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GOETZ Quartet. Piano Quintet1 • Oliver Triendl (pn); Marina Chiche (vn); Peijun Xu (va); Niklas Schmidt, (vc); 1Matthias Beltinger (db) • TYXART 15061 (63:54) I love to explore the byways of classical music. Discovering those hidden gems that have somehow escaped the attention of performers and listeners over the years brings me joy. But this is an endeavor fraught with more misses than hits. After all, most second- or third-rank have earned that appellation for a good reason—the music just isn’t that great when held up to the scrutiny of “The Masters” (you can make your own list). Let us consider the subject of this review, Hermann Goetz. Hermann Goetz: Born in 1840 in East Prussia, he lived his short life & AUDIO CD (dying from tuberculosis at the age of 35) in the TYXart midst of the blossoming Romantic era of classical music. As a result, his works list is quite modest— one completed , two piano concertos, a , one completed opera, a handful of vocal works and piano pieces, and a small output of chamber works which include the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet of this recording. Goetz’s Piano Quartet, written in 1867, was dedicated to Brahms, and his influence over the younger is evident throughout this 38-minute, four-movement work. The key of E Major creates a mainly sunny veneer into which Goetz interleaves plenty of contrasts. Had this manuscript had “J. Brahms” on its cover, one might easily be duped into believing this was a lost Brahms piano quartet. Perhaps the melodies lack that last bit of Brahms’s melancholy, but there is so much here to revel in that this is a minor quibble. The first movement, rasch und feurig (quick and spirited), demonstrates Goetz’s skill as a chamber music composer. The themes seamlessly bounce from violin to piano, with skillful writing for the supporting viola and cello. The somber second movement is based on a melancholy theme with variations and is quite lovely. The scherzo that follows supplies the desired uplift, and the finale creates a grand and somber statement with a minor key introduction that gives way to a brief funeral march section that in turn resolves into the finale

proper—a mostly sunny romp on a dancing melody that finishes the work in proper—a mostly sunny romp on a dancing melody that finishes the work in satisfying style. The Piano Quintet is a more turbulent work befitting its key of C Minor. This four-movement piece clocks in at 26 minutes, making it overall a less substantial work than the Piano Quartet. Instrumentally, this quintet follows after Schubert instead of Brahms, with the inclusion of the . However, the impact of the music is once again in the vein of Brahms. It was composed in 1876, while Goetz continued his long health struggles and just two years before his death. The booklet annotator calls the work a “requiem for a highly sensitive artist.” It is a satisfying work with plenty of emotional appeal. This isn’t the first recorded rodeo for these Goetz chamber works. ArkivMusic lists two additional recordings of the Piano Quartet and four of the Piano Quintet. Of those, I have the recording of the quintet performed by the Ensemble il Trittico on Divox (coupled with two works for piano quintet by Raff). I also have in my collection a recording on the ASV label (nla), performed by the Pro Arte Quartet with the same coupling as this Tyxart CD. This new recording features an ad hoc group of players led by the excellent pianist Oliver Triendl. Can an ad hoc group of players compete with established chamber ensembles in this repertoire? Indeed they can, and they do so in spades. This is chamber music playing of the highest caliber. Triendl’s piano playing forms a rock-solid foundation for both pieces, with phrasing and dynamics that suit the music well. Violinist Marina Chiche is also splendid, with a rock-solid intonation and a gorgeous sound. Historically informed practice is nowhere to be heard here—thankfully! I have no hesitation in saying that these performances are now the ones to beat in this repertoire. Compared to the ASV recording this present disc is superior in both performance and, especially, recording quality. When considering just the Piano Quintet, the Divox performance and recording are equally fine when judged against this Tyxart release, but with the Divox release one will miss out on the Goetz Piano Quartet. The recordings were made in Studio Britz in Berlin during April of 2015. The native resolution of the recording is not provided in the booklet, but what I hear via the CD is of the highest quality. The instruments sound beautifully integrated in a judicious balance that paints a realistic sonic picture of strings with piano. The violin sound is natural and without the edgy artifacts that sometimes accompany the upper registers in Red Book standard digital recordings. The piano sound is full with the right amount of upper octave recordings. The piano sound is full with the right amount of upper octave sparkle, and the ensemble is placed with an appropriate mix of direct and hall sound. Of the Goetz chamber music CDs in my collection, this one takes the palm for sound. All in all, a real winner in my book for those who wish to expand their horizons beyond the usual Romantic masters. Mark Novak

This article originally appeared in Issue 39:4 (Mar/Apr 2016) of Fanfare Magazine.

GOETZ Piano Quintet in c, op. 16.1, 2 Piano Quartet in E, op. 62 • Pro Arte Pn Qrt;1 Paul Marrion (db)2 • ASV DDD DCA 1157 (64:30)

Hermann Goetz (1840–1876) was yet another one of those considerable artistic talents of the Romantic period whose death can be chalked up to “consumption”—the once-fashionable term for tuberculosis. A late starter, Goetz began receiving piano lessons at the age of seventeen, and entered the Stern Conservatoire in Berlin after turning twenty. He took over the direction of Berlin’s Meichsner Gesangverein in 1862, but left for Winterthur in 1863; Reinecke had recommended him for the post of organist at the Lutheran Church there (succeeding Brahm’s friend, Theodor Kirchner), and Goetz had hopes as well of a cure. He married in 1868 and moved in 1869 to Zurich, where he quickly became among that arts-conscious city’s most prominent figures. He supported his family through piano lessons and music criticism until the notable success of his first opera, Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung (based on ), encouraged Goetz to focus solely on composition. He completed several important works in the remaining four years of his life, notably a Symphony in F and the Piano Quintet heard on this recording.

Goetz’s reputation was high before the stylistic tide began moving against the mid-century romantics. No doubt his early death contributed to his fame, but there’s strong merit to his music, as well. We can speculate that his subsequent loss of popularity was occasioned by his lack of published works rather than any inherent defect. Of his 22 published compositions, the last eight were earlier pieces, edited with Goetz’s blessing by his friend and benefactor, Ernst Franck, and issued posthumously.

The Piano Quartet was not among these. The fact that other works of the same period in Goetz’s life (his No. 2 from 1867, his Violin Concerto from 1868, etc.) were withheld until after the composer’s death suggests both a high level of self-criticism and that he was pleased with this particular work. Contemporary reports would seem to agree: the Piano Quartet was much admired and performed during the latter part of the 19th century. It is a well-constructed work that mines a fine vein of richly lyrical, often elegiac melody. Schumann would appear to be the main influence, but Goetz was no Kreislerian epigone. The harmonic scheme (particularly in the first two movements) prefigures Impressionism at times, while the overall shape and treatment of some of the themes bring Rachmaninoff occasionally to mind.

Goetz proves himself a master dramatist, as well. One can hear the nascent opera composer in the memorable, brilliantly maintained threnody of the second movement theme-and-variations. The triumphal scherzo, complete with Florestan-like horn calls, leads not into a propulsive finale, but a lengthy (four minutes) introduction that restores the elegiac mood of the second movement. Only after this does the expected upbeat finale materialize. All in all, the Piano Quartet is a work well deserving of more than an occasional hearing.

Much the same can be said for Goetz’s Piano Quintet. The medium isn’t the piano-and-string-quartet of Schumann and Brahms, but the older form of Schubert’s “Trout” Quintetthat replaces the second violin with a double bass. The darker coloration that results sits well with the work’s stormier content. Goetz himself added an epigraph that reads in English, “And when Man falls silent in his pain, may a god grant me the power to say what I suffer.” It’s difficult not to hear knowing adumbrations of the composer’s death both in these remarks and in the Piano Quintet’s tempestuous first and final movements. It is a subtler work than the Piano Quartet, slightly lagging behind the earlier piece in its level of thematic distinction (save in the nocturnally idyllic Andante), but there are many individual touches that compensate: the fugue that starts the nocturnally idyllic Andante), but there are many individual touches that compensate: the fugue that starts the finale’s development is one example; the Minuet’s trio, with a bucolic little theme given to the cello while the strings play pizzicato in canon, is another.

The Pro Arte Piano Quartet plays with knowledge, conviction, and clear affection for both works. Although probably not known by their collective name, the individual members will certainly be no strangers to classical music enthusiasts—certainly not violinist Kenneth Sillito and pianist Hamish Milne, at any rate. Together since 1989, they form a subset of a subset, hiving off from the St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble. Sound on this release is problematic, though, with the piano slightly boomy and distant; the double bass in the Piano Quintet gives the impression of being recorded with a microphone stuffed inside one of the main sound holes. Balance is otherwise good, but some bass reduction around 250 Hz and below is advised.

There really isn’t much competition out there for either work. Cpo has a two-CD set (999086) of Goetz’s chamber music using the Gobel Trio Berlin as its anchor: more music, better sound, with a tendency to rush the slower movements and introductory portions of movements. The re-release by Genesis of its Goetz chamber ensemble on a two-fer (GCD 113) is, in my opinion, a nonstarter, since the performances, while good, are analog, and the price is higher than the cpo while containing less music. My recommendation remains with this new release. It’s a spirited introduction to Goetz’s music. Barry Brenesal

This article originally appeared in Issue 27:6 (July/Aug 2004) of Fanfare Magazine.