Here is my "Pfitzner-story":
For me it is funny becouse i always had these NAMES i was drawn to.
Pfitzner was one of them, i dont know why? Maybe becouse i had a rough idea when he lived and i always loved the late-romantics (and the "Post-Wagnerianism", what ever that means...). And come to think of it, his name resembles little bit MEDTNER!Now, i knew that many people loved MEDTNER, and i had read about him from a book about the great Vladimir Horowitz.
PFITZNER- MEDTNER; both composers who had some mixed attachment for two great musical countrys, namely Russia and Germany. I guess Medtner was a Russian born in Germany, and Pfitner a German born in Russia (in Moscow, i guess)? I am sure (
) there are two kind of people, those who love Medtner but dont warm to Pfitzner, and those who warm to Pfitzner but dont get Medtner, and i guess i belong to the latter
So i just read once of this radio-program that featured the Violin Sonata in e-minor. Even the key (e-minor) was something i was drawn to!(The same happened btw with Szymanowski; the name on a radio program, and announcement of a piano etude in E-FLAT MINOR. Here it was the same, i sensed that this had to to be -i knew absolutely nothing about the composer, never even read his name which seemed so difficult to pronounce- a late-romantic, and surely a slavonic composer -i loved Russian composers, i was fourteen or something-and the title of the piece and even the unusual choise of key suggested to me that this was a composer who was attached to the great Chopin tradition. Of course the etude charmed me totally, and later i came to know that its composer was greatly admired and revered ).
So, i listened that sonata. The first movement started with a melody which was just amazing and the music had this kind of melancholy, nostalgic aura which i found simply irresistable!The second movement had a depth in it while the final movement was so "germanic", you know music played "mit schwung"; the melody was a wonderfully hectic and victorous tune in E-Major.
From that experience onwards i knew i had found a new composer that i would cherish. But my encounter with Pfitzner would not be all just wonderment and admiration. I was suprised to find things in him that were baffling... he was not just this kind of warm and heartfelt romantic i thought he was when hearing the Violin Sonata. The 3rd String Qurtet had many beauties but also lots of embarrassing naivite and simplicity making me feel uncomfortable and not at all sure was he being serious.
And his later orchestral music sounded often un-inspired and laboured, little pretentious, like the Symphony in c-sharp minor. Also his orchestration sounded simply-ugly and harsh! And the Pianoconcerto was another piece which was dissapointing, banal, uninspired and awkwardly and uneffectively written for the solo instrument.
So i had this battle with Pfitzner, always somehow convinced that he was an extremely gifted composer. Like when i got to hear an amazing, early cello concerto in a-minor- Again, there was this kind strange, partly slavonic aftertaste and surely it was inspired from the Schumann cello concerto (even the key), but not in a way that was disturbing. It was music so emotional and powerful- and so inspired and very very virtuosic for the solo instrument! I am still convinced thatit is a great romantic cello concerto and celllists should just find it!I am sure audience would love it! Its lyricism is simply wonderful and its all very dramatic. And has truly valuable thematic material, a big tune worthy of Tshaikowsky.
