Dancing on a Volcano, a live recording from Ensemble Modern and HK Gruber, offers a vibrant and eclectic snapshot of musical Germany between 1920 and 1933. This album is a perfect example of the kind of music the Nazis couldn't abide: too modern, too jazzy, too Jewish. It comes as no surprise that all four featured composers—Hindemith, Korngold, Schoenberg, and Weill—ultimately wound up in the United States.
Hindemith's Kammermusik No. 1
Premiered in 1922, Hindemith's Kammermusik No. 1 was condemned by one critic as having 'a lewdness and frivolity only possible for a very special kind of composer.' Gruber embraces its neo-classical spikiness and jazz-age energy in a performance of almost cartoonish glee. The piece bursts with rhythmic vitality and sharp edges, capturing the rebellious spirit of the Weimar Republic.
Korngold's Much Ado About Nothing
Korngold, as epitomised by his 1920 music for Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, is Hindemith's polar opposite. In a lively reading, Gruber leavens the composer's Viennese neo-Romanticism with a pinch of acerbic wit. The result is a charming yet slightly sardonic take on Shakespeare's comedy, blending lush melodies with subtle irony.
Schoenberg's Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene
Schoenberg's Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, which premiered under Klemperer in 1930, is eight minutes of existential angst. Johannes Schöllhorn's lean-textured 1993 chamber version is mined for every dissonant colour. The piece evokes a sense of impending doom, with its atonal harmonies and fragmented gestures reflecting the anxieties of the era.
Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins
The jewel in the crown is Gruber and Christian Muthspiel's Kurt Weill Foundation-sanctioned arrangement of The Seven Deadly Sins. Wallis Giunta is more opera diva than Weimar chanteuse, but there's no shortage of bite in her voice, while Amarcord's male quartet kvetch and wheedle as her rapacious family. Gruber's razor-sharp yet flexible interpretation drips idiomatic venom, capturing the satirical edge of Weill's masterpiece.
This recording is a glorious technicolour snapshot of a vibrant but doomed musical culture, performed with energy, wit, and emotional depth. It serves as a powerful reminder of the artistic diversity that the Nazis sought to destroy.
