Nikolaus Harnoncourt

The 74th (and final) programme für Kenner und Liebhaber, on 24 and 25 Mai 1956, was devoted to performances of Bach's harpsichord concertos in D minor, E major, D major, and A major (BWV 1052-5), recordings of which made in November and December 1955, with the D minor Concerto recorded in April of 1956.

The orchestra included Rudolf Baumgartner (concertmaster), Alice Hamoncourt, Josef Lehnfeld, Paul Trimmel, Karl Trotzmüller, and Kurt Theiner (violins), Paul Angerer (viola), and Nikolaus Harnoncourt (cello), as well as other leading string players from Vienna. Erich Fiala conducted, which made matters difficult, since the string players had little confidence in his ability. Fiala had maintained friendly relations with famous conductors such as Karl Böhm and Clemens Krauss (from both of whom he actually took some lessons). He was not an experienced conductor, let alone a professional one, and his abilities were certainly not up to Viennese expectations. Ahlgrimm was painfully aware of the prejudice that already existed among the professional musical community against “early” instrument performance, and she was concerned that Fiala’s presence as conductor lent an unwelcome air of dilettantism. While she loyally applauded Fiala’s idealism in assembling (and funding) the orchestra and the collection, his insistence on conducting became a source of friction between them. Here is how Isolde Ahlgrimm officially described her husband’s and her efforts to achieve “authenticity,” a concept whose pitfalls she certainly understood:

It was not easy to find the necessary musicians for this orchestra. It is evident without further proof that such essential alterations to the instrument bring with them a change in performing technique, and as hardly any musician can earn his living exclusively through "old" music, a permanent change of technique was not an undertaking acceptable to every orchestral musician.Thanks to the idealism of a Viennese collector, Dr. Erich Fiala, a collection of faithfully restored instruments, corresponding to the strength of a small court Capelle, was available for the recording of all the chamber and orchestral works in the Philips Bach Cycle. No sacrifice was too great for Dr. Fiala to restore all the instruments in his collection to their original form and Baroque tone. Nor was this experiment carried out on undistinguished instruments. All the instruments in this orchestra are of the Amati family, or their pupils.On this account it bears the name The Amati Orchestra.

For the three double harpsichord concertos in C major (BWV 1061) and C minor (BWV 1062-3) Isolde Ahlgrimm was assisted once again by her reliable former student, Friederike Bretschneider. They worked so well together that it was sometimes difficult to tell who was playing what. The string instruments used by the Amati Orchestra, all from the Ahlgrimm-Fiala collection, were listed on the programme for the final Concert für Kenner una' Liebhaber:
- Violins: “Disciplina Amati” Cremona, 1680
- Gerolamo Amati Cremona, 1707
- Vincenzo Ruggieri Cremona, 1710
- Carlo Tononi Bologna, 1714
- Antonio Cappa Turin, 1601
- Anon. Cremona, 1680, (rep. by Gerolamo Amati, 1715)
- Viola: Antonio Amati Cremona 1595
- Cello: Francesco Ruggieri Cremona, 1680s
- Bass: Johann Joseph Stadlmann Wien 1700s
The recordings were made in the Palais Liechtenstein, close by the Fialas’ Strudlhofgasse apartment (the one occupied by the Americans after the war) in the ninth district, a beautiful venue that was mercifully free of outside noise. A set of photographs of the sessions was taken by the violinist Kurt Theiner, an avid photographer. Towards the end of Ahlgrimm’s own album, photos of the conductor appear with greater frequency, culminating in a picture of Fiala’s empty coat, suspended over his conductor’s chair with the baton placed symbolically in the sleeve. Perhaps this expresses the musicians’ assessment of his participation more eloquently than anything else. Despite any reservations that may have been felt about his conducting skills, the use of period instruments was entirely Fiala’s idea. He was an amateur, but an inspired one.

In his review of the re-issue of the Complete Works for Harpsichord for the Dutch magazine Luisler, Joop Schrier criticized the concerto recordings (which were unfortunately not re-issued along with the solo music) on the grounds that the tempi (which he was certain were Fiala’s rather than those of his wife) were too fast, and that the acoustic of the Palais Liechtenstein was over-reverberant.
The tempi (which were actually Ahlgrimm’s own) were fleet for their time, although they seem moderate by today’s more frenetic standards. More significantly, the string playing was light and articulate with no hint of the heaviness so common in Bach playing of that era. The performances sounded authentic in our modern understanding of the word-remarkably so for 1955. The middle movements of the double Concertos were fast, including the unaccompanied middle movement of BWV 1061 in C major. There was virtually no slowing down at the ends of the fast movements, which often hurtled to their conclusions as though Fiala was not quite sure how to end what he had begun, with cut-offs not always cleanly managed. The quality of string sound and the light articulation, though, were remarkable for their time, and they make it hard for the listener to believe the original performances date from 1955. The Concentus Musicus and the Leonhardt-Consort were defined by the sound of their Jacob Stainer violins. The short-lived Amati Orchestra had a similarly distinguished sound, although it never existed long enough to develop its own character.
Despite odd patches of imperfect ensemble, the sound and style of this group - and the old string instruments - still impress. It is easy to forget that, for musicians who were not playing these instruments on a full-time basis, the necessary adjustments were difficult to make and rehearsal time was, in all likelihood, limited. Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s presence is particularly interesting, especially in light of the much later recordings that he made of many of the same works with his own Concentus Musicus (founded in 1953, the year of his marriage to Alice Hoffelner) as well as his more recent work as an internationally famous conductor. The lack of any reference in his later career to Ahlgrimm and Fiala suggests a desire to disown these early efforts, or at least that he did not consider them important. Whether he enjoyed working with Ahlgrimm and Fiala is not clear. Nevertheless, these early performances marked the starting point, and showed great foresight by Ahlgrimm, Harnoncourt, and Fiala. These recordings were the first of their kind. Nikolaus Harnoncourt appeared on a total of four records, playing both Baroque cello and viola da gamba. He and Ahlgrimm then went their own separate ways, never to cross musical paths professionally again. When asked about her as late as 1990, Alice Harnoncourt expressed surprise that Isolde Ahlgrimm was even still alive, with no acknowledgement that they had ever had more than a passing association.
Ahlgrimm herself always acknowledged that the expertise of Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt, already considerable in 1955, played no small part in the overall success of her perfonnances. Their remarkably advanced knowledge of Baroque style is clearly discemable throughout. For these recordings, Isolde Ahlgrimm - writing for the first time under her name alone - provided a special note for the listener:

The respect that we give to the name Bach leads us rather easily to listen to all his works with equal seriousness, whether the work be the St. Matthew Passion or a harpsichord concerto. The former was indeed for sacred use, but the concertos were entertainment music. They might be played in the company of a music-loving prince, or in the coffee houses of Leipzig. A highly spiced roast boar with a glass of good red wine certainly makes a different basis for listening than “Stalls left, row l7, seat no. 20” in a modern concert hall! If we must wish in vain to have supper served with the concert one request need not remain unfulfilled. Hear these concertos merrily, among a circle of good friends. Even if a cheerful word or two may make you on occasion miss the counterpoint of a violin part (or a wrong note!), you will surely receive what Bach wished to give you: Pleasure.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt Isolde Ahlgrimm, Erich Fiala e l'Orchestra Amati