Adolf Bernhard Marx: Mose (1841)

[mikehopf]

Yet another Moses following rather boring Rubinstein and  better Bruch versions.

Saturday night on DR Kultur:

Opernbühne: Großer Saal, Gewandhaus Leipzig
Aufzeichnung vom 09.11.2019

Adolph Bernhard Marx ,,Mose",
Oratorium aus der Heiligen Schrift für Soli, Chor und Orchester
Königin – Johanna Knauth, Sopran
Mirjam – Julia Sophie Wagner, Sopran
Mutter des Pharao – Henriette Gödde, Alt
Mose – Daniel Ochoa, Bariton
Aaron – Felix Schwandtke, Bass
Pharao – Tobias Hunger, Tenor
weitere männliche Rollen – Florian Sievers, Tenor,
Tobias Ay, Bariton

GewandhausChor
camerata lipsiensis
Leitung: Gregor Meyer (2 hrs., 25 min.)

[Alan Howe]

On the composer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Bernhard_Marx

Quote: 
...when Marx asked Mendelssohn to perform his Moses in 1841 in Leipzig, Mendelssohn refused because of its poor quality.

[edurban]

 

[mikehopf]

Raff called it " a music drama in evening dress".  His only adverse criticism was" the choice of the name oratorio" which he said should have been a "musical-dramatic poem" Liszt who conducted it at Weimar in 1853 also liked it, as did I.

[Mark Thomas]

A recording of the broadcast is available now in our Downloads Board here. The performance will eventually be released on CD apparently (by cpo I assume, as part of their 19th century oratorio series), and so this off-air dub will be deleted when that is announced.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Mark.

My first reaction is how old-fashioned and 'samey' the piece sounds. But I must persist...

[Alan Howe]

The recording is now forthcoming from cpo:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/adolph-bernhard-marx-moses/hnum/9254298

[Alan Howe]

Those interested can also listen to this monumental bore here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agt4R49Frpc

[eschiss1]

Wrote an interesting-looking piano sonata in E minor, though...

[Alan Howe]

I'm sure he must have written some good music. I think the lesson, though, is that larger-scale projects may result in overreach in some composers.

[ewk]

Currently There is a podcast (1 hour) available in German on Deutschlandfunk  Kultur about the work with parts of the oratorio and some comments by the conductor of the performance.  They mentioned Wagner was very interested in the piece while Schumann found it terrible, as many here seem to agree.

Should be available here: https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/chormusik.1093.de.html?drbm:date=2021-01-13

[Alan Howe]

I finally decided to buy this set - and, while it's hardly choc full of memorable melody, it's not the white elephant that is, say, Rubinstein's Moses. The main reason for this is that Marx's oratorio has genuine dramatic power, with particularly varied and powerful choral writing. In short, it's much more attractive than I had thought - it's certainly not the monumental bore that I had expected from descriptions of it.

[Alan Howe]

... Mendelssohn's Elijah has the tunes; Marx's Mose has the drama. A crude comparison, but try the Marx and you'll see what I mean. Oh, and by the way, it's superbly played and sung here. The choir is heroic!