Thérèse Malengreau - Apostel: Kubiniana, 60 Schemen & 10 Variationen (2019) [Official Digital Download]

The Belgian pianist Thérèse Malengreau has a particular interest in the relationship between music and the visual arts. With her first disc on BIS she offers us a rare opportunity to acquaint ourselves with the music of Hans Erich Apostel, banned as ‘degenerate’ by the Nazis in 1938, and a rarity in performance ever since. At the same time, her disc allows us insight into the interplay between composers and artists in other disciplines during the first decades of the twentieth century, in the context of movements such as Der Blaue Reiter, the arts magazine Der Sturm or the Vienna Workshop.

The three works here were inspired by artwork by Otto Kokoschka and Alfred Kubin, two of them appearing on disc for the first time. In his Op. 1, the Zehn Variationen, Apostel translates 10 drawings by Kokoschka into sounds - but as Malengreau suggests in her own liner notes, what the music describes is the varying degrees of expressivity and intensity of the drawings, rather than the images themselves. The closing work consists of 60 very brief sketches (less than 40 seconds on average), in which Apostel is reacting to Kubin’s drawings (caricatures rather than portraits) of nuns and witches, generals or huntsmen. Apostel completed Sechzig Schemen in 1948-49, but as early as 1945 it provided material for what is probably his best-known work: the ten pieces that make up the 15-minute long Kubiniana.

Tracklist:
1. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Thema. Andantino 01:28
2. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 1, Un poco mosso 02:33
3. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 2, Andante semplice 02:06
4. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 3, Vivace giocoso e lesto 01:12
5. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 4, Moderato, sostenuto e dolce 03:15
6. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 5, Marcia grave e tragico 04:26
7. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 6, Vivace 01:05
8. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 7, Allegro furioso 01:00
9. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 8, Allegro con fuoco 02:05
10. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1: Var. 9, Andante sostenuto 02:43
11. 10 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 1 Var. 10, Vivace furioso 01:39
12. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 1, Lento assai 02:23
13. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 2, Marcia moderato 01:07
14. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 3, Allegretto 00:35
15. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 4, Grave 01:31
16. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 5, Andante molto 01:02
17. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 6, Tempo di marcia 00:53
18. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 7, Allegro molto 01:00
19. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 8, Lento 02:29
20. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 9, Moderato 01:41
21. Kubiniana, Op. 13: No. 10, Andante molto 02:02
22. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 1, Lento - No. 2, Lento - No. 3, Maestoso - No. 4, Andante molto - Allegro - No. 5, Marcia - No. 6, Andante 03:33
23. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 7, Moderato - No. 8, Marcia moderato - No. 9, Allegro moderato - No. 10, Marcia vivace - No. 11, Moderato - No. 12, Allegro - No. 13, Lento 03:11
24. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 14, Mäßig - No. 15, Behäbiges Marschzeitmaß - No. 16, Grave, misterioso - No. 17, Marcia - No. 18, Allegro moderato - No. 19, Lento - No. 20, Bewegt - No. 21, Lento 04:29
25. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 22, Andante commodo - No. 23, Langsam - No. 24, Allegro moderato - No. 25, Allegro moderato - No. 26, Lento - No. 27, Sehr rhythmisch - No. 28, Allegro moderat o04:08
26. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 29, Andante molto - No. 30, Moderato - No. 31, Andante - No. 32, Lento - No. 33, Moderato - No. 34, Moderato - No. 35, Breit - No. 36, Valse lente 04:04
27. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 37, Moderato - No. 38, Adagio misterioso - No. 39, Andante - No. 40, Moderato - No. 41, — - No. 42, Allegro moderato - No. 43, Vivo 03:35
28. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 44, Molto lento - No. 45, Vivace - No. 46, Marcia - No. 47, Moderato - No. 48, Vivace - No. 49, Andante 02:02
29. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 50, Moderato - No. 51, Andante - No. 52, Tempo di menuetto - No. 53, Moderato 01:27
30. 60 Schemen nach Zeichnungen von A. Kubin, Op. 13a: No. 54, Andante - No. 55, — - No. 56, Marcia - No. 57, Maestoso - No. 58, Tempo di marcia - No. 59, Allegro vivace - No. 60, Lento0 4:27

Personnel:
Thérèse Malengreau, piano