Alois Hába (1893-1973) Czech Your Quarter-tones

[Scion7]

Besides his many chamber music compositions, (and the Matka opera) the Grove lists these for orchestral works:

Mládí [Youth], 1913
Ov., op.5, 1919–20
Symfonická fantazie, op.8, pf, orch, 1920–21
Cesta zivota [The Way of Life], sym. fantasy, op.46, 1933
Valasská suita [Wallachian Suite], op.77, 1951–2
Vn Conc., op.83, 1954–5
Va Conc., op.86, 1955–7

and Piano music:

3 Fugues, op.1a, 1918; Variace na kánon od Roberta Schumanna, op.1b, 1918; 2 morceaux, op.2, 1917–18; Sonata, op.3, 1918; 6 Pieces, op.6, 1920; Suite no.1, op.10, 1/4-tone, 1922; Suite no.2, op.11, 1/4-tone, 1922; Suite no.3, op.16, 1/4-tone, 1923; Fantazie no.1, op.17, 1/4-tone, 1923; Fantazie no.2, op.19, 1/4-tone, 1923; Fantazie no.3, op.20, 1/4-tone, 1924; Suite no.4, op.22, 1/4-tone, 1924; Suite no.5, op.23, 1/4-tone, 1925; Fantazie no.4, op.25, 1/4-tone, 1925; Fantazie no.5, op.26, 1/4-tone, 1925; Fantazie no.6, op.27, 1/4-tone, 1926; Fantazie no.7, 1/4-tone, op.28, 1926; Fantazie no.8, op.29, 1/4-tone, 1926
Fantazie no.9, op.30, 1/4-tone, 1926; Fantazie no.10, op.31, 1/4-tone, 1926; Toccata quasi una fantasia, op.38, 1931; 4 moderní tance, op.39, 1927; Sonata, op.62, 1/4-tone, 1946–7; Suite, op.88, 1/4-tone, 1957–9; Fantazie, op.89, 1/4-tone, 1957–8; Six Moods, op.102, 1971

and of course, the Chamber pieces:

String Quartets: No.1, op.4, 1919;
no.2, op.7, 1/4-tone, 1920; no.3, op.12, 1/4-tone, 1922; no.4, op.14, 1/4-tone, 1922; no.5, op.15, 1/6-tone, 1923; no.6, op.70, 1/4-tone, 1950; no.7, op.73, 1950–51; no.8, op.76, 1951; no.9, op.79, 1952; no.10, op.80, 1/6-tone, 1952; no.11, op.87, 1/6-tone, 1957; no.12, op.90, 1/4-tone, 1959–60; no.13, op.92, 1961; no.14, op.94, 1/4-tone, 1963; no.15, op.95, 1/5-tone, 1964; no.16, op.98, 1/5-tone, 1967

other chamber and instrumental

Fugue on H–A–B–A, org, 1913;
Sonata, op.1, vn, pf, 1914–15;
Fantazie, op.9a, Hudba [Music], op.9b, 1/4-tone, vn, 1921;
Fantazie, op.18, 1/4-tone, vc, 1924;
Fantazie, op.21, 1/4-tone, vn, pf, 1925;
Suite, op.24, 1/4-tone cl, 1/4-tone pf, 1925;
Fantazie, op.32, va, 1/4-tone pf, 1926;
Fantazie, op.33, vc, 1/4-tone pf, 1927;
Fantazie, op.34, fl, pf, 1927–8, rev. op.34a, b cl, pf, 1968;
6 Pieces, op.37, 1/6-tone hmnm, 1928;
Fantazie no.1, op.40, nonet, 1931;
Fantazie no.2, op.41, nonet, 1932;
Duo, op.49, 1/6-tone, 2 vn, 1937;
Sonata, op.54, gui, 1943;
Suite, op.55, 1/4-tone cl, 1943;
Nonet no.3, op.82, 1954;
Nonet no.4, op.97, 1971
Suite, op.56, 1/4-tone tpt, trbn, 1944;
Suite, op.59, chromatic hp, 1944;
Sonata, op.60, diatonic hp, 1944;
2 skladby [2 Compositions], op.61, diatonic hp, 1944;
Suite, op.63, 1/4-tone gui, 1946;
Suite, op.69, bn, 1950, rev. op.69a, b cl, 1969;
Suite, op.72, 4 1/4-tone trbn, 1950;
Qt, op.74, 4 bn, 1951;
Fantazie 'Te Deum laudamus', op.75a, org, 1951;
Fantazie a fuga HABA, op.75b, org, 1951;
Sonata, op.78, cl, 1952, rev. op.78a, b cl, 1968;
Suite, op.81a, vc, 1955;
Suite, op.81b, vn, 1955
Suite, op.85a, 1/6-tone, vn, 1955;
Suite, op.85b, 1/6-tone, vc, 1955;
Suite, op.91, cimb, 1960;
Suite, op.93, 1/4-tone, vn, 1961–2;
Suite, op.96, b cl, 1964;
Fantazie no.4, op.97, nonet, 1962–3, 1970;
Suite, op.99, sax, 1968;
Suite, op.100, b cl, pf, 1969, MS;
Suite, op.103, vn, pf, 1972

[Scion7]

I've searched but cannot find a reference that these two works have ever been recorded.
There's no vinyl LP that I can find issued by Supraphon.
Certainly, there's never been any CD issued.

Anyone heard either of these on a radio broadcast?

[Dax]

Which two works?

[Scion7]

Look at the subject of post.   

[listener]

Besides his many chamber music compositions, (and the Martha opera) the Grove lists these for orchestral works:

I think you have misread this, it should be Matka (Mother) op. 35    His other opera is New Land (Nová Zemé)  op. 47
There is a famous opera, Martha, by Flotow.

I also cannot see the two unrecorded works to which you refer.

[The new erato]

Look at the subject of post.   

the subject of the post is Czech your Quartertones.

[North Star]

the subject of the post is Czech your Quartertones.

Post subject. Not topic subject. 'Re: RE: Violin and Viola Concertos - Re: Alois Hába'

[Scion7]

I think you have misread this, it should be Matka (Mother) op. 35    His other opera is New Land (Nová Zemé)  op. 47

Fixed!  I was typing what I was thinking about instead of paying attention.  :-D

[Cato]

Fixed!  I was typing what I was thinking about instead of paying attention.  :-D

Too bad!  I thought you had discovered an opera by Haba that was unknown to me!

I spent some time looking for information on the Soviet-era Violin and Viola Concertos: according to one source, neither are in a microtonal style.

[schnittkease]

Returning to Hába after a sizeable break.  Going to go through the string quartets chronologically.

No.1 was composed in 1919 under the guidance of Franz Schreker and shows a mastery of classical formal structure.  The language is highly chromatic but never abandons tonality.  Nothing to write home about, but probably outdoes Hindemith's first essays in the genre.

[Cato]

Returning to Hába after a sizeable break.  Going to go through the string quartets chronologically.

No.1 was composed in 1919 under the guidance of Franz Schreker and shows a mastery of classical formal structure.  The language is highly chromatic but never abandons tonality.  Nothing to write home about, but probably outdoes Hindemith's first essays in the genre.

You have recordings of all of them?!  I am impressed!  Somewhere in my archives are scores for two string quartets, photocopied in the 1970's, which I should revisit also! 

[schnittkease]

You have recordings of all of them?!  I am impressed!  Somewhere in my archives are scores for two string quartets, photocopied in the 1970's, which I should revisit also!

It's the NEOS box set by the Hába Quartett (highly recommended):

[asin]B00R5AI3OI[/asin]

Which quartets do you have the scores to? I'll need to see if I can get ahold of something through ILL - the 2nd is on IMSLP...

[Brian]

Haba's piano output spans the 17 years from his early student days to his first experimental adventures with quartertones and semitones. Then, after 1931, he took a 40-year break from normal (i.e. not quartertone) solo piano compositions, returning with a suite of six "Moods" in 1971. Miroslav Beinhauer performs this first-ever complete edition in chronological order.

CD1
The Sonata in E flat minor, written as a 21 year old, dates from before Haba took up serious composition lessons, and you can tell based on the simplistic piano writing, unclear rhythmic pulse (except the finale), and meandering "development" of themes. The Three Fugues are also clearly student exercises, though the voicing is already much clearer - his studies with Novak and Schreker were paying off quickly. The third fugue is "scherzando" and almost not recognizably a fugue. The Schumann Variations are another study piece, but this time they were performed and published; they start from a canon and spread agreeably across 15 minutes.

With two pieces Op. 2, Haba gets more interesting and modern. The composer later said these were warm-ups for his largest piano piece, the Sonata Op. 3, still written while studying with Schreker and greatly admired by the older composer. The sonata's in a traditional fast-slow-fast three movements, and is in a kind of gnarly but tonal late-romantic grumpy mood. It's very dramatic, but also somewhat colorless.

One thing that holds it back for me - and this is true of the whole first CD - is a rather undynamic studio recording. There isn't much difference between climaxes and quiet moments, and you never get a sense of momentum building up to bigger things. I think this is partly Haba's fault for being so formally diffuse early in his career, and partly the sound recording in a Czech radio studio.

CD2
The changeover in mood from CD1 to CD2 is shocking. In just a few short years, we went from the somewhat glum late romantic of the Sonata to the spiky, agitated modernist of the Six Pieces Op. 6. There is much more personality here, and more variety of moods. (I particularly like the impressionist intrusion of No. 5). Then a whole parade of miniatures ensues - only one track on this disc is longer than 5' - including fun, gently freaky Grotesques; a sardonic Shostakovich-like waltz, and a surprisingly authentic Gershwiny Shimmy-Blues.

The Toccata quasi una fantasia, Op. 38, is the most substantial piece from Haba's maturity, at 10 minutes, and it defies expectations. Unlike many of the more famous toccatas, it doesn't start with a bombardment of fast notes, but a slow, mysterious, kind of atonal introduction. The toccata frenzy really gets underway in the middle of the piece, during a section where you can imagine the pianist's hands scurrying from the top of the keyboard all the way to the bottom.

Here a silence falls, because Haba spent much of his time writing for a special quarter-tone piano. At the time, only two such instruments existed, and publishers were appalled that he wanted to publish music that could only be played in two rooms worldwide. Those works are not included here. Given that Beinhauer has already recorded a disc of Haba's complete music for "sixth tone harmonium," whatever that is, it does seem possible that he might track down a quarter-tone piano some day.

So it's time to fast-forward to the Six Moods from 40 years later, the knottiest, most bangy music in the set. For people who know the mature Haba from other repertoire, this will likely be the most satisfying work in the set, even though it's only about 7 minutes long.

-

TLDR: first CD student works and juvenilia, second CD about 25 minutes of mature, knotty, tough Haba and a stack of trendy 20s jazz-influenced miniatures.

[Cato]

Haba's piano output spans the 17 years from his early student days to his first experimental adventures with quartertones and semitones. Then, after 1931, he took a 40-year break from normal (i.e. not quartertone) solo piano compositions, returning with a suite of six "Moods" in 1971. Miroslav Beinhauer performs this first-ever complete edition in chronological order.


TLDR: first CD student works and juvenilia, second CD about 25 minutes of mature, knotty, tough Haba and a stack of trendy 20s jazz-influenced miniatures.

Many thanks for the review!

While looking for examples of the above works on YouTube, this popped up!