Melos Ensemble in Septets and Octets

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Not applicable
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great music, fantastic value for money and fine performance
Disadvantages:	Onepiece with slightly overbearing clarinettist .  .  . ?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Introduction:

I am always on the hunt for bargains and one of my favourite lurking places is the big HMV store in Oxford Street, London. There must be some kind of unknown terrestrial magnetic force underneath the shop which irresistibly drags me from the congested street: Mowing down the tourists blocking the pavement while they debate which direction leads to Buckingham Palace, I head through the security gates of debit card Hell, down the escalator, deep into the bowels of the earth also known as the classical department...

Last time I was at HMV, it was raining outside so I had plenty of excuse to spend a couple of hours browsing through the stack 'em up and sell 'em cheap piles of CDs. It is rare that I leave this Temple of Temptation not clutching a bag of goodies and this visit found me picking up this double CD for the totally amazing price of just £3.99. Wow! That's the cost of 2 Unhappy Meals at McD's - and the music will give a lifetime of enjoyment rather than chronic indigestion and a place on the NHS waiting list for your local cardiology ward.

I was especially pleased at my "bargain", as the combination of music on the CD is a little unconventional with the result that out of the 4 pieces, I was thrilled to realise that I didn't have recordings of 3 of them, which made it an even more spectacular buy. Whilst Beethoven and Schubert are mainstream classical composers, their music as featured here is from the much less frequently heard fringes of their compositional output and as a result definitely well worth exploring. The Mendelssohn Octet on the other hand, is far better known and often performed or broadcast - but fits perfectly into this recording both from a musical point of view and also because the discs features various instrumental chamber music ensemble combinations of either septets or octets.

The Performers:

The Melos Ensemble had a long and illustrious concert and recording career lasting from 1950 to 1974. It was set up by a group of top British orchestral and solo musicians who wanted to bring together a flexible but regular group to play some of the more unusual chamber music repertoire. Founding members were violist Cecil Aronowitz, clarinetist Gervase de Peyer, flautist Richard Adeney, and cellist Terence Weil - all ofwhom apart from Mr Adeney appear on these CDs. The musicians enjoyed major careers in their own rights - with for example Gervase de Peyer being the principal clarinettist of the London Symphony Orchestra for many years and other members such as violinist Iona Brown, cellist Keith Harvey and violinist Emanuel Hurwitz were founding members of the renowned English Chamber Orchestra.

The music and performances:

Ludwig van Beethoven (1779-1827), Septet in E flat, Op. 20: This work is scored for the unusual combination of clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello and double bass and is in six movements. It was first performed in 1800in Vienna, immediately becoming extremely popular. However, in typical "grumpy Ludwig" fashion Beethoven grew to dislike the piece the more popular it became!
Unfortunately the performance here turns out to be the least satisfactory item on these 2 discs. Primarily because the clarinet part - played by Gervase de Peyer - completely dominates the interpretation to the detriment of the other players.

At times, one feels that the violinist Emanuel Hurwitz is playing in another room to the rest of the ensemble and it is frequently hard to remember that there is actually a double bass and cello also present. The woodwind are fairly well balanced though. At first I thought this was due to recording problems, (which would be surprising given that all the recordings on these discs took place at the excellent Abbey Road Studios in London,) but having listened to the other pieces it became obvious that this is more a case of a very forthright and forward player wanting to stamp his influence and authority on the interpretation.

However, despite my misgivings about this imbalance there are many gorgeous moments in the performance, especially the slow second movement which has an absolutely ravishing Mozartian-style melody, beautifully played by de Peyer and the other instrumentalists. The final movement with its slow introduction leading into a rambunctious finale is also very well done.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) - Octet in E flat, Op. 20: This incredible piece is scored for two 1st violins, two 2nd violins, 2 violas and 2 celli. It was composed in 1825 when the composer was unbelievably still only 16! When I think of the 16 year olds that I know (shudder) this feat becomes even more jaw-dropping... Between 1821 and 1823, Mendelssohn had already composed 9 string symphonies so despite his age he was an experienced hand at writing for string players. However the truly astonishing aspect about this work is that it is the very first of its genre - no-one had previously written this kind of integrated work for 8 individual string parts. The Octet is dedicated to Mendelssohn's violin teacher Eduard Rietz as a birthday present!

Listening to this performance was such an enjoyable experience. The players have a real enthusiasm for the work and as a result the performance is full of all the wonderful youthful joie de vivre present in the music itself. I thought that the first movement was especially well played, excellent ensemble and great balance between the different parts so one can hear everything going on in this complex score - the players have a much greater equality with one another than in the preceding Beethoven. After a lyrically, yet well-paced 2nd movement the scintillatingly fast Presto shows off the players to their best, with spot on articulation and a wide dynamic range. By the time the finale gets underway I'd been swept along with the exuberance of the interpretation. Excellent!

Ludwig van Beethoven, Octet in E flat, Op. 103: This is an early work by Beethoven which he composed in 1792 for 2 each of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns. However for some inexplicable reason given the quality of this music, the work was sadly neglected and did not get published until 1830, three years after Beethoven's death, which is the reason why it has such a high opus number. This four movement piece is a great example of Beethoven's youthful work, full of the influence of his mentor and on/off teacher Joseph Haydn. Yet at the same time it has many of the dramatic hallmarks which would become familiar in Beethoven's later, more famous works - especially the sudden changes of mood within a movement and the concise use and development of small thematic figures.

The performance on this disc is really top notch. Right from the start one can tell that both the ensemble and the intonation are going to be spot on - two major factors for a successful ensemble of this kind. Balance is excellent between the players and there are some wonderful solo spots from the oboists Peter Graham and Sarah Barrington - to take just one example - in the slow second movement.

Perhaps the most obvious feature of this interpretation is the way in which the players really bring out the dramatic momentum of Beethoven's music. Hearing it, one can think forward to the symphonies that were to follow in the next few years. One also should mention the thrilling horn playing of Neill Sanders and James Buck. For much of the music the horns are subtle accompanying instruments, but then suddenly are faced with some virtuosic figuration and high notes - hard to pull off but done incredibly well in this recording. This was a piece I did not previously know, and I'm really glad that I have been able to discover it through this disc.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Octet in F major, D803: One of Beethoven's friends, pupils and patrons was the Austrian Archduke Rudolph (of Archduke Trio fame...) He maintained a household with several very musical employees including Count Ferdinand Troyer who was also a fine clarinettist. Realising the popularity of Beethoven's Septet, Troyer approached Franz Schubert and asked him to compose a similar work. Schubert came up with his Octet - scored for 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, bassoon and horn. Amazingly he composed the entire work between 24th February and 1st March 1824, with the premiere being given in Count Ferdinand 's Viennese apartment soon after. Count Ferdinand played the first clarinet part and in a nice link up to another piece on these CDs the 1st violin part was played by Ignaz Schuppanzigh, who'd played 1st violin in the premiere of Beethoven's Septet 24 years earlier. Perhaps because of the darker and more dramatic nature of this work, it didn't become popular immediately and had to wait 3 years for another performance and was not published until 1853.

This piece is a completely different kettle of fish to the others on these 2 CDs, it has a much stronger and darker dramatic impulse behind much of the music, Schubert changes the mood of the music almost instantaneously from sunny to ominously stormy. As my conducting professor (himself a Schubert expert) succinctly and cheerily said "Schubert's music often has the smell of death around it..." and that's very true here. This music looks forward to the future Romantic Era of composition with its angst inclined sensibility. It most reminds me of some of the "Wolf Glen" music from opera "Der Freischuetz" by Carl Maria von Weber.

The musicians make the most of this drama, especially in the slow introductions to the 1st and 6th movements - wonderful hushed string playing, tremolos, a real sense of "happening" - and the playing of Neill Sanders (horn,) Emanuel Hurwitz (violin) and Gervase de Peyer (clarinet) really makes an impact here, in both emphasising the dramatic and contrasting it with the lighter parts of the work such as the melodious slow movement and light-footed Scherzo. This is a first class performance of a work which really should be heard much more often than it currently is.

General summary:

These 2 CDs are re-mastered from original recordings which took place in 1967, 68 and 69. Apart from the problems already mentioned in the first piece on CD1, they have stood the test of time very well. Obviously there are more sonically "perfect" recordings around, yet I feel that if you can find one of the many offers for this CD at less than a fiver - it is not something that should worry you for the quality of the pieces, interesting coupling of pieces and very fine performances.

I felt I really got my money's worth on this buy given that the first CD contains just over 72 minutes of music and the 2nd - 78 minutes. That's a very generous playing time in comparison to many more expensive releases, combine that with some excellent programme notes and what's not to like? I rarely pay full price for any CDs these days and as usual, it is worth having a good hunt around to get the best deal.
Please note that there appears to be 2 different covers in circulation on this CD - the one given by Ciao and the one I have posted myself. They have the same catalogue number etc - there is no difference between the two.
The Mendelssohn should be a part of any classical music lover's collection and this makes a great budget buy for that piece, whilst if you already enjoy Beethoven and Schubert and want to explore their less often played repertoire, this fits the bill perfectly.

Strongly recommended.