Thank you very much KeninG
Tracklist:
01 Overture [5.02]
02 War Music [0.24]
03 Don Juan [0.24]
04 Hornpipe [2.22]
05 Festive Music [5.16]
06 Change of Scene [0.24]
07 Dialogue between Don Juan and Borachio [0.24]
08 Garden Music – Prelude to Act III with Benedick’s soliloquy [6.36]
09 Balthasar’s Song [2.46]
10 Intermezzo with Beatrice’s soliloquy [2.57]
11 Dogberry and Verges – March of the Watch [2.35]
12 Maiden in the Bridal Chamber – Prelude to Act IV [3.43]
13 Church Scene – Act IV, Scene II with Leonata’s line [0.52]
14 Judgement Scene [1.29]
15 Funeral Music – Prelude to Act V with Claudio’s monologue [4.50]
16 Change of scene – with Don Pedro’s line [0.45]
17 Intermezzo – final wedding scene, with dialogue [3.20]
18 Final Dance – with Benedick’s final line [2.42]
Movement’s without dialogue:
19 Festive music [4.38]
20 Garden Music [6.36]
21 Intermezzo [2.43]
22 Funeral Music [4.50]
23 Final Dance [2.29]
Notes
Korngold’s Much Ado About Nothing began life as incidental music—scored for chamber orchestra—to the Shakespeare play (under the German title “Viel L�rm um Nichts”). But as recorded here, the Suite finds the following caption at the head of the score: “Aus der Musik zu ‘Viel L�rm um Nichts’ Op. 11 F�r Violine und Klavier leicht bearbeitet vom Komponisten,” that is “From the music to ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ slightly revised [or slightly altered] by the composer.” And the caption itself is quite fitting, for it aptly reflects the sophisticated wit central to each of the four pieces.
1. “M�dchen im Brautgemach” [Maiden in the Bridal Chamber]
The intricate deceptions of Shakespeare’s plotline are cleverly captured in this the opening piece of the collection, for the tender thematic material that underscores the three-and-a-half minute work is given to distortions of one form or another. Korngold’s principal melody—which appears intact four times (and returns in a fragmented version for the coda)—is based on a L�ndler; and yet the celebrated Austrian dance form epitomized by the likes of Schubert is here subjected to peculiar rhythmic treatment that challenges the regularity of the L�ndler’s characteristic 3/4 meter. In addition, the melody is variously interrupted with interjections suitable to the comedic and duplicitous actions of the play. The forward motion of “M�dchen im Brautgemach,” however, is never compromised for it is pinned to a richly embellished commitment to the principles of Viennese classicism and the primacy of a governing tonic. But even here there is a twist, or better, a double twist. On the one hand, the clarity of the key centre, D-flat major, is made to emerge from the fog of dual introductory gestures—the one homophonic, and the other a solo violin line. The harmonic progression of the whole begins in medias res, a point that sheds light on the second of the harmonic twists: D-flat major is itself provisional, and ultimately stands in preparation for C major, the principal key in Much Ado About Nothing.
2. “Holzapfel und Schlehwein” (Marsch der Wache)
A literal translation of the title reads “Crabapple and Plum Wine”; and yet the subtitle, March of the Watch, associates Korngold’s offering with the play’s most humorous characters, namely the pair Dogberry and Verges who, although undeniably inept, nevertheless do come to save the day by blowing the whistle of the most malicious of this comedy’s schemers. The tempo indication is telling: “In the Tempo of a Grotesque Funeral March” must be projected throughout the ABA structure of this transitional piece; the feat is easy enough to manage in the “diabolical” outer portions, but not in the “reflective” B section. David and Gompper, however, are certainly up to the task. In fact, it is well past time to mention the exceptional performance given this deceptively complex set of miniatures. David and Gompper infuse Korngold’s prolix demands with a vitality that positions the four pieces of the Suite under a single sweeping arch. The many disruptions demanded in “M�dchen im Brautgemach” are given their due in a carefully measured interpretation. Fewer and fewer changes in pace occur in each of the subsequent pieces to the point of nearly abating altogether in the Hornpipe finale, “Mummenschanz,” where the regularity of tempo befits the nature of that dance type.
3. “Gartenscene” [Scene in the Garden]
As mentioned above, “Holzapfel und Schlehwein” is a transitional piece. Its eight-measure introduction leads away from D-flat major—the principal key of “M�dchen im Brautgemach”—into the dominant and then the true tonic of Much Ado About Nothing, the key of C. The ABA structure of the second piece, however, pivots between C minor, and C major (the latter key occurring in the middle section). With the entry of “Gartenscene,” however, C major is firmly established and maintained through to the end of Much Ado About Nothing. And even the apparent swerves to seemingly remote tonal centres in “Gartenscene’s” rondo form are heard in a singular context, breathing life into Schoenberg’s statement to the effect that there are plenty of good pieces waiting to be written in C major.
4. “Mummenschanz” [Masquerade]
“Gartenscene” assumes the role of an expressive interlude between the near Bacchanalia of “Holzapfel und Schlehwein” and the lively step of “Mummenschanz.” It also sets the stage, as it were, for the hornpipe that brings Much Ado About Nothing to a close. From the standpoint of Shakespeare’s play, the last act masquerade is more in the nature of an un-masking, where all conflicts are finally resolved, and matrimonial triumph is well at hand. From a purely musical perspective, it is well to remember that hornpipes commonly appeared in stage music of the 17th and 18th centuries. And Korngold’s offering is true to all of these concerns, for the character of this two-minute work is at once festive and light-hearted. The “snap” rhythm of the refrain is beautifully depicted in rhythmic, dynamic, and agogic terms. Equally, there is just enough in the way of “chromatic flair” to remind us that we are dealing with an early 20th-century interpretive casting of a very late 16th-century comedy.
Notes by Gregory Marion
Assistant Professor of Music Theory
The University of Saskatchewan
Booklet Complete PDF
http://www.toccataclassics.com/liner_notes/TOCC0160-cd-notes.pdf
