Krenek’s Chamber Music and Songs on Toccata

courtesy of Naxos of America

Last month Toccata Classics continued to limp its way through its efforts to provide recorded accounts of the music of Ernst Krenek. I chose my verb because these releases have been relatively sporadic with little sense of an overall plan. Given that Krenek’s opus count ran “generously over 200,” as I have previously put it, one would have hoped for a more systematic effort for a twentieth century composer that spent much of his life undeservedly on the sidelines.

Toccata seems to have been at this project since 2012 with the release of an album entitled Music for Chamber Orchestra. There was no indication that this was intended as a complete account of the genre, nor was there much indication as to why the five pieces on the album were grouped as they were. This was followed by a “Volume 1” release of Krenek’s piano music. There has yet to be a “Volume 2,” let alone any sign of how many volumes will be required. The one “complete” account covers his piano concertos through the release of two volumes.

The latest release is the first volume in a category called “Chamber Music and Songs;” and, if the packaging is more than a little disorienting, the performances definitely deserve attention. Krenek’s principal teacher was Franz Schreker, but he became drawn to the efforts of Arnold Schoenberg to eliminate the need for a tonal center. This included taking his own approach to Schoenberg’s twelve-tone technique with rhetorical stances that always distinguished him from the Second Viennese School composers.

From this point of view, the new album provides a variety insights into different strategies that Krenek summoned to depart from that tonal center. His individual movements tend to be brief, although they frequently follow each other without any pause. Thus, the listener encountering Krenek for the first time may benefit by having the display of the track numbers at his/her disposal. Ultimately, however, the most engaging selections are the two double fugues that begin and conclude the album, the first for two pianos and the second for four hands on one keyboard. These pieces reflect the tonal style that emerged from Krenek’s studies with Schreker, and it is more than a bit of a pity that they have been ignored the way much of Schreker’s music has.