Othmar Schoeck

In the vinyl era, domestic Schoeck boomlets happened at intervals of a decade or more, while CD days have seen a few reissues and fewer notable new recordings. The simultaneous appearance of the Elegie and Notturno (ECM 2061) the ripest of Schoeck’s song cycles with Chris Walton’s eminently Read more Othmar Schoeck: Life and Works (University of Rochester Press, 2009), raises the possibility of the composer becoming a vibrant presence. Good luck. The current production illustrates why viable work too often gets lost in the shuffle.

Auf seinem neuen Album "Elegie" widmet sich der Sony Classical-Künstler und herausragende Liedsänger Christian Gerhaher mit dem Kammerorchester Basel und dem Dirigenten Heinz Holliger der betörenden Schönheit und dunklen Melancholie des spätromantischen Schweizer Komponisten Othmar Schoeck. Schoecks Liederzyklus "Elegie" wurde bei seiner Uraufführung 1923 mit Musik "aus einer anderen Welt" verglichen und ist nach wie vor eines der verkannten Wunder des Liedrepertoires. Die 24 Lieder, die von einem Ensemble aus 15 Instrumentalisten begleitet werden, erzählen eine Geschichte von schmerzlichen Abschieden, verlorener Liebe und verblassender Schönheit.

The Basel Chamber Orchestra I TEMPI has chosen the composer Othmar Schoeck for its second GENUIN CD. The title says it all: Gevorg Gharabekyan and his musicians take us on a dreamlike summer night all the pieces possess a lightness and cordiality unusual for Schoeck: a wonderful suite, a fascinating cello concerto, and an enchanting pastorale. The string sound of the style-conscious ensemble is supple but captivating. The finest ramifications of late Romantic music are traced. One can only hope that this great CD will contribute to a Schoeck Renaissance outside the Confederation his music deserves it!

Through the medium of this remarkable and poignant five-movement work for voice and string quartet, the genesis of which dates from 1931-33, this exemplary disc affords us what is arguably the magnum opus of Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957). Ten poems by German Romantic poet Nikolaus Lenau (1802-50) inspire Schoeck's late-Romantic style to great heights and depths of feeling, deeply personal ones as the excellent sleeve notes elucidate, encompassed within an overall tenor of meditative darkness that allows those moments of musically lighter beauty a greater hair-raising intensity.