Joseph Marx - Works for Piano Quartet (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Joseph Marx

1. Rhapsody in A major
2. Scherzo in D minor
3. Ballad in A minor

Oliver Triendl, piano

Daniel Gaede, violin

Hariolf Schlingtig, viola

Peter Bruns, cello

Date: 2010

Label: CPO

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Review

Joseph Marx, a composer from Graz, Austria, cultivated a style that drew both on the dense counterpoint of Reger and on influences from the south and west. The three piano quartets here, all written in 1911, are not really impressionistic; nor do they much resemble the music of Respighi, whom Marx admired. In fact, they don't much resemble anything else under the sun, which is reason enough to seek out this release. Each work is in a single movement and from its title might be taken for salon music, but in fact all three pieces are weighty indeed. The final 17-plus-minute Ballade is arguably a lost masterpiece. It opens with a long Bachian theme for cello alone, leading one to expect an essay in chromatic counterpoint. Indeed, the structure of the work depends on a typically expansive late Romantic elaboration of the materials of the fugue initiated by the theme, but the music feels different from Reger; it is more transparent, more varied, a bit less chromatic, and more dependent on texture. It is in this last realm that the influence of the Impressionists can be felt. The Scherzo in D minor is full of frisky pianistic themes that Reger wouldn't have been caught dead writing. The opening Rhapsody in A major reveals a fine melodist with plenty of warmth. Highly recommended for chamber groups wanting to spring unknown music of high quality on their audiences and for any lover of Romantic chamber music. This is one of the periodic great successes notched by the German label CPO, which specializes in music by neglected composers, many of them from the German-speaking world. Long-winded but informative booklet notes are in English, German, and French.

— James Manheim

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Joseph Marx (11 May 1882 – 3 September 1964) was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic. Educated at the University of Graz, he earned a doctorate in 1909 with a study of tonality that introduced the term "atonality". Beginning his compositional career in 1908, he wrote extensively, producing more than 150 lieder, for which he is chiefly remembered, alongside orchestral and chamber works. A longtime faculty member and later rector of the Vienna Music Academy, he influenced numerous students. He was also active as a music critic in Vienna, writing about aesthetics and musical philosophy.

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Oliver Triendl (born 1970 in Mallersdorf, Bavaria) is a German pianist. Trained by distinguished teachers including Gerhard Oppitz and Oleg Maisenberg, he is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions. Triendl has performed globally as a soloist and chamber musician, appearing with leading orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and Shanghai Symphony. His unique repertoire includes around 90 piano concertos and hundreds of chamber works, many of which he has premiered or recorded first. His tireless commitment is reflected in more than 100 CD recordings.

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