On Music
GOODMAN, HAL
On Music FOUR FROM OBERLIN by hal goodman a small town in north-central Ohio sits one of the country's great conservatories of music—Oberlin, of course. Occasionally over the years I have heard...
...Album three moves on to Arnold Schoenberg, and happily so...
...Most of Reger's own creations, sadly, aretoo comprehensible...
...Robert Willoughby returns on flute, James Caldwell and Kenneth Moore play oboe and bassoon, respectively...
...For the present, it is good to know that talented individuals are still setting the standards in north-central Ohio...
...McDonald's instrument is listed as "Clainet" on the record jacket...
...The nine short pieces that make up this work are quiet and reflective...
...Prelude and' Fugue is what one would expect of Liszt...
...The fourth movement, arondo, bears little resemblance to that traditional form, except in its lively mood...
...It was Reger's misfortune to be caught between the emotionalism of the 19th century and the in-tellectualism of the 20th, and in the Suite in A Minor he managed to avoid the more admirable traits of both...
...Nevertheless, they are close enough relatives to provide an interesting look at the evolution of a genre that has been taken for granted since Beethoven got his hands on it...
...Dean of the Conservatory David Boe adds a spirited treatment of Carl Phil-ipp Emanuel Bach's Sonata I, marred only by an overly breathy tone in the upper register, and Mendelssohn's Sonata IV in Bb Major...
...It is structured entirely on rapid staccatos, and out of these Schoenberg is able to mold real purpose and direction...
...Among his major contributions to musical history, however, was his role in shaping the sonata form: three movements—usually fast-slow-fast—with a standard pattern of exposition, development and recapitulation in the first...
...The three sonatas offered by the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble do not strictly follow the classic rules...
...At their best, the two composers have a similar sense of playfulness...
...the quality of musician it attracts has declined...
...Occasionally over the years I have heard rumors and complaints from unhappy graduates or near-graduates, disappointed reviewers, and—certainly—a few jealous representatives of rival training centers: Oberlin is not what it was...
...when it's over, you're not sure anything has happened...
...Parts of the piece could almost have been written by the young Haydn...
...This beginning alternates with a faster, rhythmically steady section, finally resolving into a more relaxed passage, anchored by long, low lines in the horn...
...Notable among these are a lovely set of variations on the English tune All in a Garden Green by the Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621...
...and the in-fluence of Emanuel's daddy is, naturally, strong...
...Reger's Suite in A Minor for Flute and Piano has not aged well...
...The work is a fine example of the method, a good introduction for those who know they don't like 12-tone music but have never heard any...
...Peacock gives them a delicate reading, steering clear of monotony on the one hand and soap opera lushness on the other...
...Surprises remain, but they are handled more subtly and to greater effect...
...Perhaps it is saved by its lighthearted, light-textured quality...
...The composer was 50 and well into his 12-tone period in 1924 when he completed the piece done here, Quintet for Wind Instruments...
...The album should make a fairly effective recruiting device for Oberlin's organ department, too...
...The oboe has some bouts of choppiness in the adagio—fatal in a slow movement—and the minuet tends to drag a bit...
...No disparagement intended...
...Where hitting the right notes at the right time is hard enough, the five players attain precision and grace...
...The D Major Sonata for Viola da Gamba—dating from 1746, whenC.P.E...
...later, the flute, clarinet and oboe take their turns...
...The letters are from the German musical alphabet, corresponding to our notes Bb-A-C-B...
...The expressive, beautiful third movement can be thought of as a succession of solos and duets...
...Continuity is maintained through the use of the B-A-C-H theme...
...Sweelinck's organ variations, 300 years its senior, sound a lot better...
...hadn't quite yet hit his stride in this work either, the main problems here are with the players...
...The piece is fascinating, as is all of The Organs of Oberlin...
...Among other things, we might be able to learn whether the way young musicians are being trained differs by region, or from one conservatory to another...
...The ominous, seething prelude gives way to a fugue that draws power not from the insistent, layered repetition of one theme?as is common—but from a tense juxtaposition of moods...
...Still, the young Bach does show his independent spirit with a few surprising modulations and melodic twists...
...Reger idolized Brahms and, to a lesser extent, Mendelssohn...
...And judging from a series of recordings by Oberlin faculty members just released on the Gasparo label, the staff, at least, has lost none of its excellence...
...True, his music is somewhat incomprehensible to the average audience...
...In an enchanting bit near the end, the bassoon plays a grace-full solo beneath the accompaniment of the other instruments...
...He contributes a pleasant, unremarkable version of Olivier Messia-en's (1908-) Meditationssur la Mystere de la Sainte Trinite' as well...
...The 1908 Suite is somehow static...
...Due consideration of these factors will prevent an allegro from being rushed and an adagio from being dragged...
...Though C.P.E...
...The second album in the series, consisting of two chamber compositions by the German composer Max Reger (1837-1916), with Robert Willoughby on flute (GS-224), is a mixed affair...
...The music is tuneful and intelligent, yet harbors few surprises and hardly any feeling...
...Imagine Brahms without passion and Schoenberg without discipline, and you've got this piece...
...is based on its general content as well as on the fastest notes and passages it contains...
...for sheer drama, nothing can touch it...
...nevertheless, Brahms carried his art so far that all really discerning musicians must come to consider him as the greatest living composer, if they are not to be considered unknowl-edgable...
...Bach was most famous in his own day as a performer...
...It would be nice to have the faculties?or perhaps even undergraduates?of other schools produce series of this kind (the albums are sold separately, by the way...
...While Haskell Thomson's rendition of Liszt is one of the collection's high points, Garth Peacock's execution of Premier Livre d'Orgue by Jacques Boyvin (1649-1706) is even better...
...Meints and Caldwell on a pair of viole da gamba, and Crawford accompanying with the harpsichord, give the D Major the treatment it deserves...
...Peacock also plays Johann Sebastian Bach's Allabreve in D. Thomson is heard on two more by Bach, the chorale, HerrJesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, and the first movement of the master's transcription of Vivaldi's Concerto in A Minor...
...Willoughby, violinist Marilyn McDonald and violist John Tartaglia sound as if they are having fun—an impression lacking in the Suite...
...Most impressive is a two-record set, The Organs of Oberlin (GS-217), containing works of 11 composers played by four professors on three organs...
...C.P.E...
...Willoughby and Marilyn McDonald collaborate in a very solid D Minor Sonata for Flute and Violin, aided by Caldwell on viola da gamba and harpsichordist Lisa Goode Crawford...
...In the Suite, pianist Wilbur Price puts up a gallant fight in a losing cause...
...Bach was 32—is a mature, assured work...
...As an instructive vehicle it is probably better than most 12-tone music written for large ensembles, because the lines are more distinct...
...Even the Serenade's slow, sweeping second movement radiates this feeling...
...The piece works to a peak of rhythmic excitement, ending with some dazzling runs by the horn...
...The second movement, marked Scherzando, works around a series of ritards in the main lines, while the flute punctuates with piercing bursts...
...and Galliarde Bassanni, an anonymous work played on the Regal stop of the organ, which produces a sound somewhat like an orchestra of harmonicas...
...Reger's Serenade in G Major for Flute, Violin and Viola, by contrast, has come through the years in fairly good shape...
...You can hear the same sort of thing being said about any school, though, if you listen to the right alumni or read the right articles...
...The piece, written when the composer was 17, has a few rough edges...
...Where Reger's Suite produces some lovely melodies and comes up empty, Schoenberg's Quintet eschews conventional melody altogether and brims with emotion, humor and virtuosity...
...The first movement opens hesitantly, keeping primarily to the lower range...
...The fourth album, Chamber Music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (GS-209CX), is a success that falls short of a triumph...
...Willoughby plays the two pieces with purity and control, despite getting lost behind the strings once or twice during the Serenade...
...Detailed information on each of the instruments used is included...
...An entire side of one record features William Porter performing compositions from the early 17th century and before...
...Robert Fries on horn and Lawrence McDonald on clarinet stand out...
...The Quintet has long had a fully justified reputation as one of the trickiest works in the chamber repertoire, and the Oberlin Woodwind Quintet delivers a sparkling performance (GS-204CX...
...In the G Minor Sonata for Oboe, written four years later, Caldwell goes back to oboe, joined by Catharina Meints on cello and Crawford at the harpsichord...
...In studying Brahms, he picked up the form without the spirit...
...The selections, ranging in style from Hans Leo Hassler's (1564-1612) Canzone to Franz Liszt's Prelude and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, provide an overview of the instrument's literature and capabilities...
...The music would have benefited had the composer's admonition been printed in the score: "The pace of a composition...
...Brahms is the greatest composer since Beethoven," he wrote in 1894...
...that is about the only flaw one could associate with him...
...It starts with a slow, melancholy theme in the horn and bassoon...
...Sweeping, virtuoso passages interchange with chorale-like sections and low growlings...
...But the Quintet's real importance is musical...
Vol. 65 • October 1982 • No. 19
