At 83, Austrian iconoclast HK Gruber shows no sign of losing his anarchic edge nor indeed his ability to entertain. This eclectic album includes his significant piano concerto, premiered by Emanuel Ax with the New York Philharmonic in 2017, and an absurdist potpourri extracted from his 2014 opera Tales from the Vienna Woods, both conducted by the composer himself.
Quintessentially Gruber, the 25-minute concerto opens in high anxiety, plunging into a twitchy, noirish landscape full of fragmented, Schoenbergian melodies before emerging into a blues-inflected daylight. This is music with ants in its pants, carried off in style by Frank Dupree whose jazz experience stands him in good stead here.
Based on Ödön von Horváth’s satire on the moral decay of the bourgeoisie in interwar Vienna, Gruber’s opera proves fertile ground for an extended symphonic suite. A brutal introduction channels Berg, before muted trumpet sings the melancholy Song from the Wachau. Elsewhere, we encounter splashy, splintered waltzes, chuntering foxtrots and even a beerhall burst of Johann Strauss. Catchy orchestrations bristle with invention, and the whole thing is rounded off with a remorseless Polka Infernale.
The Gallic-tinged Luftschlösser (Castles in the Air), a quirky cycle for solo piano, is an attractive makeweight.
