Braunfels, Walter

Braunfels, Walter – Sinfonia concertante Op.68 for solo violin, solo viola, two horns and string orchestra

(b. Frankfurt am Main, 19 December 1882 – d. Cologne, 19 March 1954)

for solo violin, solo viola, two horns and string orchestra

Preface
Braunfels’ Musik für Solovioline, Solobratsche, zwei Hörner und Streichorchester (Music for solo violin, solo viola, two horns and string orchestra), premiered in Hamburg under the direction of Eugen Jochum on 28 March 1947, received its final title Sinfonia concertante only after the composer’s death. The original, more neutral title “Musik”, which was used beyond the German-speaking world at the time the work was composed, represented a conscious distancing from the traditional formal canon. Nevertheless, similar to a concerto grosso, the virtuoso Sinfonia is a magnificent example of the composer’s late style and is written in a modern tonal language that transcends the boundaries of Romanticism in its own unique way. By concentrating the musical statement of the two horns on the essentials, the wind instruments emerge from the ensemble sound as a separate sound group, while the solo strings are well integrated into the string section but take on a leading role within it. In his review, Norbert Florian Schuck writes: ‘The composer’s imagination in terms of instrumentation is so inexhaustible that it is sometimes hard to believe how few players are actually involved here.’ Frithjof Haas, a former student of the composer, considers the slow third movement in particular to be ‘most typical of the composer’s personal style in its enchantingly romantic atmosphere’. The Badische Nachrichten (newspaper) wrote about a performance of the work in Karlsruhe conducted by Haas: ‘The most immediate effect undoubtedly comes from the atmospheric adagio, whose harmonic tensions unfold a delicate soundscape.’ Die Welt adds: ‘The slow movements express the transfigured pathos of a personality that withdraws into itself in the face of internal and external threats.’

The Sinfonia concertante was recorded for the first time on CD in 2018 for cpo by the Munich Radio Orchestra under Ulf Schirmer with soloists Henry Raudales (violin), Norbert Merkl (viola), Karl Reitmayer and Marc Ostertag (horn). In another release from 2019 on the British label Dutton Epoch with the BBC Concept Orchestra under Johannes Wildner, Ernst Kovacic (violin), Thomas Selditz (viola) and Tom Rumsby and Tim Thorpe (horn) perform.

PD, 2026

For performance material, please contact Edition Gravis, Brühl.

Vorwort deutsch lesen … > HERE