Search - Schoeck, Hoelscher, Griffiths :: Serenade / Op 1

Late romanticism's last gasp, charmingly rendered

chefdevergue | Spokane, WA United States | 05/01/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Othmar Schoeck is moderately well-known by the enthusiasts of German lieder art-form, but that is about it. He picked up where Hugo Wolff left off, but like a lot of composers from his time period (1886-1957), the musical world in which he grew up was rapid demolished by two world wars. By the 1920's classical music was moving in dramatic new directions; some composers were able to adapt, and others like Schoeck remained stuck at the turn of the century. If you were lucky (like Rachmaninoff) you could remain a musical anachronism and still remain famous, but most (like Schoeck) slowly were relegated to obscurity.Two of the three works on this CD were written while Schoeck was still young and part of the mainstream. The violin concerto in particular shows the melodic gift of a lieder composer, and is a delight to listen to. The Serenade (Opus 1, written in 1907 when Schoeck was only 21) is a charming if relatively unsophisticated work. The third piece (recorded for the first time) is a Suite written in 1945. Still very much in the late romantic mode as though four decades had never passed, nonetheless it is a much more mature and reflective work.All in all, it is a nice CD, showcasing the work of one of the many early 20th century composers who were left in the dust of changing musical tastes and trends."