Schoeck's elegiac boldness

"There really are sounds from another world, I have never heard anything like it," wrote fellow composer Fritz Brun about the new work. That was in 1923 - a time when there was a lot going on in terms of modernity, both in Paris and Vienna. The work also seemed bold to the people of Zurich, but Brun did not say "new", but "other world", which was a pretty good description of the situation. Othmar Schoeck was on a threshold. Already with the Venus he had struck a different note, shortly after which he will Penthesilea among the most modern for a short time - and let himself go a little. For he is more peculiar and more personal here, in the intervening Elegya cycle of 24 orchestral songs after Eichendorff and Lenau.

Boldness: The word may come as a surprise in this largely calm and melancholy music, which is hardly hyperchromatic, neither neoclassically brash nor expressionistically exaggerated, but which nevertheless pushes the boundaries. It certainly still belongs to the tonal late Romantic period, yes, but it is not overloaded as in Mahler, Strauss or the teacher Reger, but purified, grandiosely condensed and thus ready for the modern age. The melodies circle within themselves - a sign of melancholy. There is constant talk of farewell. The boldness lies in the deeply sad but light-filled mood and in the highly original musical language, which is particularly evident in the orchestral version. A great deal is achieved here with very little. A phenomenal masterpiece.

The name of one poet, Lenau, will remind some people of Heinz Holliger's latest opera Lunea and he is indeed at the conductor's desk here, leading the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the equally phenomenal Christian Gerhaher in this new recording. The music is played very lovingly and attentively. And the sound is incredibly differentiated. The amazing thing: Schoeck's setting demands a certain, very typical style from the singers. Light, mostly unobtrusive, at times almost spoken, no heavy pathos, but extremely expressive and breaking out in a few places. Gerhaher, who also sang Lenau in Lunea sang, is exactly right.

Othmar Schoeck: Elegy op. 36 for voice and chamber orchestra. Christian Gerhaher, baritone; Basel Chamber Orchestra; conducted by Heinz Holliger. Sony Classical 19439963302