Dohnanyi reviews

Schubert’s Ninth Symphony (sometimes known as his Eighth or Seventh) is both an evident masterpiece and a puzzling work. At almost an hour it is larger than any but two of Beethoven’s symphonies, it is grand in its material and its magisterial development, and has one of the most original and successful of finales.

The most substantial item in this third volume of Martin Roscoe’s enterprising survey of Erno˝ Dohnányi’s piano music is undoubtedly the suite Ruralia Hungarica. Dating from the 1920s, a period when the composer was adopting a more consciously nationalist idiom, the main thematic material in its seven movements draws upon a collection of Hungarian and Transylvanian folksongs that had recently been transcribed by his compatriots Bartók and Kodály.

Relatively few composers have had such an auspicious debut as the Hungarian Ernö Dohnányi. His first opus, Piano Quintet No. 1, written at the age of 18, is an astonishingly assured work, with strongly defined thematic ideas and a masterly handling of the chamber music medium that stands very much in the great Austro-German Romantic tradition. Brahms, one of the first important musicians to recognise its qualities, arranged a prestigious performance in Vienna in 1895, thereby helping to launch Dohnányi’s international career.

The Trio for horn, violin and piano by Edward McGuire, written when the composer was still a teenager, proves a most attractive opener to this intriguing programme. Conceived in three compact but emotionally contrasted movements, the Trio is strongly indebted to Stravinsky and Hindemith,
although elements of Scottish folk-music are also present.

Too rarely heard concertos: way-out stuff at times, mixing grand virtuosity, as befitted Liszt’s fellow countryman, with immense melodic generosity. And for Shelley, it’s an utterly jaw-dropping tour de force. Jessica Duchen

 Having released three highly successful discs of music by Jenö Hubay it is in no way surprising that Hagai Shaham should also demonstrate a particular empathy for the work of his Hungarian compatriot and contemporary, Erno˝ Dohnányi.

Some conductors have reputations for meticulous rehearsal. Others are notorious for leaving the fate of a performance to the moment itself. And with these two fascinating releases we are shown both sides of the coin. Christoph von Dohnanyi, filmed in rehearsal with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the beginning of his time as music director, takes the detailed approach.

Two rarely-heard concertos by the still-underrated Ernö von Dohnányi (1877-1960) here prove more than just a worthy curio. The Violin Concerto No. 1 dates from 1915 when the Hungarian composer was back in Budapest after teaching for ten years in Berlin. The influences of both Brahms and Wagner are palpable; melodic gorgeousness is enriched by full-blooded orchestration and ample opportunities for virtuoso display. The Second Concerto of 1949 finds Dohnányi in exile in Florida – he left Hungary in 1948, out of step with the strictures of the new political regime.

It’s a delightful prospect: the two finest quartets for oboe and strings, played by the high-profile husband-and-wife team of François Leleux and Lisa Batiashvili together with two excellent chamber musicians in Lawrence Power and Sebastian Klinger. And the results don’t disappoint. Mozart’s mini-concerto is lit up by Leleux’s bright but flexible tone and impeccable tonguing, and by a few neat added ornaments.