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HARTMANN CENTENARY
Royal Festival Hall, London 5 March 2005 The extent to which Hartmann has been practically forgotten Hartmann remained in Germany throughout the Nazi regime, withdrawn in "internal exile"; his music unperformed. The Third Symphony (1948/49), revised from earlier music, begins with a solo double bass and ends slowly with eerie percussion. In the middle is a "virtuoso fugue". The material is all aurally arresting, holds the attention readily and should not alienate audiences nowadays. Well prepared, with the orchestra showing appreciation of the conductor, Hartmann's is kaleidoscopic music which deserves a continuing place in the repertoire as a change from the over-played Mahler. We also had an earlier work, an arresting and moving twelve minute symphonic Miserae dedicated to victims of Dachau as early as 1934. The hall was well filled (but far from 'packed' - pace Seen&Heard, which has a detailed appraisal of the two Hartmann works). There was a little too much coughing during Hartmann, and substantial Japanese support (including children who presumably had left their quarter-size violins at home) for Midori, who gave an exquisitely refined account of the Beethoven violin concerto; surely far from the sound that Beethoven must have had in mind? Beautiful unquestionably, but a little effete too. It is Hartmann who will be remembered from this concert, and you should watch out for more centenary opportunities to get to know his music, lest it disappear again..... German Amazon lists the eight symphonies on CD, recently recorded by Ingo Metzmacher with the Bamberg Orchestra:
EMI Classics [EMI 5 56911 2 5] |
Karl Amadeus Hartmann Miserae & Symphony No.3 
had not occurred to me; the splendid Wergo LP box with the symphonies (Kubelik et al) and the Song-Scene (Fischer-Dieskau) has a proud place on my shelves, and should be re-released on CD. 