Walter Braunfels - Orchestral Songs Vol. 1 (Hansjörg Albrecht)

Information

Composer: Walter Braunfels

1. Vorspiel und Prolog der Nachtigall, Op. 30/3
2. Zwei Hölderlin-Gesänge, Op. 27: 1. An die Parzen
3. Zwei Hölderlin-Gesänge, Op. 27: 2. Der Tod für’s Vaterland
4. Auf ein Soldatengrab, Op. 26
5. Abschied vom Walde, Op. 30/1
6. Don Juan, Op. 34: Introduktion & Thema
7. Don Juan, Op. 34: Variation 1. Allegro
8. Don Juan, Op. 34: Variation 2. Allegro
9. Don Juan, Op. 34: Variation 3. Allegro con brio
10. Don Juan, Op. 34: Variation 4. Mäßig
11. Don Juan, Op. 34: Variation 5. Mäßig - Bewegter
12. Don Juan, Op. 34: Variation 6. Andante
13. Don Juan, Op. 34: Variation 7. Presto

Valentina Farcas, soprano

Klaus Florian Vogt, tenor

Michael Volle, baritone

Staatskapelle Weimar

Hansjörg Albrecht, conductor

Date: 2016

Label: Oehms

https://www.oehmsclassics.de/artikel/16313/Hansj%c3%b6rg_Albrecht_Walter_Braunfels__Orchestral_Songs_Vol__I

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Review

The music of German composer Walter Braunfels has been surging forward over the last decade. This can be traced back to Decca's ground-breaking revival of the opera Die Vögel (1920) which fledged as part of the Entartete Musik series in the 1990s. That opera, one of ten, was further refreshed by an Arthaus Blu-Ray in 2011. There have been three volumes of Braunfels' orchestral music from Dutton Epoch courtesy of conductor Johannes Wildner (Vol. 3) as well as individual discs from CPO, Capriccio, BR Klassik and Acanta.

The Vorspiel und Prolog der Nachtigall opens with a smoothly modest unassertive vision. The orchestration is silvery and ushers in some dizzyingly high singing for the soprano Valentina Farcas. The composer exercises restraint in his scene-setting yet at the same time fuels a fantasy which lies close to the boundary between operetta and full-blown opera. The two Hölderlin songs are taken by baritone Michael Volle. Again Braunfels proves himself a master of self-control. These songs lack the voluptuous abandon of Richard Strauss or even Zemlinsky but are most tellingly done. Like Auf ein Soldatengrab these Hölderlin songs date from the years of the Great War and there is certainly a dash of tragedy, night and threat in the second Hölderlin song. All three are sung with stern poetic tone by Volle who is called to sustain his breath control over some very long paragraphs in Auf ein Soldatengrab. This shows particularly when he is called on to sing quietly. Nevertheless one gets a good appreciation of the songs. Klaus Florian Vogt joins Fargas for Abschied vom Walde - like the Vorspiel und Prolog der Nachtigall a 'lift' from Die Vögel. These are not exotic settings but spring directly from the German late-romantic world. Do not expect diaphanous or uproarious expressionism. Do expect the language to be disciplined, inventive and clean-limbed.

The last and longest piece on the disc is not a song. Don Juan is a wild and affectionate fantasy on the Champagne aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni. Direct quotation is the order of the day and morphs, over seven variations, into then modernish styles. None of this is difficult or lacking in brilliance or enjoyment unless you object to such fantasy use of loved and revered originals. The seven variations are full of flighty and imaginative life - a touch of Berlioz here from time to time and of Richard Strauss's Don Juan in the final Presto variation. There's an alternative recording of Don Juan on Capriccio but I have not heard it and it is differently coupled from the present disc.

The words are printed in German only in the well designed booklet which is glued into the CD casing. The essay is by Dr Eva Gesina Baur and is present in German and English.

Volume 2 (OC1847) will follow later this year and will include Braunfels' Chinese and Japanese songs (each after Hans Bethge), as well as settings of Eichendorff, Brentano and Shakespeare. Albrecht will again be the conductor but this time with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and three other solo singers. It's a shame that all the songs could not be included on one CD and Don Juan omitted given that the orchestral piece is already available on CD.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Sep/Braunfels_songs_v1_OC1846.htm

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/Sep/Braunfels_songs_v12_OC1846.htm

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Walter Braunfels (19 December 1882 – 19 March 1954) was a German composer, pianist, and music educator. Composing music in the German classical-romantic tradition, Braunfels was well known as a composer between the two World Wars but fell into oblivion after his death. There is now something of a renaissance of interest in his works. His opera Die Vögel, based on the play The Birds by Aristophanes, was recorded and has been successfully revived. Braunfels composed music in a number of different genres, not only operas, but also songs, choral works and orchestral, chamber and piano pieces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Braunfels

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Hansjörg Albrecht (born 1972 in Freiberg) is a German conductor, organist and harpsichordist. Albrecht received his first musical education as a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor and studied church music and organ in Hamburg and Cologne with Gerhard Dickel and Thierry Mechler. He is Artistic Director of the Münchener Bach-Chor (since 2005) and permanent Guest Conductor of the Bach-Collegium München. Albrecht became Artistic Director of the Hamburg Sinfonietta in 2009 and, in parallel with his conducting, has also built up an international reputation as organist and harpsichordist.
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Albrecht-Hansjorg.htm
http://hansjoerg-albrecht.com/

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