Germany Dresden Music Competition 2023 [8] – 2.6.2023, Kulturpalast, Dresden: Francesco Piemontesi (piano), Dresdner Philharmonie / Marek Janowski (conductor). (MC)

R. Strauss – Macbeth, symphonic poem, Op.23 (1888); Burleske in D minor for piano and orchestra (1886)
R. Schumann – Symphony No.1 in B flat main, Op.38 Spring (1841)

Inventive director and chief conductor of the Dresdner Philharmonie, Marek Janowski chosen this orchestral programme of works by two of Germany’s biggest composers Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss. Schumann and his spouse Clara truly lived in Dresden for six years and evidently as a lot as a 3rd of his works have been written while residing within the metropolis. Strauss too was linked strongly to Dresden, most notably as the town that hosted premieres of 9 of his fifteen operas.

The music of Richard Strauss has been a well-known a part of my live performance attendances. Notably his symphonic poems Additionally Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan, Until Eulenspiegel, Ein Heldenleben and Tod und Verklärung are all common objects on live performance programmes. Strauss’s one hundred and fiftieth anniversary fell in 2014 and generated a considerable variety of live shows and I attended three performances of none apart from the huge Alpine Symphony and in addition one of many Symphonia Domestica.

A special kettle of fish is Macbeth and I solely recall attending a single efficiency, and that was again in 2010 by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra beneath Gianandrea Noseda at Bridgewater Corridor, Manchester. It’s definitely one in all Strauss’s lesser-known symphonic (or tone) poems and the one he subjected to appreciable revision. Impressed by the Shakespeare tragedy Macbeth, it’s a work that divides opinions. A typical criticism is that Strauss’s music doesn’t adequately correlate to the storyline though makes an attempt have been made to offer programme notes. Polish-born, German conductor, Marek Janowski isn’t any stranger to Strauss’s Macbeth and in 2010 he recorded the work with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on PentaTone. On the Kulturpalast, Janowski and the Dresdner Philharmonie have been very a lot on the identical web page with Macbeth, offering an ardent interpretation and having a formidable stage of ahead momentum in a piece that I doubt it performs too typically. Actually, Macbeth will not be essentially the most riveting of the composer’s symphonic poems however with a efficiency as interesting as this I hope that it isn’t one other twelve years earlier than I hear it once more.

An excellent earlier Strauss work from 1886 is Burleske a considerable single-movement live performance piece for piano and orchestra the place the soloist performs virtually regularly. Initially titled Scherzo in D minor it was meant for soloist Hans von Bülow, who turned down the rating. Strauss didn’t make clear the that means of the title Burleske that doubtless alludes to mockery or farce. In a letter to his mom, Strauss described the work as a ‘piano concerto’. It’s a work with quite a few recordings within the catalogue though I hardly ever see it programmed.

Curiously Burleske is a piece that I’ve by no means actually warmed to, though Francesco Piemontesi displayed all of the formidable virtuosity important for this dazzling showpiece. Swiss-born Piemontesi performed the appreciable quantity of boisterous writing with real conviction. Strauss has additionally offered a number of pleasant emotional contrasts interpreted by Piemontesi with substantial experience.

For the principal work of the night Marek Janowski selected Schumann’s Symphony No.1 (1841) extensively referred to as the Spring. It’s the product of a joyous surge of exercise from the just lately married thirty-year-old composer who was inspired to jot down orchestral music by his spouse Clara (née Wieck). Initially Schumann allotted poetic titles for every motion The Starting of Spring, Night, Merry Playmates and Spring in Full Bloom; all names he later withdrew.

Previous to the curiosity in interval efficiency observe, romantic works resembling Schumann symphonies had developed to be performed with giant orchestras, generally referred to as big-band forces, that have been typically twice as giant because the orchestral forces that Schumann had out there to him. Having heard nothing however interval instrument performances of this Schumann symphony over the previous couple of years I used to be struck by the fullness of the sound that Janowski achieved with the Dresdner Philharmonie utilizing trendy devices. Sure, there was loads of heft to the sound along with vibrant textures. Janowski communicated a cohesive and extremely thrilling efficiency that offered ample character. Standing out was the enjoying of the Spring in Full Bloom finale, marked Allegro animato e grazioso, the place Janowski expertly managed the modifications of tempi and dynamic, and spirited persona of the motion. At Kulturpalast this felt just like the glow of an orchestra pleased in its work.

Dresden Music Competition 2023 [9] – 3.6.2023, Palais im Grossen Garten, Dresden: Hagen Quartet (Lukas Hagen, Rainer Schmidt [violins], Veronika Hagen [viola], Clemens Hagen [cello]).

Mozart – String Quartet No.14 in G main, Ok.387 (1782); String Quartet No.15 in D minor, Ok.421 (1783)
Shostakovich – String Quartet No.14 in F-sharp main, Op.142 (1972-73)

This Palais im Grossen Garten efficiency was my first Hagen Quartet chamber recital, and owing to its repute and listening to lots of its recordings my expectations have been rightly excessive.

Based in Austria in 1981 the Hagen Quartet initially comprised of 4 siblings. Angelika Hagen left the quartet leaving three siblings, the chief Lukas, violist Veronika and cellist Clemens who now carry out with violinist Rainer Schmidt. The Hagen celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2021. Though not unprecedented for string quartets, the longevity of the Hagen is a exceptional achievement. Many commentators have extolled the enjoying of the quartet, certainly The Washington Publish reviewer in 2017 wrote ‘One of many most interesting quartets of our time’.

From the outset Mozart has been on the core of the Hagen Quartet’s repertoire. In 2006, the fruits of a thirteen-year undertaking, the Hagen launched its set of full recordings of the Mozart string quartets on Deutsche Grammophon. Throughout its profession the Hagen has toured extensively with a sequence of recitals fully dedicated to Mozart Quartets and I discover it has even re-recorded a few of the Mozart quartets for Myrios Classics.

Mozart took the lion’s share of this three-work recital from the Hagen with a Mozart string quartet to each open and shut the programme. The Mozart quartets chosen have been No.14 in G main, Ok.387 referred to as the Spring and No.15 in D minor, Ok.421. This pair are from the primary of two teams of three that type a part of his set of six quartets revealed as his Op.10 in 1785. This set is named the ‘Haydn Quartets’ after his pal Josef Haydn the dedicatee who Mozart acknowledged as influencing him in string quartet composition. As we speak, we recognise the modern and enticing high quality of this set which contrasts to the view of a reporter who in 1787 felt they have been ‘too extremely seasoned’ for the palate.

One of many first facets of the efficiency that I seen was how quartet chief Lukas Hagen directs the enjoying with surety of goal. Steadfast refinement and a profound stage of expression summed up the Hagen’s strategy to those Mozart scores and its enjoying was a real delight to expertise.

Offering a stark distinction to the Mozart works and written virtually 200 years later, is Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.14 in F-sharp main, Op.142. This late work accomplished in 1973 was written amid his severe well being issues and in addition a journey to his pal Benjamin Britten at Aldeburgh in England. The Hagen has recorded a number of Shostakovich string quartets together with this F-sharp main rating in 1994 on Deutsche Grammophon (reissued on Newton Classics).

Shostakovich’s F-sharp main quartet is a piece of puzzling contrasts. It was devoted to cellist Sergei Shirinsky of the Beethoven String Quartet for which Shostakovich offers the cello prominence. In comparison with his different late quartets I don’t discover the F-sharp main rating fairly as austere and forbidding, and general, it’s extra accessible, but peril and lament are by no means distant. This quartet is a placing instance of gamers and audiences having the ability to keep away from Shostakovich’s public face and delve deep into the personal world of a person so acutely aware of his personal mortality.

Solely compelling are the phrases I’d use to explain the Hagen’s efficiency of Shostakovich String Quartet No.14. This was strongly dedicated enjoying that was detailed and lucid with cellist Clemens Hagen thriving within the conspicuous cello writing. Within the rating the composer contains what I’d describe as a curious raillery, however the Hagen imparted reasonably extra of the unnerving facets of the writing. Shostakovich made his unsettling quartet a tough work to take pleasure in, it’s extra a case of the Hagen offering a compelling expertise.

Demonstrating enjoying that units a excessive watermark, it was a privilege to attend this Palais im Grossen Garten recital by the Hagen Quartet. One in every of my highlights of the Dresden Competition.

Michael Cookson