Doris Hochscheid & Frans van Ruth - Dutch Sonatas for Violoncello and Piano Vol. 5 (2012) [SACD]

This is the 5th volume in a valuable series devoted to Dutch cello sonatas. Pijper, Röntgen, van Goens, Vermeulen & Escher are some of those already covered: now we reach 2 composers whose reputations are somewhat varied. Henk Badings is the better known. The geographer & palaeontologist followed his true path during his eventual musical studies with Pijper, as it happens, with whom the younger man fell out over musical matters. The 2 sonatas are well worth reviving. The earlier dates from 1929 & adeptly straddles the classical/romantic stylistic divide. It's a compact 2-movement 13-minute work, the 2nd movement of which houses a doughty dance motif amidst some melancholy vein of writing. There's a little satiric throwaway passage too. The 2nd sonata followed in 1935, the same year in which Badings' 3rd Symphony was premiered by Willem Mengelberg. This is a more fluent & malleable sonata, occasionally hectoring, it s true, but with the cello ruminating a great deal of the time in the lower register in the Adagio, which once again pursues a rather introspective line. The piano writing is quite wide ranging & apt. The finale is an ambiguous way to end things with hints of blue notes in the accompanying piano figures, & the music rather slithering its way to a close. Sem Dresden was born in Amsterdam in 1881, & was thus over a generation older than Badings. His training was the more conventional, studying with Pfitzner in Berlin. On his return to his native city he became a choral conductor & in time became director of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, a position he was forced to give up in 1941 when, as a Jew, he was stripped of his job & went to live in the suburbs of the city. Badings took over, though without malice, & for pragmatic reasons. In another biographical twist, Dresden's wife was employed by Badings as the conservatoire's senior singing teacher. Dresden's 1916 sonata is very different to the more progressive Badings. Maybe Dresden imbibed some of Pfitzner's Francophile tastes because this sonata is a watercolour after the ambiguous modernism of Badings. It sings warmly, & the piano's fanciful escapades give the ear plenty to enjoy. A contemporary critic noted the fragmentary & hyper-modern element but to us, I suspect, charm & warmth are evident instead.
In 1942 he wrote his 2nd sonata. Here we see more French influence but this time it's Ravel, who is especially noticeable in the pizzicato episode of the 1st movement. The central movement is terse if one reads an autobiographical element into this, one can't be blamed with a tick-tocking effect that is emblematic, one feels. The slow section that begins the finale is the expressive heart of the sonata, with ensuing railway rhythms & a bout of real introspection marking their way to a slow, unconsoled end. The SACD has been very well judged spatially, & the documentary booklet is helpful. The contrasting works & the contrasting fortunes of both composers make for interesting & thoughtful listening, especially when the performances are as inside the music as they are here.


Tracks:

Sem Dresden
01-Sonata No. 1 (1929) Allegro 05:00
02-Sonata No. 1 (1929) Lento Moderato – Allegro vivace 08:12
03-Sonata No. 2 (1935) Allegro molto 05:07
04-Sonata No. 2 (1935) Adagio 06:10
05-Sonata No. 2 (1935) Allegro vivace 03:43
Henk Badings
06-Sonata No. 1 (1916) Modérément animé 06:44
07-Sonata No. 1 (1916) Tranquille et légèrement soutenu 04:49
08-Sonata No. 1 (1916) Vif et impétueux 04:52
09-Sonata No. 2 (1942) Allegro molto 06:46
10-Sonata No. 2 (1942) Allegro agitato 05:43
11-Sonata No. 2 (1942) Poco Lento – Allegro con fuoco 09:16

Personnel:

Doris Hochscheid: violoncello
Frans van Ruth: piano