Austrian Folk

Art Farmer and Fritz Pauer - Azure (1987) {Soul Note SN 1126 CD}
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© 1987 Soul Note | SN 1126 CD
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Hard Bop / Piano / Flugelhorn

Although the personnel listing mistakenly lists pianist Fritz Pauer as playing bass, this mellow release features his duets with flugelhornist Art Farmer. Pauer has been Farmer's regular pianist overseas since the flugelhornist moved to Europe in 1968. Together they perform three of Pauer's moody originals, an Austrian folk song and tunes by Al Cohn, Mal Waldron ("Soul Eyes"), Duke Ellington, Benny Golson and Tadd Dameron ("If You Could See Me Now") with the emphasis on ballads. A peaceful and mostly introspective release.

Of the two oratorios Haydn wrote in his old age The Creation is the more dramatic and immediate while The Seasons is more idyllic. It’s also a good deal longer, which to some extent explains why The Creation is regularly performed while its country cousin is a comparatively rare visitor to the concert hall. There is no denying that the later work contains a lot of good music and has a more folksy character; Austrian folk music is never far away. It is also has a more leisurely pace with long stretches of admittedly beautiful but slow and restrained music. There are moments of drama also, for example the end of part II, Summer (CD1 tracks 16 – 18), where in the recitative the soloists build up the tension.

Until the arrival of this disc, practically all I knew about Ferdinand Schubert was that he had tended his younger brother Franz in his final illness, that in his two marriages he had fathered more children even than Bach in his (29, to be precise), and that he had composed a quantity of church music, among which was a Requiem described as his Op. 2 which in fact had been written for him—most willingly—by his 21-year-old brother.

Until the arrival of this disc, practically all I knew about Ferdinand Schubert was that he had tended his younger brother Franz in his final illness, that in his two marriages he had fathered more children even than Bach in his (29, to be precise), and that he had composed a quantity of church music, among which was a Requiem described as his Op. 2 which in fact had been written for him—most willingly—by his 21-year-old brother.

Until the arrival of this disc, practically all I knew about Ferdinand Schubert was that he had tended his younger brother Franz in his final illness, that in his two marriages he had fathered more children even than Bach in his (29, to be precise), and that he had composed a quantity of church music, among which was a Requiem described as his Op. 2 which in fact had been written for him—most willingly—by his 21-year-old brother.

Until the arrival of this disc, practically all I knew about Ferdinand Schubert was that he had tended his younger brother Franz in his final illness, that in his two marriages he had fathered more children even than Bach in his (29, to be precise), and that he had composed a quantity of church music, among which was a Requiem described as his Op. 2 which in fact had been written for him—most willingly—by his 21-year-old brother.

Until the arrival of this disc, practically all I knew about Ferdinand Schubert was that he had tended his younger brother Franz in his final illness, that in his two marriages he had fathered more children even than Bach in his (29, to be precise), and that he had composed a quantity of church music, among which was a Requiem described as his Op. 2 which in fact had been written for him—most willingly—by his 21-year-old brother.

Ars Antiqua Austria was founded in Linz in 1989 with the aim of introducing audiences to the roots of specifically Austrian baroque music played on period-instruments. The music performed at the imperial court in Vienna at this period shows the strong influence of Italy and later of French forms, while Spanish court ceremonials also shape the character of the works. The typical Austrian sound of the period also betrays the influence of the many Crownlands. The political and social boundaries of Austria in the baroque era were far wider than in the 20th century.