Felix Draeseke (1835-1913)
Quintette pour 2 violons, alto et 2 violoncelles, op. 77
Scène pour violon et piano, op. 69
Quintette pour violon, alto, violoncelle, cor et piano, op. 48

Felix Schwartz, alto
Andreas Grünkorn, violoncelle
Quatuor Breuninger

Sebastian Breuninger, violon
Stanley Dodd, violon
Anemarie Moorcroft, alto
David Riniker, violoncelle

Solistenensemble Berlin

Matthias Wollong, violon
Georg Pohle, cor
Birgitta Wollenweber, piano

De nos jours, le très prolixe Draeseke est encore connu pour ses symphonies (la troiisème, dite « sinfonia tragica » fut une œuvre encensée à son époque qui la plaçait à côté de celles de Brahms et Bruckner ; les quatre symphonies ont d’ailleurs été gravées par CPO), et son gigantesque oratorio « Christus ». On connaît moins sa musique de chambre, qui n’était guère disponible que sur des CD confidentiels. Voici donc une belle occasion d’entendre le vaste et assez brahmsien quintette à deux violoncelles (1901), la scène pour violon et piano, au caractère opératique affirmé (1889, elle utilise d’ailleurs des thèmes de l’opéra Bertran de Born) et le quintette avec cor et piano (1888). Si vous connaissez, ou croyez connaître, tout Schumann et tout Brahms et que vous avez envie de sortir des sentiers battus, voici un CD qui saura vous intéresser. Comme toujours chez CPO, l’interprétation est irréprochable, à défaut d’apporter à cette musique le surcroît d’inspiration qui lui fait défaut. On avoue néanmoins être curieux d’une suite éventuelle. Il reste beaucoup à découvrir dans la musique de chambre de Draeseke. (Richard Wander)

Today Felix Draeseke is known in the concert world above all as a composer of sacred music and on recordings primarily as a symphonist. His operas are known only by name even to music experts, and he hardly receives any notice as a song composer, while his piano oeuvre – above all thanks to the highly virtuosic boldness and wild abandon of the »Sonata quasi fantasia« op. 6 – has repeatedly attracted pianists looking for a welcome challenge. During recent decades Felix Draeseke’s chamber music as well as his orchestral works have met with occasional notice – but not in a very balanced way. His three string quartets have been almost entirely neglected, while his Clarinet Sonata and Quintet for Piano, String Trio, and Horn op. 48 – no doubt also because of the limited number of valuable romantic contributions to this genre – have enjoyed a certain popularity. They number among his most dazzling and radiant creations in a larger format since in his oeuvre a harshness that at least some listeners find difficult to grasp is what predominates. Draeseke composed his Quintet for Piano, String Trio, and Horn op. 48 in the fall of 1888 during a phase of the greatest creative productivity, or, as Erich Roeder writes, »at the height of his instrumental music.« The special appeal of the quintet lies in its combination of instruments in which the horn joining the strings and the piano is employed with a reserve respecting the resonance and power of this instrument. Despite its major tonic key, the String Quintet op. 77 is of an entirely different character. More than ever all the themes are invented primarily in view of their potential for multifaceted contrapuntal use. Here Draeseke adopted a fundamentally polyphonic compositional stance that is often absolutely vocal in character and would go on to find its expression refraining from any sort of showy effects in the great a cappella compositions of his later years.