Brendel and Horton's rendition of Zemlinsky's lost masterpiece finds a warm welcome at Malvern

3 tracks - 26:01

I. Mit Leidenschaft
II Andante
III. Allegretto

Recorded in concert at the Malvern Festival Theatre on 31 January 2008

Cameras operated by Jo Coates, Simon Ings and Matthew Jolly
Recorded and Mastered by Eric James for URM Audio Ltd
Video editing by Jo Coates
Produced by Adrian Brendel
Assistant Producer - Matthew Jolly

We have the humorist and Z Cars theme writer Fritz Spiegl to thank for Alexander Zemlinsky's Cello Sonata. It is an extraordinarily beautiful piece, crucial to understanding Zemlinsky's development as a composer – and how it ever came to light is a shaggy dog story to rival anything from Spiegl's pen.

Never published, the Sonata was originally dedicated to Friedrich Buxbaum, cellist of the Rosé Quartet and principal cellist of the Vienna Hofoper under Mahler and his successors. Buxbaum's own successors were conscientious curators of their descendant's papers, but they were somewhat less careful with their toner cartidge: they sent Spiegl, a celebrated collector of obscure music, a photocopy of the mysterious manuscript, but Spiegl couldn't make head nor tail of it, and handed it to the pianist Peter Wallfisch, who couldn't make sense of it either. Twenty years later, Zemlinsky's biographer Antony Beaumont was contacted by Wallfisch's son Raphael. Beaumont finally put the pieces together, tracked down the original manuscript, and restored to the world one of the more heart-stopping pieces of the cello repertoire.

The story of Zemlinsky's Viennese upbringing reads like the synopsis of an ambitious literary novel: a Catholic father who converted to Judaism and became secretary of the Turkish-Israeli religious community; a mother from Sarajevo, offspring of a Sephardic father and a Muslim mother; two sisters, one of whom died in early infancy, the other destined to become Arnold Schoenberg’s wife. Alexander Zemlinsky studied the piano from a young age. He played the organ in his synagogue on holidays, and was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory in 1884, where he acquired a valuable ally in Johannes Brahms. Chamber music features prominently in his early output, though by the turn of the century he had effectively abandoned the genre.

Because he never abandoned tonality, Zemlinsky's works were often deemed old-fashioned. Nonetheless, according to pianist Daniel Wiser, "the sonata is a truly powerful work, with its dark texture, solemn mood, chromatic intricacy, and modulations to surprising and remote keys."

Ethan Ames, 2008

Adrian Brendel has been Music Director of Music at Plush since 1995. His commitment to chamber music has led to projects with Lisa Batiashvili, Imogen Cooper, Till Fellner and Paul Lewis, among others. Solo appearances this year include Schumann’s Cello Concerto in Vienna’s Konzerthaus, performances at the Verbier and Schleswig-Holstein festivals, and recital and trio tours around Europe. He has commissioned a work from Sir Harrison Birtwistle to premiere at the Cheltenham festival in 2009. Adrian divides his time between Plush, London and Berlin and is Artistic Director of music label Plushmusic.

In 1995 Tim Horton was asked to replace Alfred Brendel at short notice to give two performances of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto with the CBSO and Sir Simon Rattle. Tim's career has seen his career grow from strength to strength ever since. He has performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony and Trondheim Symphony orchestras and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. He is also the pianist in Ensemble 360, a chamber group that was formed in 2005 to take over from the Lindsays as resident ensemble at the Crucible, Sheffield. (Their CDs of Mozart and Spohr are available on ASV Sanctuary.) Chamber music is central to Tim’s musical activities. In partnership with Adrian Brendel, he has given concerts in Italy, Germany and at the Wigmore Hall, London, and the pair have also performed extensively throughout Spain.