Schoeck Treatment

[snyprrr]

Yes, totally awesome.

Totally!

[jlaurson]

Christopher Maltman: Truly, truly, truly a Masterpiece.

Monday, April 7th, Christopher Maltman took a couple minutes just hours before his recital at the Mozart-Saal to chat about the great, elusive, «Notturno» by Othmar Schoeck:

C.M.:   How do you know the Schoeck «Notturno»?

jfl:       I know it from Klaus Mertens' recording which was one of the... well, it wasn't the first recording. The first one, I think, was Fischer-Dieskau with the Cherubini Quartet, and I'm not sure if it ever made it unto CD. [It had, actually, and copies are hard, but not impossible, to find]

So it was it recorded for vinyl and was never digitally mastered or came back out again? I looked for it, because I was certain that Fischer-Dieskau would have recorded it. But I couldn't find it anywhere and then I looked on some websites and godknowswhat and I saw that he had recorded it but couldn't find a copy to listen to. Which is a bit sad.

But there is of course the Mertens recording, a gorgeous new one with Stephan Genz and the Leipziger Streichquartett and the Gerhaher recording...

That's the one I listened to, actually. Which is beautiful.

It's great... except the Rosamunde Quartet lets him down a bit.But it was him that I first talked about the «Notturno» with at length, well before he knew he'd get a chance of recording it...

Yes, it's not easy to do the piece. It was only when this opportunity at the Konzerthaus was presented to me, where they as much as said: "Look, what would you like to do." And I said: "I would like to do the Schoeck «Notturno»." And they looked at me and said: "OK – what's that?" So I said: "Well, it's a fantastic song cycle for low voice and string quartet." But fortunately they gave me sort of carte blanche to decide what I wanted to do. And it's so hard to get opportunities like that. It's so hard to get concerts like this. They come up, for me, once every two or three years. And I really am so pleased that I had got the opportunity to do this piece. Because the more I worked on it and the more looked at it and the more I got inside it, I think it's absolutely Schoeck's best composition. It's a towering piece of music.

[The backstage dummy alarm rings]
Oh my Lord, what noise is that?...

Full interview here: http://konzerthaus.at/magazin/Home/tabid/41/entryid/352/Christopher-Maltman-Truly-truly-truly-a-Masterpiece.aspx

[San Antone]

* * * bump * * *

December 2014 release of his choral music and lieder,



There was this earlier recording of the choral music

[asin]B004H1ULDO[/asin]

[San Antone]

Today I sing of Othmar Schoeck (1 September 1886 – 8 March 1957)



Two of his song cycles stand out, Elegie op. 36 for baritone and chamber orchestra was developed between 1921 and 1923 and was Schoeck's first song cycle, summarizing 24 poems of Nikolaus Lenau and Joseph von Echiendorff. 

[asin]B0013LTU6K[/asin]

Notturno, op. 47, his 45-minute work for low voice and string quartet or string orchestra.   Schoeck set to music poems of mourning, loneliness and despair by Nikolaus Lenau, as well as a fragment by Gottfried Keller. Schoeck chose the title Notturno for a reason: it matches the dark underlying character of the music which, with or without vocal parts (the first, extended movement has a long instrumental part), expresses the pain, the lamentation and the resignation of the narrator in a late-romantic style.

[asin]B002G1TS5E[/asin]

[Scion7]

Although a firm believer in Swiss democracy, Schoeck's increasingly conservative aesthetic endeared him to the cultural administrators of the Third Reich. From 1933 onwards, there was a surge of German interest in his music. Flattered by his success and mindful of the consequences of distancing himself openly from the Nazis, Schoeck accepted the politically-tainted Erwin von Steinbach Prize of Freiburg University in 1937 and allowed the première of his last opera, Das Schloss Dürande (1937–41), to be performed at the Berlin Staatsoper (1943). The librettist, Hermann Burte, although a gifted poet, was a novice librettist and a known Nazi sympathizer. Although the quality of the first performance was high (as the recorded excerpts make clear) and the audience enthusiastic, Hermann Goering denounced the libretto as 'manure' shortly thereafter. The run was stopped prematurely based on an explanation that the cast suddenly had 'other engagements'. The Zürich première that followed two months later failed miserably. Having allowed the first performance to take place in the capital city of a potential enemy power, Schoeck was regarded as a traitor by many of his fellow Swiss. He fell into a deep depression and was unable to compose for months. On 9 March 1944 he suffered a heart attack from which he never fully recovered.  - from the New Grove

[The new erato]

I have this:



Anybody else have it?

And I find FiDis "Lebendig Begraben" far stronger than Notturno and Elegie mentioned above (though the Elegie in the cpo recording). Is is the work or the performance; I cannot decide?

[jlaurson]

I have this:



Anybody else have it?

And I find FiDis "Lebendig Begraben" far stronger than Notturno and Elegie mentioned above (though the Elegie in the cpo recording). Is is the work or the performance; I cannot decide?

now there's some Schoeck that I don't have. Shoecking!

I can see how Lebendig Begraben would be thought higher of, than Elegie... which might arguably be slight (too pretty... not substantial enough... certainly not exploring its boundaries to the fullest), but Notturno? Tougher though that work is, I think it is also superior and might in fact be Schoeck's best. Which Notturno have you got?

[San Antone]

I have this:



Anybody else have it?

And I find FiDis "Lebendig Begraben" far stronger than Notturno and Elegie mentioned above (though the Elegie in the cpo recording). Is is the work or the performance; I cannot decide?

I have not listened to either of those works, but will no doubt hunt down recordings and do so today or this week.  Is this the recording you mention?



I am still discovering Schoeck's music but everything I've heard so far I consider very fine.

[ritter]

That recording of Schoeck's Venus is one of those  whcih I've been on the brink of buying several times, but still haven't. I've read that it is a rther intersting piece...

Then there's this other large-scale opera, which I have fond memories of and am revisiting as I write...there's a very attractive automnal atmosphere to the whole piece...

[San Antone]

That recording of Schoeck's Venus is one of those  whcih I've been on the brink of buying several times, but still haven't. I've read that it is a rther intersting piece...

Then there's this other large-scale opera, which I have fond memories of and am revisiting as I write...there's a very attractive automnal atmosphere to the whole piece...

If you have Spotify, all 11 volumes of the lieder are there, as well as Venus and a couple of other operas.  The late song cycles I think are exceptional.

[ritter]

If you have Spotify, all 11 volumes of the lieder are there, as well as Venus and a couple of other operas.  The late song cycles I think are exceptional.

Thanks for that, sanantonio. I don't use spotify, but have spotted  copies of Venus at on-line retailers at decent prices, so  might go for it.

As we discussed some months ago, I find Elegie overlong and monotonous, but with some impressive moments The other Schoeck in my collection is Lebendig begraben (the FiDi recording mentioned above) and Penthesilea (live from Salzburg on Orfeo) , which I haven't listened to in years...

[The new erato]

I have not listened to either of those works, but will no doubt hunt down recordings and do so today or this week.  Is this the recording you mention?



I am still discovering Schoeck's music but everything I've heard so far I consider very fine.

Yes that's it.

And it's the Gerhaher Notturno I have. Perhaps a relisten is in order.

[jlaurson]

Yes that's it.

And it's the Gerhaher Notturno I have. Perhaps a relisten is in order.

Gerhaher the best there can be for Notturno... alas, the Rosamunde Quartet lets him down. I find that Stephane Genz & Leipzig SQ4t are ultimately still more satisfying.

Here are a few links that you might find interesting:

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2009/12/best-recordings-of-2009-2.html [ECM Release]
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2014/01/best-recordings-of-2013-4.html [MDG Release]
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/06/christian-gerhaher-othmar-schoeck-love.html Gerhaher on Schoeck
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2014/05/christopher-maltman-truly-truly-truly.html Maltman on Notturno

[San Antone]

Gerhaher the best there can be for Notturno... alas, the Rosamunde Quartet lets him down. I find that Stephane Genz & Leipzig SQ4t are ultimately still more satisfying.

Here are a few links that you might find interesting:

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2009/12/best-recordings-of-2009-2.html [ECM Release]
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2014/01/best-recordings-of-2013-4.html [MDG Release]
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/06/christian-gerhaher-othmar-schoeck-love.html Gerhaher on Schoeck
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2014/05/christopher-maltman-truly-truly-truly.html Maltman on Notturno

I have had that MDG recording in my shopping cart; I guess I should go for it.

[jlaurson]

Classical CD Of The Week: Schoecking Beauty From Switzerland

[SurprisedByBeauty]

This is something I've long wanted to do, and of course it took several OTHER projects that I should be working on right now for me to finally do that, namely the cleaning, updating, and generally sprucing-up of the Recommended Recordings Sections of the Surprised By Beauty website.

I've started with my favorite-among-favorites, Othmar Schoeck:


Othmar Schoeck - Recommended Recordings

https://surprisedbybeautyorg.wordpress.com/2017/01/07/othmar-schoeck-recommended-recordings/

[kyjo]

Schoeck's Sommernacht for string orchestra is a really beautiful work and one of my favorite works for the medium. Schoeck's ability to conjure up such magical tone-painting from string instruments alone is quite remarkable.

[snyprrr]

Again, he has an SQ Masterpiece

[SurprisedByBeauty]

"Manntje, Manntje, Timpe Te / Buttje, Buttje inne See / myne Fru de Ilsebill / will nich so, as ik wol will"

Latest on @ClassicsToday: "The Fisherman and His Wife: Othmar Schoeck's Fine Dramatic Fairytale Cantata"

#OthmarSchoeck

[SymphonicAddict]

Schoeck's Sommernacht for string orchestra is a really beautiful work and one of my favorite works for the medium. Schoeck's ability to conjure up such magical tone-painting from string instruments alone is quite remarkable.

Yes, indeed! Really exquisite and sensual weave of notes. I really like it, and it's good to try other Swiss composers like Honegger, Martin, and Andreae, Hermann, Brun, Bloch, Gerber, Flury (some riveting 1st Symphony there!), and Raff, why not.

Worth mentioning are the Cello concerto. Penthesilea and Venus look like two ultra-romantic operas, a sonorities wallow.