It is not obvious that the music of Anton Bruckner and the circle around Arnold Schönberg have much in common. Nevertheless, a red thread runs from Bruckner via Hans Rott to Mahler, who was the pillar saint for Schönberg, to the present day. The concert with Camerata RCO, the chamber ensemble of the Royal Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, on Tuesday in the Brucknerhaus showed exactly this line of development.
However, with the exception of Anton Webern’s “Slow Movement for String Quartet”, everything is arranged for chamber ensemble. Reducing a piece designed for a larger body to a few instruments requires incredible knowledge of the original and allows the listener to experience the pure construction of the work.
In Webern’s version for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, Schönberg’s chamber symphony op. 9 reveals many a structural subtlety that is not so perceptible in the intoxicating sound of the original. Of course, the timbres change due to the different instrumentation, but Webern did it so skilfully in his ingenious reduction that the emotional effect and the compositional essence remain untouched.
Hanns Eisler, Erwin Stein and Karl Rankl also succeeded in doing this when they arranged Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. The quality of the arrangements shows differences. The first and third movements in Eisler’s version are absolutely brilliant, Erwin Stein’s reduction of the scherzo is also convincing, while the finale in Karl Rankl’s version is the least able to tie in with the original.
The famous members of Camerata RCO managed to interpret the works with irrepressible passion, intense expression and finesse. In Bruckner’s symphony they were expertly guided by the conductor Rolf Verbeek.
Source: Nachrichten
