Paul von Klenau Symphony 8; VC; PC

[Ilja]

And it's really nice (although I personally think the Piano Concerto is just a bit more individual). But if, say, Bartók is too novel for you, this is probably not the release to buy.

[Alan Howe]

...apart from the VC and the Symphony.

[Ilja]

Not really. The VC is a 12-tone work.

[eschiss1]

which can mean many things

[Alan Howe]

The VC is as mild a 12-tone work as one could imagine. To my ears it's a fully late-romantic work.

<<The Violin Concerto is a twelve tone work according to Klenau himself, but its musical expression is more late Romantic in style, comparable to works by Richard Strauss and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.>> https://www.instagram.com/p/Crx582EKWh-/

As for the Symphony, well it's a diatonic feast - albeit a brief one.

[eschiss1]

(Not surprised; I know, too, of a composer who wrote consecutive symphonies, one basically in a key, one twelve-tone, where the latter certainly seems to me mostly the more relaxed and the former, "tonal" one mostly extremely anxious and dissonant. Much else going on in both that has to do with the character of each. I look forward to hearing this new Klenau CD.)

[JanOscar]

The Piano Concerto is a superb work, complex and ambitious. Dramatic, angry and yet a bit "arrogant". I listed to it now 5 times and the more I listen, the better it gets. Why on earth took it so long to get it recorded? If only more 12 tone works sounded like the VC!! This CD is a treasure trove for sure.

[hyperdanny]

I don't have the cd (yet), so I cannot elaborate on the specifics, but I found this review from Australia.
I find it well written, concise but informative, and the overall tone seems consistent with what I am reading here.
A pleasant reading for me.

https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2023/05/klenau.htm

[Alan Howe]

Thanks. Here's the key take-away regarding the VC:

<<The work is classical in its form and whilst the composer describes it as twelve tone music and even outlines the rows applied, the overall flavour is late Romantic and it is lush, melodic and harmonious.>> (emphasis added)

[Alan Howe]

Would that all twelve-tone works were as lovely as the Violin Concerto. It'll never be as popular as the (slightly later) Korngold VC because it's not flashy in any way - 'autumnal' might be a good way to describe its overall mood, especially the glorious slow movement, although the finale is full of good humour (as the booklet says).

The soloist here, the young Chinese Ziyu He, is a fine player, with an ability to fill out Klenau's long, flowing lines with bright, shining tone. Marvellous.