Bernd Zimmermann

[Ed Presson]

Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Symphony in One Movement; Old Dances for Small
Orchestra; Concerto for String Orchestra; Music for King Abu's Dinner. WDR
Symphony Orchestra Koln conducted by Per Hirsch.
Wergo 7340.

I had never heard of this composer, but reviews in the Jan/Feb issues of The
American Record Guide and Fanfare caught my attention. I listened to a
re-worked version of the symphony on YouTube and found it interesting. For
once, I agree with both reviews. The four compositions on the CD are quite
different from each other, but all are compelling.

The 18-minute symphony certainly does not seem to adhere to any familiar
model of symphonic development, but it creates a compelling sound world all
its own. The conductor uses the original version of the symphony that he
finds more successful and individual than the 15-minute re-composition the
composer prepared after a less-than-successful premiere. It's odd, but not
hard to listen to unless you are looking for a normal structure. It is,
perhaps, some sort of intense stream-of-consciousness. For me, it works:
I like it.

The King Abu piece must have been a slap in the face to adherent of
"mid-century modern" music at the time. The piece consists almost entirely
of excerpts of other music from just about any genre you might name,
starting with Zimmermann's own music, that Boris Blacher and dozens of
others "quotes," some easily recognizable, other snippets are so short that
the listener hardly has time to identify them. As inane as this might
sound, the piece (also about 18 minutes) does work over its span. I cannot
understand quite why, but it has its own "logic."

The five old dances come from 16th and 17th Century masters according to the
composer. One might expect an equivalent to Respighi's Ancient Airs and
Dances, but Zimmermann has surprises in store. At moments, the small
orchestra is made to sound like an "original instruments" performance, only
to spin off course with "modern" sarcastic comments from the orchestra, then
revert to a modern, conventional orchestration, the spin off into a Spike
Jones imitation. It's fun, and like the other works above, it manages to be
interesting on the third hearing, and that's better than a lot of new music.

The Concerto for String Orchestra is the only conventional piece here. An
Austrian Bartok might have written it when he was young, and it's less
individual than the other three works.

Perhaps for special tastes, but it suits mine this week. YMMV.

Ed Presson