Alexander Goehr - Capriccio

Capriccio, op. 6 (1957)

Stephen Pruslin, piano

The Capriccio dates from 1957 and is written frankly in the post-Webern idiom that was then such a dominant mode of expression. At this distance in time, the work transcends mere historicity by virtue of the powerful aural and intellectual control with which the idiom is spoken. Webern may be the music's nearest ancestor, but unlike so many post-war composers, who concerned themselves principally with the surface of Webern's music. Goehr hears his predecessor as a descendant of the classical Austro-German sonata tradition, albeit as the most exotic flower on its remotest branch.

The perceptive listener will hear in the Capriccio more than a vestige of sonata structuring: a series of introductory statements, separated by fermatas; an exposition proper, even incorporating the sense of two ideas (here also expressed as two tempi); a 'developmental' central section; a recapitulation by inversion and a coda, which circles back via a 'first ending' to a complete da capo, allowing us to corroborate all these impressions. A 'second ending' leads to a brief conclusion, but the final fade on the trill that opened and re-opened the work carries a strong suggestion that the music could continue to re-cycle senza fine. --Stephen Pruslin

Art by Neil Jenney