As a composer, Reznicek is all over the place. A conservative at heart, he was too smart, too decadent, too disillusioned, and too facile to develop a recognizably personal style. He could sound like anyone from Schumann to Richard Strauss, and often a jumble of them both–plus several others. He was phenomenally talented, with a firm grip on the stylistics of nineteenth-century German classical music. Take Goldpirol, subtitled Idyllische Overtüre. All the usual pastoral clichés are firmly in place: the chirpy woodwinds, breezy rhythms, and euphonious harmony. What the music isn’t, is memorable. It’s all gesture, no substance.
So it is with “Wie Till Eulenspiegel Lebte,” a tone poem subtitled “Symphonic interlude in the form of an overture.” Now really, what does that mean? OK, it was originally composed in connection with Reznicek’s folk opera on the same subject, but does that knowledge help us? Richard Strauss called his Till Eulenspiegel a symphonic poem in rondeau (French spelling) form, and that’s more or less exactly what it is. Once again we hear a richly gestural music, full of “stuff” happening, but of Strauss’ wit, audacity, and orchestral wizardry there’s nary a trace. Though composed later than the Strauss, it sounds much earlier.
The Konzertstück for Violin and Orchestra sounds earlier still–it tries to be pretty and charming but winds up sounding rather dull despite attractive solo work from Sophe Jaffé, while the Nachstück for Violin, Horns, Harp and Strings is fluff. The best work on the disc, to my ears anyway, is the Prelude and Fugue in C minor, perhaps because it never tries to be anything other than what it is, and this permits Reznicek to focus his full talents simply on writing a good, serious piece of music. The performances all sound expert, the playing of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marcus Bosch confident and committed. I just wished I found the music itself more impressive. Reznicek was obviously trying so hard to be something–just what, though, is anyone’s guess.