Andreas N. Tarkmann: Transcriptions: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Coviello Classics

Were Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-47) alive, he'd no doubt be delighted by the transcriptions Andreas N. Tarkmann has crafted of two of his works. The first is the seven-movement suite Songs without Words in an arrangement for oboe and string orchestra, the second the Double Concerto in D minor for violin, piano and string orchestra here recast for flute, harp, and string orchestra. With conductor Douglas Bostock helming the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, the recording features oboist Ramón Ortega Quero on the suite and flutist Anette Maiburg and harpist Emmanuel Ceysson on the concerto.

Tarkmann, born in Hanover in 1956, is well-qualified for the project. He initially trained as an oboist but more importantly has created arrangements of Mozart, Smetana, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, and Berg for a plethora of ensembles. A number of Tarkmann's arrangements have garnered awards, including the Echo Klassik for his late-‘90s wind ensemble version of Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream. Tarkmann's range is considerable too, as attested to by his reconstruction of Vivaldi clarinet concertos and a chamber version of Berg's Violin Concerto. Also an educator, author, and composer, Tarkmann received the ECHO Klassik prize in 2013 in the ‘Classical music for children' category for a recording of his own pieces.

His vision for the project couldn't have been realized without the involvement of esteemed collaborators. Quero is himself a two-time ECHO Award winner and since 2008 Principal Oboe of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Maiburg, awarded the ECHO Klassik for her Classica Cubana release, was a flutist with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Hagen and has done concert tours with a number of other orchestras. After performing for many years in the pit with the Opéra National de Paris and then the New York MET Opera Orchestra, the France-born Ceysson has been the new Los Angeles Philharmonic Harpist since September 2020. Based in Pforzheim and founded in 1950, the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra is a full-time chamber orchestra celebrated for its refined sound. Since its inception, the orchestra has produced over 300 recordings and has had British conductor Bostock as Artistic Director since the start of its 2019-20 season.

Tarkmann's arrangement of Songs without Words features the oboist prominently but doesn't treat the string orchestra as a passive partner. To that end, he ceded an elaborate role to the strings that involves counterpoint and cadenzas, the result a relationship between the two instrumental elements that's interactive and often conversational. From the forty-eight songs available, he selected seven that struck him as suiting the oboe's expressive qualities and technical aspects particularly well. While the number of parts is generous, the work itself is compact in design and lasts for approximately eighteen minutes. The result is, in a word, lovely, as testified to by the luscious blend of oboe and strings heard in the opening part. In contrast to its serenading tone, the second movement is exuberant and agitated but no less endearing. The thrust of the insistent, almost Beethoven-esque strings, provides a powerful impetus to the soloist, who responds in kind. The Romantic side of Mendelssohn's music comes fully to the fore in the fourth movement, an animated and lyrical expression marked “Allegretto con moto”; the plaintive fifth, by comparison, is melancholy, an emotion the oboe is perfect for giving voice to. The concluding part reinstates the breezy effervescence of the second to conclude the work on a note of high spirits.

Written by Mendelssohn when he was but fourteen years old, the Double Concerto in D minor for violin, piano and string orchestra is, at forty minutes, the release's dominant work. Emblematic of one created by a young composer, it's teeming with ideas and energy, yet it also exemplifies a preternatural maturity that would rapidly flower in the works thereafter. The idea of pairing Maiburg and Ceysson was natural, as the two have been performing as a duo for many years, and the transcriptions Tarkmann created for harp and flute that replace violin and piano are so masterfully handled, one could easily imagine Mendelssohn had composed the work with the former instrument pair in mind. More was involved, however, than simply transferring one set of solo parts for another when the technical and sound aspects of the two instrument pairs are so different, and consequently a number of passages had to be reworked by Tarkmann to make the work playable. Further to that, the role of the string orchestra has been expanded upon, making it, again, more of an interactive partner than mere support. As if to illustrate that, the strings appear alone for the opening section of the twenty-minute “Allegro”; when the soloists do join in, however, the three elements generate a collective tapestry that's wholly beguiling. Moments arise also where the flutist and harpist appear without strings, and the music is no less glorious when it's their two voices only. The call-and-response between Maiburg and Ceysson is arresting, as is their unison playing. Delicate, dignified, and peaceful, the “Adagio” that follows is sweetness incarnate, while the radiant "Allegro molto” concludes the work in a fireball of energy.

January 2025