This latest release in the amazing survey series “Music in Exile” by the passionately dedicated ARC Ensemble along with the fine tuned musico-archeological ear of producer Simon Wynberg continues to to pursue their angle on lost, suppressed, neglected music. That music earned its anonymity due to sociopolitical pressures that forced these composers to flee their homes simply to survive fascist regimes (and hopefully pursue their chosen careers). The suppression of the arts is a hallmark of oppressive regimes and this project aims to rescue music that has fallen into disuse because of that. This latest release most beautifully continues this fine and essential project.
This Austrian composer born in 1894, was from a wealthy Jewish background but, like many in this time and place, converted to one or another form of Christianity. Famed composer Franz Schreker became one of his mentors.
His father died in 1918 and both his mother and later, his sister died by suicide before he made the decision, in 1938, to leave Germany. He landed first in Manhattan, and later Los Angeles where he was able to continue to pursue his life as teacher and artist. He taught at USC for many years and received several commissions for music which received performances.
There are five works on this CD which were written between 1921 and 1956, reflecting his initially romantic style to something like neoclassicism. His prolific output includes chamber music, orchestral music and opera. He was apparently actively composing from 1918 until his death. The works are sequenced (with one exception) in their order of composition.
Kanitz was of Jewish ancestry and converted to Christianity in 1914 (not an uncommon practice at the time) but this did not protect him from the Nazi purges and he left Austria for America where he found significant success teaching and composing. He taught at USC for some 14 years.
The first work on the recording, a Violin Sonata from 1921, demonstrates a sort of post romantic style. This charming work in three movements demonstrate the composer’s early style and his mastery of the chamber music idiom. It is the only pre-war piece on this recording. And is a work that might be favorably paired with similar works by Brahms, Debussy, and Franck. It has a late romantic feel and is a nice showcase for both pianist and violinist.
It is hard to imagine the social and artistic milieu of 1921. The post Wagner/Brahms styles were fading into post romantic, increasingly experimental with harmony but not yet fully confronting Schoenberg’s twelve tone methods, a move which ultimately provoked as much controversy as creativity that brought the world into the “modern” era. James P. Johnson’s “Charleston” dominated the popular repertoire of dance bands as the world began its recovery from the horrors of the First World War. And the concert halls were increasingly dominated by the expansion of romantic harmonies striving toward new means of expression to reflect the angst of social struggles.
The second work is a substantial String Quartet (dedicated to Ernst Toch, another exile) dating from 1945. It is cast in four movements and adheres to a late romantic style. The first movement, subtitled “Elegy” in which he succeeds in making the key of D major sound sad. The second movement is a lighter Rondino which lightens the mood. There follows a set of variations on an old Viennese tune (the meaning of the tune must have sounded quite different to the composer in 1945). The variations go through several moods on this tune that must have carried a bittersweet nostalgia for him. The quartet comes to a conclusion in the longest movement, the finale. It strikes a rather bright, sometimes playful mood and brings this substantial work (his only essay in the genre) to a satisfying end.
The next three tracks are given to Kanitz’ Sonata for solo cello, a genre that only came into the repertoire as viable concert music after Pablo Casals brought the neglected Bach solo cello suites successfully to the concert stage and subsequently made the first recordings of that music in the late 1930s. Solo cello music has grown as an audience pleasing form increasingly in the twentieth and twenty first centuries. This work from 1955 is a significant addition to the that repertoire.
The delightful Concertino for Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Double Bass, and Piano (1957) shows Kanitz in an inventive mode with this gentle, playful, and lyrical work. There’s three movements (Overture, Air, and Fugue) that demonstrate the composer’s considerable grasp of harmony, structure, and counterpoint. The Quartet may be the standout work in this collection, but this work also deserves more attention.
Kanitz shows a touch of modernism in his writing for the saxophone (the instrument was not common in the context of the classical concert hall at the time of its composition) in the last offering on this 9th volume of Music in Exile. There’s three movements (Sky and Water, Fragrance, Light; Lament; and, Hollywood). The Sonata for Saxophone and Piano (1948) is in a way, the composer’s paean to his California home in exile.
This wonderful sampling is a taste that of Kanitz’ work that this writer hopes will result in recordings of more of this man’s work.
The musicians include:
Chamber: ARC Ensemble
Erika Raum violin
Marie Bérard violin
Steven Dann viola
Thomas Wiebe cello
Joaquin Valdepeñas clarinet (in the Concertino)
Kevin Ahfat piano (in the California Sonata)
with special guests
Wallace Halladay saxophone (in the California Sonata)
Anna Štube violin (in the violin sonata)
Joel Quarrington double-bass (in the Concertino)
New Music Buff 