “In memory of the six million”. It is ‘about’ the Holocaust, in fact, and the latest issue in CPO’s absorbing and invaluable series is soberly clad in deepest black. Understandable, but misleading: the slow movement of the concerto is a moving elegy, expressing deep sadness with beautiful lyricism, but there is nothing of horror or bitterness here. There is an edge to the brilliant and witty, rather Walton-like scherzo and something of sobriety to the expressive first movement, but I defy anyone to listen to the finale, in which a violin line of lovely, hovering grace turns into a light-hearted, even high-spirited waltz, without smiling. It is a work with a grieving centre, but not a Requiem.

The Viola Concerto of 1967 is, I think, even finer. It begins even more arrestingly than the earlier work with a long, lyrical melody over a lapping accompaniment and a deeper pulse. This theme is never literally repeated but it is recalled twice, after more angular music, and its last appearance is quite haunting. The serene slow movement is of similar form; so is the exuberant rondo finale, but Frankel was by now a past master at his own individual, highly tonal and melodious adaptation of serialism, and it gives the whole piece an audible logic and unity that is quite absorbing. You realize that a beautiful idea in the finale is a transformed variant of a spiky one from the first movement, and you want to play the whole work again to find out how it was done.

Something similar happens in the delightful Serenata concertante. It is almost light music (Frankel described it as a ‘street scene’ in which passing traffic, a distant jazz band, lovers dancing and all manner of other things could be heard) but strictly ordered, all the episodes derived from a single 12-note row. For listeners who have never been able to get on with serialism the strange experience will not be discovering a serial work that is as engagingly tuneful as this one, but discovering that Frankel’s manipulation of his row is perfectly audible. All three performances are fine, and the recordings very pleasing. If you still haven’t tried Frankel’s music this coupling is an ideal introduction to him.

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/sept02/frankel.htm

https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/orchestral/frankel-3/

https://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-Frankel-Concerto-Serenata-Concertante/dp/B0000061JH

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Benjamin Frankel (31 January 1906 – 12 February 1973) was a British composer. His best known pieces include a cycle of 5 string quartets, 8 symphonies, and concertos for violin and viola. He was also notable for writing over 100 film scores and working as a big band arranger in the 1930s. During the last 15 years of his life, Frankel also developed his own style of 12-note composition which retained contact with tonality. In the years following his death, Frankel's works were almost completely neglected, until Thea King's landmark recording of the Clarinet Quintet was published, follow by his complete oeuvre on CPO.

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

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Ulf Hoelscher (born 17 January 1942 in Kitzingen) is a German violinist and teacher. Hoelscher studied with Max Rostal (Musikhochschule Köln), Josef Gingold (Indiana University, Bloomington) and Ivan Galamian (Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia). Since 1970s, Hoelscher has been an international recognized violinist and chamber muscian. He has performed with many great orchestras, under renowned conductors. In addition to famous Classical and Romantic works, Hoelscher's repertoire contains numerous compositions which he has taken from oblivion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulf_Hoelscher

http://www.ulfhoelscher.de/indexen.html

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Werner Andreas Albert (10 January 1935 – 10 November 2019) was a German and Australian conductor. His conducting teacher included Herbert von Karajan and Hans Rosbaud. Albert regularly conducted in Australia and was principal conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (1983–90). He made over 600 recordings for the Cologne, Bavarian and Northwest German Radio Networks. After recording all of the vast standard repertoire, he began to champion new composers and to research works that had never been recorded. In the process he earned the distinction of the most recorded artist in Germany.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Andreas_Albert

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