...forthcoming from Dacapo. Audio samples here:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9479755--paul-von-klenau-concertos-symphony-no-8
More about the Symphony here:
https://bachtrack.com/review-hans-graf-bomsori-kim-klenau-singapore-symphony-april-2021
(https://media1.jpc.de/image/w2400/rear/0/0747313694426.jpg)
Although being something of a Klenau fan and have already placed my order, I rather suspect this is going to scratch the boundaries of UC's remit. Particularly during the late 1930s and and early 40s, Klenau experimented with the integration of atonal elements into tonal music, including a foray into dodecaphonism (for instance in his infamous opera Rembrandt van Rijn, premiered in Germany in 1936).
Do listen to the audio samples, Ilja. I think you'll be surprised how 'fitting' these works will be...
100% agreed with Alan (and very glad to see that there's another Klenau "fan", just love this composer): the samples on jpc , interestingly longer than the usual snippets, sound very apt to this board's remit.
Loved especially the violin concerto and the symphony (the Menuett is IMHO a stunner)
Thumbs-up to DaCapo and all involved for undertaking this.
I must admit to also being surprised by the evidence of the audio extracts, all three works seem more "romantic" in style than I had expected.
Quoteall three works seem more "romantic" in style than I had expected
Although he used tone rows, von Klenau not infrequently employed them in an overtly melodic and romantic way. And, of course, he was not the only composer to do so. I look forward to buying this CD.
I was merely wondering how representative these samples would be, but we'll see. With Klenau it can really go either way, also within the same work.
By the way, I am told there are plans to stage Klenau's Rembrandt van Rhijn somewhere next year in Denmark.
I take your point, but with the Symphony taking only taking 13:39, my betting is that's it's a quasi-(late)Straussian romantic-style composition throughout.
did the symphony survive basically complete? the preface/notes to the score of his 9th, if I recall, suggested that several of his symphonies and other works (not all) were at best in need of reconstruction (when not lost or unperformable.)
There's no suggestion that this is anything other than a complete symphony in miniature.
The eighth symphony, composed in Copenhagen in 1942, is one of Paul von Klenau's late works. It was discovered among Klenau's manuscripts more than half a century after the composer's death. In contrast to Klenau's last work – the huge ninth symphony from 1944–45 – his Symphony No. 8 is quite short and much simpler in style. It is obviously modelled after 18th-century symphonic traditions, as is also evident from the subtitle 'Im alten Stil' ('In olden style').
https://edition-s.dk/music/paul-von-klenau/symfoni-nr-8
Neat. Thanks!
I'm glad Edition S is still a going concern, too...
The second movement of the Violin Concerto can now be found on Spotify in its entirety.
Having bought and listened to this disc, I think it's fair to say that the suitability order for this forum is: symphony - piano concerto - violin concerto. The latter two are clearly permeated with Klenau's 12-tone technique, which the initiated might know from his 9th symphony. Having said that, Klenau's implementation is the mellowest one could imagine, and the end result is perhaps more reminiscent of Les Six than anything else. The 8th symphony is the shortest and least consequential piece on the release. It's okay, but I wouldn't want to part with 9 euros of my hard-earned just for this.
I'll buy it for the VC.
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.
...apart from the VC and the Symphony.
Not really. The VC is a 12-tone work.
which can mean many things :)
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.
(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.)
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.
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
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)
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.