Day 83
24 March 2017: Brahms
– Symphony No. 2 (1877)
You might recall that
Johannes Brahms kicked off the Symphony A Day shenanigans back on 1 January
with his first symphony, one that he had agonised over for about 20 years. His
second was a far less stressful affair, written over the course of the summer following
the premiere of his first, and it really is a completely different beast. This
is a more reflective and tranquil work, although Brahms himself, jokingly,
considered it to be melancholic and tinged with sadness.
The opening movement
features a melody based on his famous Lullaby,
effectively as the second subject of a fairly loose sonata form. At over 20
minutes in length it is almost as long as the other three movements combined,
but its generally pastoral mood never allows it to drag. The slow movement that
follows features some of the darkest music Brahms ever wrote with trombones and
tuba prominent. A very lightweight scherzo leads into a joyous Allegro con spirito finale to round off
a delightful work, one which demonstrates his growing confidence as a
symphonist.
Day 84
25 March 2017: John
Joubert – Symphony No. 1 (1955)
South African-born
composer John Joubert celebrated his 90th birthday last Monday, so it's only
appropriate I should mark the occasion by giving one of his two symphonies a
blast. His first was written when he was just 28, by which time he had moved to
the UK and was lecturing in music at the University of Hull. His popular carols
Torches and There is No Rose of Such Virtue has already made his name as a
composer when he turned his mind to this symphony.
It is a very
accessible work, with the first and third movements in particular practically
bouncing with rhythmic vitality. The final movement contains some really lovely
music during its extended slow introduction, before eventually ending on a positive note. The work certainly has more in common with the more
conventional English composers of the time, than with the burgeoning avant
garde in Europe, but for an early work it shows a great amount of confidence
and no little skill.
Day 85
26 March 2017: Liszt –
A Faust Symphony (1857)
Predominantly known
for his often bewilderingly difficult piano music, Franz Liszt did also produce
two significant symphonies that tend to be rather overlooked. This one in
particular probably suffers from being just too big. At around an hour-and-a-quarter in length, it finds itself in the Mahler–Bruckner category of
symphonies that pretty much take up a whole programme. Add in the requirement
for a male chorus for the final movement and it really becomes a significant
undertaking, one which few concert programmers take the risk on. I believe it's
only ever been performed at the Proms once, for example. The choir in the
finale does mean, however, that it takes this week's Huge Choral Symphony
Sunday slot!
I really like this
piece, and along with Dvorak, Liszt is a composer that I've developed an increasing
admiration for as I've got older, for some reason. It could be argued that this
is actually three independent symphonic poems each based on characters in Faust (Faust himself, Gretchen,
and Mephistopheles) but they are
clearly thematically linked and do make a satisfying symphony. The recurring
motif across the piece is a theme that uses all twelve notes of the chromatic
scale, and is widely accepted to be the first instance of a tone row – although
clearly it wasn't put to the same atonal use as that developed by the New
Viennese School of Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg 60 years later. The appearance
of an organ for the finale was also quite novel for the time, and the concept
of using music to portray characters was something that hugely influenced his
future son-in-law – a certain Richard Wagner. All of which makes the relative
neglect of this symphony all the more baffling.
Day 86
27 March 2017: Mozart
– Symphony No. 25, 'Little G minor' (1773)
To be honest, most of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's early symphonies are fairly insignificant works, save
for the constant wonder of just how old he was when he wrote them. This, his
25th symphony, for example, was composed when he still only 17, starting work
on it just two days after completing No. 24. I think it's fair to say that this
is the first of Mozart's more well-known symphonies, with the first movement
becoming familiar to the world at large having been used over the opening
titles of Miloš Forman's film Amadeus.
It is known as the
'Little G minor' to distinguish it from his other G minor symphony, the
similarly famous No. 40. These are the only of his numbered symphonies to be
written in any minor key, and there are many learned articles on Mozart and his
affinity with the key of G minor. It instantly distinguishes the work from any
of its predecessors, and the effect of the syncopated first theme in this minor
key creates an unsettled mood, although this turns on a dime when the second
subject burst out in a blaze of B flat major. Throughout the work there a
passion indicative of the Strum und Drang
vogue of the time, which added an extra dimension to his work. In this
symphony, Mozart distinctly shifted up a gear as a composer and he would go on
to take the form into whole new areas.
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