Would i be correct in saying Tor Aulin is an unsung composer? I would like to know what qualifies? lol
I know he must be underrated because i can only find a limited amount of recordings by him. I find this absolutely extraordinary.
I am currently exploring his 3rd Violin Concerto and i can compare it to any of the mainstream culprits. Looking through the catalogue we have 100's of interpretations of Brahms, Beethoven, Sibelius...
But i struggle to find a handful interpretations of Tor Aulin's 3rd or any other work by him.
Btw his slow movement is some of the best music i have heard
Aulin is definitely unsung. Please continue!
A quick scan on Amazon gives you a recording on Sterling and a couple on CPO. I like the Sterling rrecording.
Perhaps you could tell us about him....
On IMSLP the 3rd concerto seems to have 5 recordings of whole and different parts.
The 2nd violin concerto sounds great too. A beautiful piece of work.
Thanks for bringing this composer to our attention.
Aulin was a (by all accounts) outstanding violinist first and foremost, but also a distinguished conductor and composer. Not surprisingly, most of his compositions involve the violin. There are, in effect, 3 concertos, the first being in one movement and more usually listed as Konzertstuck, Op. 7. There are a few purely orchestral suites. The rest of his output seems to be chamber music (mostly for violin and piano, but there is also a string quartet) + a few songs and solo piano, or piano 4 hands, pieces.
The 3 violin concertos https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/tor-aulin-violinkonzerte-nr-1-3/hnum/3097669
Master Olof suite etc. https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Tor-Aulin-1866-1914-Musik-zu-Strindbergs-M%E4ster-Olof-op-22/hnum/1389801
I wasn't aware he composed a string quartet- has it been recorded?
Aulin was a close friend of the composer and Swedish pianist Wilhelm Stenhammar. Stenhammar often toured with the Aulin String Quartet and wrote several of his string quartets for that ensemble which premiered them. I do not know if he wrote a complete quartet, but he did write a piece for the genre entitled Vaggvisa. It was recorded by the Kjellstrom Quartet on a Caprice CD 21505. His sister Valborg wrote two mediocre string quartets also recorded on that cd.
I tried to paste a picture of the Aulin Quartet with Stenhammar but was unable to do so. Here is the link in case you want to see it.
http://www.editionsilvertrust.com/stenhammar-string-quartet-1.htm
(http://www.editionsilvertrust.com/images/stenhammar-w-Aulinqt.gif)
Your wish is my command...
I've heard his sister's 2 string quartets. (The first, especially, is often on "Through the Night", originally from Swedish Radio.) They're quite on the level of quite a few works we discuss here that are rarely insulted with the label "mediocre", imho, though like hers they are - admittedly - not at all on the level of Beethoven's late quartets. So goes, though :)
The Aulin Quartet + Stenhammar, as I think I've mentioned, once played a work by a composer we've discussed often (that terrific Grand Quintet in A minor Op.107, specifically*) according iirc to a diary entry or letter by Stenhammar, I can't remember which offhand... (how I wish they'd recorded it, in however cut and compressed a form as early recordings demanded ... I'd love to hear how they took the opening of the finale, say, and - well, quite a few things.)
*Even though it's an early work by Raff, between his first and second symphonies, it's among my very favorite works of his. (Brioso e patetico (passionately) indeed!)
Tor Aulin's Violin Sonata Op12 is, IMHO, one of the most attractive of Scandinavian violin sonatas. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M2B01P9?pf_rd_r=VTR67K0FCA79TR1E74TR&pf_rd_p=f20e70b1-67f9-48d1-8c78-ba616030b420 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M2B01P9?pf_rd_r=VTR67K0FCA79TR1E74TR&pf_rd_p=f20e70b1-67f9-48d1-8c78-ba616030b420). Could the mention of a string quartet here possibly be a confusion with that by Algot Haquinius, which is also included on the CD? However, Aulin's Op1, an unpublished Serenade in 4 movements, IS for string quartet! http://www.swedishmusicalheritage.com/composers/aulin-tor/SMH-W946-Serenade (http://www.swedishmusicalheritage.com/composers/aulin-tor/SMH-W946-Serenade)
Eric countered Santo's bold statement very diplomatically, but I must protest vehemently: both of Valborg Aulin's quartets combine excellent craftsmanship with inspired material. They are memorable and surprise me anew every time I listen to them.
I don't know the recording by the Kjellstrom Quartet but the one done by the Tale Quartet for Musica Sveciae is impeccable.
QuoteHowever, Aulin's Op1, an unpublished Serenade in 4 movements, IS for string quartet! http://www.swedishmusicalheritage.com/composers/aulin-tor/SMH-W946-Serenade
Apologies. It
was the Op. 1 Serenade I was thinking of when I wrote that Aulin had composed a string quartet.
Let me know whether you still think they are so great after you and your fellow quarteters have played through them. I'd be surprised if you thought so. I've played through both twice with two different groups, separated by a year or two and in each case the verdict was that these quartets were nothing special. Don't get me wrong, they are not bad works but hardly outstanding. Just for starters, compare them to quartets of her near contemporary and countryman, Wilhelm Stenhammar and how many of his are getting concert performance outside of Sweden?
Here is a review of these quartets from the soon to be available Guide to the String Quartet Literature.
String Quartet No.1 in F Major dates from 1884. The somewhat lengthy first movement, Allegro con grazia is both lyrical and romantic. The second movement, Intermezzo, Allegro con spirito e capriccioso, is a very original sounding scherzo although the themes are not particularly memorable. The Andante espressivo though attractive, also seems to suffer from themes which are not particularly striking. The finale, Allegro vivace, is full of giocoso sawing. The part-writing is good, but the thematic material does not justify the energy spent on it. It is a decent work but the pedestrian nature of the thematic material prevents the music from embedding itself into the memory.
String Quartet No.2 in e minor dates from 1889. The exciting opening Allegro appassionato is quite powerful and effective. It is better focused than any of the movements of the prior work. A dark and elegiac Andante con moto follows but the emotional content of the themes does not justify its great length. The Allegro con spirito and Trio alla burla is a more interesting movement. The trio, much of it played in the lower registers, is especially striking and forward-looking tonally. In the finale Presto, Aulin has at last chosen a fetching melody which gives the movement real memorability. This work though much better than No.1 still is not strong enough to justify concert performance with so many more deserving quartets already standing line to get a hearing which may, unfortunately never come. If all four movements were as fine as the last one, the verdict would be different. Nonetheless, it can be recommended to amateurs.
And Eric, any comparison to Late Beethoven is specious. Who else do you want to compare to Late Beethoven? The real question is do these works deserve to revived and programmed in the concert hall and more importantly recommended to amateur quarteters who are the people keeping this music alive. Unlike symphonic and operatic music, the great bulk of chamber music concert goers as well as chamber music cd purchasers are themselves chamber music players.
I suspect that there is a performers' point of view and a listeners' point of view - which may not coincide.
If contributors wish to post about Valborg Aulin, please see this new thread:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,7673.msg80304.html#new (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,7673.msg80304.html#new)
Quotethe great bulk of chamber music concert goers as well as chamber music cd purchasers are themselves chamber music players
Really, Santo? Is there any proof of that?
Well, anecdotal proof perhaps. I ran a fairly large chamber music series in Chicago for 25 years and most of our audience which averaged 200-300 per concert, eight concerts per year were chamber music players. And I personally knew most of the audience from playing with them or knowing who they played with. Not everyone, of course, but certainly a great many people played.
And I ran another series, somewhat smaller in Syracuse New York back in the mid 1970s average attendance 100-150, most were either amateurs or students from from the music school.
Ask around Mark, maybe not at Wigmore Hall, but other venues and I think you will find that what I said is basically true. It was when I was a student at Oxford and actually performed regularly in a chamber music series there.
I was very familiar with the people running two series one in Munich, one in Salzburg and was pretty sure the audiences were mostly players. But as I said it is anecdotal.
But I can say, I think without fear of contradiction that most people who go to the opera are not amateur singers and most people who go to hear symphonic music probably are not playing in amateur orchestras...
Thanks Santo, that's interesting. I can see the strength of anecdotal evidence as far as audiences are concerned, but I do wonder about extending that to buyers of chamber music recordings.
I'm sceptical. I don't know any chamber music players - only those who buy chamber music recordings.
Well Mark and Alan, you could be right about cd purchases, certainly with regard to the quartets of the famous like Haydn, Mozart Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms. Dvorak, Bartok, Shostakovich and so on. But I'm not so sure about quartets by more obscure composers like those we discuss here. I still think mostly players buy the cds of lesser known composers with a view to hearing whether they want to obtain the sheet music.
Consider this, from the very beginning, Haydn's time on, chamber music was intended for players, amateurs to play at home. Home music making was the an important entertainment medium before the advent of such things as radio and television. Professional quartets and piano trios, not to mention symphony orchestras, only really started to exist in the early 19th century. And even then, when you read reports of chamber music concerts in the palais of the Lobkowitzes and others, for example, by such people as Zmeskal, Beethoven's friend, supporter and himself an amateur player and composer, it is pretty clear that most in attendance did play.
Before the rise of any middle class, it was the aristos who regularly played a string instrument or the piano. Then, with the rise of the middle classes in Germany, Austria and to a lesser extent elsewhere, it became de rigueur for children to be given music lessons, growing up to amuse themselves with home music making.
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven et. al.---their symphonies, concerti and opera were their public music which made their name and paid their bills. But they saved their best, their most intimate musical thoughts and ideas for chamber music in which they themselves often took part. I would have paid a lot to have heard the quartet consisting of Dittersdorf on first violin, Haydn on second, Mozart on viola and Vanhal on cello. I envy that lucky Irish tenor Michael Kelly who got to hear them...
There are very few composers who made their name solely on the basis of their chamber music, Boccherini and Onslow, and how well-known is he, come to mind but composers most had to write operas or symphonies to get traction...how well known would Mozart have been and would be if he had only written string quartets?
Actually, it's safe to say Mendelssohn's quartets sell less well than Borodin's. Which composer is more famous?
Borodin No.2 Yes. No.1 No. Few know of No.1 and only find it if the cd bundles it with No.2...for the famous Kiss Me Kate slow movement....
But as you moderators usually correctly remind us, we are a long way from Tor Aulin.
From the Swedish Musical Heritage Foundation
Tor Bernhard Wilhelm Aulin was born on 10 September 1866 in Stockholm and died in the nearby coastal resort of Saltsjöbaden on 1 March 1914. He was the most prominent violinist of his time in Sweden, one of the foremost conductors and a champion of chamber music. His oeuvre contains three concertante works for violin and orchestra, incidental music, songs and chamber music. In 1887 he formed the Aulin Quartet. Between 1889 and 1902 he was concert master for the Royal Court Orchestra, after which he formed and led numerous ensembles, including the Swedish Musicians' Society Orchestra (1900), the Stockholm Concert Society (1902−09), the orchestra of the Royal Dramatic Theatre (1907–09) and the Southern Sweden Philharmonic Society (1907−08). He was conductor of the Gothenburg Orchestra Society from 1909 to 1911 and became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1895.
He wrote, according to them, one work for string quartet, his Op.1 Serenade described as follows.
Serenade
opus 1
1. Prelude: Allegro Moderato
2. Theme with Variations: Andante sostenuto
3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
4. Finale: Allegro brillant
Year of composition: Berlin-Düsseldorf 1895
Dedication: Dedicated to Skoglar Bergström
Location for score and part material
Copy of score and parts at Sveriges Radios Musikbibliotek (no. 31489)
Location autograph: Musik- och teaterbiblioteket
The string quartet was a form that Aulin knew very well from his experience with the Aulin Quartet, formed in 1887. The quartet's programming was ambitious, not only in individual concerts, but also in terms of
a whole year's planning, which could feature a specific composer, such as Beethoven or Berwald. Any influence of this tradition can scarcely be felt in Aulin's only contribution to the string quartet repertoire
Although entitled Serenade, Aulin chose a four-movement form, with a fast initial movement, a slow variation movement, a scherzo, together with a quick finale.
The first movement, in F Major, entitled Prelude, has the first violin as the central focus. The variation movement, in D minor, allows the melancholy theme to wander between the instruments, with the theme's presentation in the first violin, and the faster moving first variation having it placed in the secondary voice. The second variation presents a subtle, tightly-woven texture, where the cello now carries the theme, and the third variation, where the viola's theme is set against the other parts' light sixteenth notes, leading eventually to a major-key variation in adagio tempo. The scherzo in A minor contains elements reminiscent of the lightning agility found in Mendelssohn's string writing, and is interrupted by a trio, Più tranquillo. Strong fluctuations in both tempo and dynamics entail that a tension-filled drama emerges, that can often be found in Aulin's more ambitious compositions. The concluding Allegro brillant has a main theme, reminiscent of the first movement's character, but now with a more verveful approach. Again, there is a contrasting idea, Maestoso but, as previously, these two opposing elements are transformed into more melodious material. In this movement the virtuosity is more evenly distributed, not least through the energetic sixteenth-note passages in all of the parts. The work is dedicated to Skoglar Bergström ("my old friend and 'quartet- brother'", as Aulin writes in the dedication), who worked at the National Library and was a member of the Mazer Quartet Society. Although the first part has its difficulties, it is well-suited for the instruments and the quartet may very well have been adapted for the society's most skilled amateurs, and not only for its professional members.