That's right: Schlemihl, the Yiddish name for the poor schnook for whom nothing ever goes right. That's right: Raskolnikoff, the idealistic murderer from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Apparently, there was something more to Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek than merely having composed the Overture to Donna Diana, the theme for the radio and television show Sgt. Preston of the Royal Mounted Police.
But not much more: in these recordings by
Michail Jurowski and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln of Schlemihl and Raskolnikoff, Reznicek comes off as a pompous, pretentious, long-winded loudmouth. The humor in Schlemihl is broad to the point of parody. Indeed, Reznicek's point is parody: Schlemihl is filled with quotations, parodies, and ironies but utterly without wit, cogency, or compassion. Even at the
Jurowski and the WDR's glorious noise in the apotheosis of the 45-minute work, Schlemihl still sounds like a schmuck.
And Raskolnikoff is worse if only because Reznicek is being serious. Which is to say that instead of parodying by means of quotations from another composer, Reznicek parodies by lifting the style of another composer. He's serious when he writes bathetic, bombastic music; or pathetic, sentimental music; or writes banal, brutal music because it all sounds like third-rate Tchaikovsky with a dash of decadence.
Jurowski and the WDR do all that can be expected of them: they perform unpalatable music with professionalism. CPO's sound is cool and clear even when the music is thick and opaque.