Reviews for
GMCD 7240 Poulenc Langlais
Helmschrott
Organ 02/06
Masterworks for Organ, Orchestra
& Percussion
Werke von Poulenc, Langlais und
Helmschrott
Franz Hauk (Orgel), Anno Kesting (Pauken
und Schlagwerk), Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt, Ltg. Markus Poschner
„Das Concerto pour orgue nimmt neben den religiösen Werken einen
wichtigen Platz in meinem Oeuvre ein. Obwohl es kein „Concerto da chiesa“ im
strengen Sinn des Begriffs ist, habe ich das Orchester auf Streicher und drei
Pauken beschränkt, um eine Aufführung in der Kirche zu ermöglichen. Wenn jemand
sich für die ernste Seite meines Schaffens interessiert, muss er dieses Werk und
meine religiösen Kompositionen kennen lernen." Francis Poulenc, von dem diese
Selbstauskunft stammt, war, was Orgelkomposition und Orgelspiel betrifft, ein
Außenseiter abseits der breiten sinfonischen Tradition seines Heimatlands
Frankreich. So zeigt sich seine mit kecken Ironismen gespickte Komposition denn
auch eher an deutschen Modellen der Barockzeit orientiert, mit einem Beginn, der
allzu deutlich an Bachs Orgel-Fantasia in g-Moll BWV 542 erinnert.
Franz Hauk an der 1977 errichteten Klais-Orgel im Ingolstädter Liebfrauenmünster
und das in Ingolstadt ansässige Georgische Kammerorchester unter seinem Leiter
Markus Poschner verleihen Poulencs Konzert in ihrer Interpretation eine den
sinfonischen Intentionen des Komponisten nahe kommende Strenge, Größe und Wucht.
Dieser Eindruck wird zudem durch die Aufnahmetechnik unterstützt, die hier wie
bei den weiteren Werken dieser CD den starken Nachhall des Kirchenraums deutlich
wiedergibt.
Der von Poulenc
vorgegebenen Besetzung folgt Jean Langlais in seinem 1970/71 entstandenen
dritten Orgelkonzert. Réaction ist das in seinem Verlauf eigenwillige Werk
überschrieben, in dessen Zentrum mit einer rhythmisch markanten Fuge zwar eine
strenge Form steht, das im Übrigen aber improvisatorische Züge aufweist und die
beteiligten Kräfte frei aufeinander reagieren lässt. Kurze Klangchiffren, kaum
„Motive" zu nennen, stehen als Bausteine am Anfang. Ein Crescendo auf einem
einzigen Ton, so als werde ligaturähnlich ein Auskling-Vorgang rückwärts
gewendet, ein Tritonussprung, eine Triolenfigur: aus solchen Impulsen wächst der
Introduktionsteil, in dem sich die Orgel zunächst nur sporadisch zu Wort meldet,
bevor sich ihr Part allmählich verdichtet. Leicht erweitert ist gegenüber
Poulenc und Langlais die instrumentale Besetzung in Robert M. Helmschrotts 1993
komponiertem Concerto Lamento, das über die Pauken hinaus zusätzliche
Schlaginstrumente einbezieht und damit nicht nur eine farbige Klanglichkeit
erreicht, sondern auch dem Perkussionisten Anno Kesting die Rolle eines zweiten
Solisten zuweist. Helmschrotts Komposition fußt, in Fortsetzung seiner zwölf
Kirchensonaten (s. Besprechung in organ 1/06), auf dem „Modus H" (einer Skala
mit systematischem Wechsel von Halb- und Ganztonschritten). Ganz im Geist des
Titels lassen die beteiligten Interpreten Helmschrotts Komposition überwiegend
ruhigmeditativ erklingen, doch innerlich von einer Intensität erfüllt, die sich
im Presto-Finale auch einmal zu aufbegehrenden und aggressiven Ausbrüchen
steigert. Gerhard Dietel
Organists' Review - February 2004
Organists’
Review – February 2004
Masterworks for
Organ and Orchestra
Franz Hauk:
organ, Anno Kesting: timpani & percussion, Georgian Chamber Orchestra of
Ingolstadt, conducted by Markus Poschner
Langlais
Third
Concerto “Reaction” for Organ Strings & Timpani;
Robert
Maximilian Helmschrott
(born 1938)
Coneerto “Lamento” for Organ, String Orchestra & Percussion; Poulenc
Concerto in G minor for Organ, Strings & Timpani
Recorded at the
Liebfraumünster, Ingolstadt, 1-3 October 2001; TT 69’26". GUILD GMCD 7240
The opening of
Langlais' concerto is very dramatic indeed - highly effective! The work has
moments of tenderness too and much colour. It is intended as a reaction against
the more difficult to grasp manifestations of contemporary music. It has many
fine moments, but seems to be filled with effects, many of them very beautiful -
for me its opening needs a more highly organised formal structure, with the kind
of momentum which carries one forward, as if on the crest of a wave. In this,
the fugal section (on track 3) is undoubtedly convincing and from then on, the
work takes off most effectively.
Robert M
Helmschrott was born in Weilheim, North Bavaria, in 1938 and is now a professor
at the Hochschule für Musik and Theater in Munich. His concerto opens tenderly
and has two main movements joined by an intermezzo. The mood of the work is, as
its title suggests, a lament, but it has many moving moments and a coherent
sense of form - a significant addition to the organ and orchestra repertoire.
Poulenc's
concerto is well known of course, and all the items on this disc receive fine
performances. It was a good idea to have the very delicate dotted note figure
for the violins (which occurs in the quiet middle section) played by the leader
only and not by massed violins - this passage is almost always untidy and is
beautifully played here.
My only
reservation is that, in the Poulenc especially, the organ sounds powerful, but
some way from the microphones, while the orchestra sounds as close as could be.
lf you don't mind that (Franz Hauk's playing is magnificent and the orchestral
playing is splendid too), then this disc is a winner.
Roger
Fisher
Church Music Quarterly 11.03
CMQ – November 2003
Masterworks for Organ, Orchestra and
Percussion
Franz Hauk (organ)/Anno Kesting
(timpani and percussion)/Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt/ Markus Poschner
Guild GMCD 7240
The Programme is composed of
Langlais’s Third Concerto, Reaction for Organ, String orchestra and
timpani, the concerto Lamento for organ, string orchestra and percussion
by Robert Maximilian Helmschrott (b. 1938) and Poulenc’s Concerto in G minor for
organ, string orchestra and timpani.
Rhythmic drive and musical buoyancy
characterize the playing of both the orchestral musicians and the excellent
soloist on this disc, Franz Hauk. They revel in the generous acoustic of the
Liebfrauenmünster, Ingolstadt, which amply extends the chords in the dramatic
silences that frequently punctuate Langlais's Third Concerto. To my mind,
Langlais was a composer who relied too heavily on inspiration and not enough on
musical intellect. By that I mean that his music often contains striking ideas;
but they are found next to other striking ideas (negating each other), are
repeated too often (losing their impact) or are interspersed with banal episodes
of little substance. Development and musical argument are too rarely in
evidence. Such a claim may be countered by the repost that music does not need
to contain thematic development. That is true, but it is one of the most
effective ways of creating large-scale structures. Langlais’s Third Concerto is,
indeed, a striking work, but suffers from the characteristic faults that I have
listed. The effects are striking enough when fresh, but pall after a while. Only
the central fugue moves forwards with a sense of purpose, despite the best
efforts of the performers who interpret the music with much pizzazz.
Helmschrott's piece is an
altogether more cerebral affair than the Langlais, with a finer sense of melodic
line and broader musical horizons.
Poulenc's
Concerto in G minor is undeniably a masterpiece and amply demonstrates how a
work containing many disparate elements can hang together beautifully if the
ideas are sufficiently fertile. Unfortunately, the Ingolstadt acoustic
occasionally proves rather too big for this piece, which received its first
performance in the secular setting of the salon of La Princesse de Polignac. To
the credit of the Guild recording engineers, one can hear that they have tried
to overcome the challenges posed by the acoustic, but the strings tend to sound
too close, while the organ notes float in a halo of echo, especially in the
quieter passages. It is a shame that both the excellent performers and technical
team are let down by what, in the case of the other two works on this disc, is
an ideal venue.
Christopher Maxim
Classics Today Wednesday February 05 03
FRANCIS POULENC
Concerto in G minor
JEAN LANGLAIS
Organ Concerto No. 3 "Reaction"
ROBERT MAXIMILIAN HELMSCHROTT
Concerto "Lamento" for Organ, String Orchestra, & Percussion
Franz Hauk (organ); Anno Kesting (timpani, percussion)
Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstad
Markus Poschner
Guild- 7240(CD)
Reference Recording - None for this coupling
Poulenc's Organ Concerto
continues to be lucky on disc, and this performance sounds so different from any
of the others that comparisons offer little guidance. The Georgian Chamber
Orchestra Ingolstadt many not employ a large body of players, but the
microphones capture every nuance of Poulenc's string and timpani writing with
startling clarity. The up-close focus combines with the voluminous acoustic to
produce not the expected muddle, but rather a remarkable sense of the interior
detail surrounded by a deep, rich organ sonority. Indeed, this remains one of
the best integrated and most transparent versions of the piece on disc, and if
you love this work you certainly will hear things in this performance that you
never knew were there.
The couplings raise the
interest level considerably. The opening of Langlais' Organ Concerto No. 3
"Reaction", with its huge timpani rolls and imposing organ chords, obviously
benefits from the immensely long reverberation time of the Liebfrauenmünster
Ingolstadt, just as the piece's marvellous central fugue enjoys the same clarity
of texture that proves so effective in the Poulenc. Robert Maximilian
Helmschrott's (b. 1938) Concerto "Lamento" for Organ, String Orchestra, and
Percussion lives up to its title. A tense, brooding sort of piece, it's
extremely well written for the assembled forces and sports an especially
atmospheric and imposing lengthy first movement. Both this work and the Langlais
make rewarding discoveries and, along with the Poulenc, enjoy absolutely first
rate interpretations from organist Franz Hauk and conductor Markus Poschner.
Great sound, great playing--a great disc.
--David Hurwitz
BBC Music Magazine January 2003
POULENC
Organ Concerto
LANGLAIS
Organ Concerto No. 3 (Reaction)
HELMSCHROTT
Organ Cancerto (Larnento)
Franz Hauk (organ), Anno
Kesting (percussion); Georglan CO, IngolstadtJ Markus Poschner
Guild GMCD 7240 69:26 mins
... f f
Pressed to
come up with three works for organ, orchestra and percussion - never mind
'masterworks', as they are billed here - one might have racked one's brains with
little success. But here they are, concertos byjean Langlais and the German
composer Robert Maximilian Helmschrott, together with the farnous Concerto in G
minor by Poulenc.
Langlais's
Third Concerto sets things in rnotion with a highly dramatic opening consisting
of clattering timpani and demonic organ chords, continuing in rather the same
melodramatic vein before ending incongruously on a major chord. Organist Franz
Hauk has the right Hammer Horror touch and proves a strong and agile soloist,
rising to all the dramatic challenges of the piece. Helrnschrott's work was
written during a sojourn in the US, and its repetitive structure - based on an
eight-note series - perhaps suggests a debt to American minimalism. Oblique and
questioning, it flirts with monotony a little too intimately. The Poulenc is
clearly the best thing here. Under Markus Poschner's direction it bounces along
airily, but the reverberant acoustic of the Liebfrauenmünster in Ingolstadt
fails entirely to mask some patchy passagework from the orchestral strings.
Nonetheless, organ fans may well want to investigate. Christopher Wood
PERFORMANCE
SOUND ***
Sound ****
MusicWeb 07. November 02
Jean LANGLAIS
(1907 – 1991)
"Réaction" – Organ Concerto No.3 (1970/1)
Robert
Maximilian HELMSCHROTT (born
1938)
"Lamento" – Organ Concerto (1993)
Francis
POULENC (1899 – 1963)
Organ Concerto in G minor (1938)
 Franz
Hauk (organ); The Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Ingolstadt; Markus Poschner
Recorded: Liebfrauenmünster, Ingolstadt, October 2001
GUILD
GMCD 7240 [69:26]
Besides a considerable
amount of organ and choral music, Langlais composed three organ concertos (1949,
1961 and 1970/1 respectively) which have never been recorded so far. His
Réaction – Organ Concerto No.3 was completed in 1971 and first performed
in 1976 in Pittsburgh. The subtitle is rather puzzling or misleading, for there
is nothing reactionary in this substantial work cast in a clear 20th
Century idiom, even though Langlais’s organ writing may be somewhat less
adventurous than Messiaen’s. The opening drum-roll followed by a nervous gesture
in the strings sets the scene: this will be a serious often dark-hued, intense
piece of music with very little relief, if indeed any at all. The structure, in
five interlinked sections, is unusual: a long weighty introduction stating the
concerto’s basic thematic material leads into a short, nervous Scherzo fading
into the real core of the entire work: a powerful fugue sometimes recalling
Honegger’s muscular and virile writing. This is followed by a cadenza leading
into the final short coda. Neither reactionary nor revolutionary, Langlais’s
Third Organ Concerto is an intensely serious and powerful work of substance.
Helmschrott too has
composed (and, presumably, still does so) a huge amount of organ music, in which
his large-scale cycle of twelve Church Sonatas (the First Sonata for trombone
and organ was written in 1984 as a commission by the Department of Culture of
Ingolstadt) has the lion’s share. Some of his orchestral and vocal music is also
available on Vienna Modern Masters (Entelechiae for soprano and
orchestra of 1977 on VMM 3035 and his oratorio Kreuz und Freiheit
on VMM 3027). His Lamento – Concerto for Organ, Strings and Percussion,
another Ingolstadt commission, was completed in 1993 when the composer was
artist-in-residence at the McDowell Colony. It is laid-out in two weighty
movements of broadly equal length framing a short Interludium. All the
main material is based on an eight-tone row stated at the outset of the work.
The first movement is mostly dramatic and declamatory in mood. It generates
considerable tension, briefly dispelled in the peacefully musing Interludium.
The second movement displays some forceful energetic writing. A slower middle
section eases the nervous tension before the powerful reprise rushing the
concerto to its emphatic conclusion. A substantial work and a most welcome
novelty whose deeply felt and intense earnestness of purpose sometimes recalls
Frank Martin in its freely atonal but highly communicative idiom.
By comparison, Poulenc’s
better-known Organ Concerto in G minor (one of his supreme and
most perfect masterpieces, by the way) might seem lightweight, which it is not.
Quite the contrary; it is one of his most serious and most personal statements.
It is miles away from his customary, easy-going and light-hearted playfulness,
that nevertheless often conceals some deeply rooted sadness. However l’ironie
est la politesse du désespoir, a saying that often applies to Poulenc’s
bitter-sweet music. Poulenc, however, was also a deeply religious man who
expressed his faith in short choral works as well as in his large-scale trilogy
of choral-orchestral works culminating in his last masterpiece Sept Répons
des Ténèbres. Though not overtly religious, the Organ Concerto belongs
to his most personal music making, even if it has that playful sixth section
inspired by the sight of serious monks playing football! Poulenc, who was not
trained as an organist, admitted that his model was Buxtehude, though the final
product is pure Poulenc. Maurice Duruflé, who gave the first performances of the
Organ Concerto, also acted as technical adviser during the composition of the
piece.
Guild’s hopefully
ongoing series is going from strength to strength, thanks to Franz Hauk’s
dedicated advocacy and persuasion. Of Guild’s enthusiastic support. I now hope
that forthcoming releases in this series will include any (or all!) of the
following: Rainer Kunad’s Organ Concerto (with double string orchestra and
timpani) as well as those of Hamilton, Hoddinott and Mathias, and – why not? –
Langlais’s First and Second Organ Concertos.
Production is excellent and up to Guild’s best standards. The recording team
again cope quite successfully with Ingolstadt Liebfrauenmünster’s reverberant
acoustics. Another warm recommendation. Hubert Culot
Page revised Wednesday October 11 06
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