Like his slightly younger compatriot Frank Martin, Othmar Schoeck enjoys the allegiance of the few rather than the acclaim of the many. The great Swiss composer is, with his Finnish contemporary Kilpinen, the last representative of the Lied after Wolf and has more than 400 to his credit—and what songs many of them are! The centenary of his birth this year has passed relatively unremarked, so far as the record world is concerned, though the BBC have broadcast a number of programmes devoted to him. The Cello Concerto is the only major work in the LP catalogue and he has no present listing on Compact Disc.
The Notturno is one of his finest and most important works, a setting of poems by Nikolaus Lenau for baritone and string quartet that occupied him between 1931-33, though as was the case in his other Lenau cycles, the Elegie, Op. 36, and the Nachhall, Op. 70, he ends the set with another poet—in this case Gottfried Keller. Ian Caddy commands a fine, well-focused tone and produces a well-controlled and finely shaped line though I would have welcomed a greater variety of colour and a wider dynamic range. One has only to compare him with Fischer-Dieskau (CBS 72687, 11/68—nla) at the beginning of the third poem, ''Der schwere Abend'' (fig. 50-57) to see how striking the difference in characterization is. The highly chromatic part-writing and angular melodic lines pose problems for the players not all of which are satisfactorily resolved. Mind you, the Bochmann Quartet are not helped by a forward, exposed balance which does not show them in the happiest light, but the sonority that they produce is not always so integrated or well-blended as some rival English groups, nor is it always distinguished by great tonal beauty. However, certain things come off well, such as the con sordino opening of the second movement.
Readers who have the old Fischer-Dieskau set with the Julliard Quartet need not make the change but collectors wanting this wonderful powerfully introspective score should note that there is no current alternative in the domestic catalogue.'