The songs of Robert Kahn: Florian Störtz & Aleksandra Myslek reveal some of the gems to be found in the output of a relatively forgotten composer forced into exile by the Nazis

Robert Kahn

Robert Kahn, Robert Schumann, Erich Korngold, Paul Hindemith; Florian Störtz, Aleksandra Myslek; City Music Foundation at Tallow Chandlers’ Hall
Reviewed 16 December 2024

Forbidden by the Nazis and forced to feel to England in his 70s, the music of Robert Kahn has remained somewhat undervalued and here we were treated to a rich exploration of his song output alongside music of his contemporaries and influences

I have been aware of Robert Kahn and his music for some considerable time as I became friends with one of Kahn’s great-grandchildren in the 1990s. But Kahn’s music has remained somewhat elusive in performance. Kahn (1865-1951) was highly influenced by the music of Robert Schumann and friendship with Johannes Brahms in the 1880s also had a significant effect on his music. Kahn trained with Clara Schumann’s half-brother and with Josef Rheinberger. He was also a distinguished lieder accompanist, his music perhaps somewhat conservative when compared to his colleagues. 

His Jewishness led to problems, however; Kahn and his wife fled to England in the 1930s and he died in Biddenden in Kent in 1951. You can read more about Kahn in Norbert Meyn’s article on the Royal College of Music’s website, whilst the Robert Kahn website provides lots of information and a list of works

The good news is that London-based German bass-baritone Florian Störtz and pianist Aleksandra Myslek are planning to record a goodly selection of Kahn’s songs. At their City Music Foundation lunchtime recital on Monday 16 December 2024 at the Tallow Chandlers’ Hall, Störtz and Myslek performed a selection of Robert Kahn’s songs alongside those of Robert Schumann and Kahn’s contemporaries, Erich Korngold and Paul Hindemith.

Florian Störtz sang throughout the recital with lovely vibrant tone, allied to a sense of long lines and fine words that meant that he would be compelling, even if reciting the proverbial laundry list. But this was a recital of fine, albeit neglected song, and Störtz and Myslek’s programme made a strong case for the recalibration of Kahn’s work. Unlike many of the composers whose work was proscribed by the Nazis, Kahn’s music does not aim to break new boundaries. His songs are all beautifully constructed and intelligently thought out, the harmonic language hovering just in the 20th century. There were moments when we might have been listening to Schumann but at other times I was reminded of early Richard Strauss.

We began with Robert Schumann, an account of Stille Tränen from the Kerner Lieder that made the words really glow, this was sung poetry indeed.

Robert Kahn’s songs began with a group consisting of Es war der Tag der weissen Chrysanthemem, Das Glück, Am Schlehdom,Der Liebe Macht, and Scheuche doch mit deinem Pfeile. I don’t have access to a complete list of Kahn’s music, but judging from the opus numbers, the songs were heard all date from the first 20 years of the 20th century., a period when Kahn was working with distinguished singers as an accompanist too. And looking at Kahn’s work list, it seems that after the 1920s he wrote far fewer songs, though it would be interesting to hear the few late examples.

There were no translations at the concert, which was a trifle frustrating. In this group, Kahn’s style moved from the lyrically Schumannesque, to vividly fast quasi-Richard Strauss, to characterful story telling, an impulsive yet very 20th-century waltz and more perky character in the manner of Richard Strauss.

The second group of Kahn songs began with a powerful and substantial setting of Nänie which proved to be more of a large-scale response to Schiller’s poetry than a compact lied, and gave a hint of Kahn’s abilities as a dramatic composer. Finally in this group, the lyrically flowing Sehnsucht and then O weht night which ended this group on a distinctly stormy and very 20th century note.

We moved to Korngold next for the third of his Vier Lieder des Abschieds, here Korngold combined rich, almost lush harmonies with a slow serious manner and a vocal line that had distinctly 20th century inflections. The century was far more noticeable in Paul Hindemith’s Drei Hymnen, three settings of Walt Whitman’s poetry in translation. The first seem to evoke Kurt Weill in his more serious Berlin period, whilst the second was lyrical yet spare with remarkably little piano and the third, seeing ‘Beat, Beat, Drums!’ proved to be a vivid yet certainly not simplistic march that combined a full piano part with a real exploration of the words.

Kahn’s Nachtlied came next, lyrical, Schumannesque music were the night was distinctly warm. Schumann’s own Mein wagen rollet langsam proved to be an intriguing song that the composer originally wrote for Dichterliebe but dropped. This was followed by an engaging account of In der Fremde from Liederkreis, Op. 39.

The two final Kahn songs were Uber den Bergen and Wo? The first melodically memorable, yet serious and thoughtful, the second, rather serious with a striking piano accompaniment.

Finally we heard Korngold’s Unvergänglichkeit, a gently Autumnal piece full of melancholy. As an encore Störtz and Myslek ended on a seasonal note with Kahn’s version of the Christmas tradition, Josef lieber,, Josef mein.