The peculiar destiny of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was that of a composer who, like many at the outbreak of the First World War, was faced with the dilemma of deciding which side to take. His double identity - his father was German, his mother Venetian -, the type of upbringing he received, especially in Germany where he was a pupil of Josef Rheinberger, and his success in Italy as an Opera composer seem to point to a musical bilingualism. However, only the more italian side of it has survived to our days, trough his works Il segreto di Susanna, I gioielli della Madonna, I quattro Rusteghi. The success of his Operas might have had a role in overshadowing his instrumental works, carried out in the best German tradition of great constructive precision.
A contemporary of Schoenberg, Reger and Schrecker, Wolf-Ferrari is not easily placed in the historical period at the beginning of this century when expressionistic tendencies were taking shape, before atonality was truly established. His instrumental works, dating from the first years of the century (which include the Kammersymphonie op. 8 and the Quintet Op. 6 featured of this CD), show a certain disregard for the trends of those days, such as chromaticism and the gradual decrease of progressions, which were characteristic of post-romantic music. Wolf-Ferrari seems more interested in recovering other experiences, such as Strauss-like densities tempered by pauses and misterious holds and by a moderate use of syncopation, as the Trio N. 2 for bowed instruments and piano well demonstrates. His choice of tonality is likewise unpredictable; the selection of B flat in the Kammersymphonie, for instance, seems to have been dictated by functional reasons connected not only to the piano but to the other instruments, which sound better within tonal limits more suitable to their particular characteristics of timbre and extension.
It is practically a double quintet for strings and wind instruments with the piano moving between with elegance and liveliness and all instruments taking turns in performing solo passages. Exemplary from this point of view is the third movement, a Scherzo (vivace con spirito).
Still on the subject of choice of tonality, the Quintet Op. 6 features the unusual D flat Major, while the following Quartet Op. 24 is built upon a plain C Major. Indeed the choice of easy or difficult tonalities seems to reflect an inner need but is also still linked to a romantic approach to rendering moods and atmospheres which favoured the use of key-signature alterations and only occasionally recurred to chromaticism. Therefore the sullen first movement of the Quintet is followed by the serene Canzone and Capriccio which express the musical discourse with light rather than dark colours articulated virtually trough simplification of melody and rhythm. Wolf-Ferrari’s double nature stands then no more in neutral territory but within the boundaries of two great music cultures of which he partook with equal commitment.
Edward Neill