Day 115
25 April 2017:
Bruckner – Symphony No.3 (1873)
Anton Bruckner was a
very deferential chap. He idolised Wagner, who was only nine years older than
him and ought reasonably to have been viewed as a contemporary equal. When
Bruckner had completed this work, he took it and his second symphony with him
to pay Wagner a visit, ostensibly to enquire which of them Wagner might like to
have dedicated to him. So nervous was he at meeting his hero that he apparently
forgot which one Wagner selected, and had to write to him a few days later to
check.
Most of Bruckner's
symphonies were revised as a result of his crippling self-doubt, but even by
his standards the six versions of this piece that exist demonstrate just how
susceptible to the red pen he was. The most frequently performed version is the
final revision of 1889, and many now regard the work as the first of his great
masterpieces. The original version was very poorly received, however. Bruckner
was forced by circumstances to conduct it himself – badly – and that almost
certainly gave rise to the many subsequent edits. Among the sections to go were
quotes from Wagner's operas Tristan and
Isolde and Die Walküre; another
reason why this work is often referred to as the 'Wagner Symphony'. Bruckner
clearly has a style, one some might say he stuck to rather too rigidly, but it
found its first manifestation in this symphony. The classic Brucknerian opening
of music emerging gradually from the mists, the epic slow movement, the quick
triple-time scherzo with contrasting trio, and the brass-heavy finale – all the
component parts are there. Having arrived at a satisfactory structure with his
second symphony, he allied it with inspired creativity in this piece to finally
create a great symphony.
Day 116
26 April 2017:
Pettersson – Symphony No.7 (1967)
Swedish composer Allan
Pettersson was already in mid-fifties and in very poor health when he finally
achieved international recognition with his seventh symphony. Whilst
undoubtedly a great work, it's unclear why this symphony suddenly propelled him
into the limelight. His oeuvre was largely unknown outside Scandinavia, however
within a couple of decades of its composition, his Symphony No.7 had been recorded by four different orchestras, and
triggered an international interest in his subsequent output.
In common with many of
his symphonies, it is a single-movement work, and although it is approximately
45 minutes of unbroken intensity, it is by no means the longest. It's an
unrelentingly dark and tense work, indeed Jean Christensen, in his book New Music of the Nordic Countries, makes
an interesting comparison, saying Petterson's music is 'the musical equivalent
of Ingmar Bergman's serious movies.' I discovered this symphony only very
recently and think it is a quite magnificent. His use of ostinati and pedal notes sustained for unfeasibly long durations
ramp up the tension to at times unbearable levels. It's not for people who
listen to classical music for relaxation, but it is a bona fide masterpiece.
Day 117
27 April 2017: Saint-Saëns
– Symphony No. 1 in E flat major (1853)
Camille Saint-Saëns
was something of a child genius, and this really is quite an assured work when
you consider that he was only 18 years old when he wrote it. Saint-Saëns did
actually compose an un-numbered symphony at the age of 15, to which no opus
number was given. And while it's clearly a prodigious achievement for one so
young, it is terribly derivative of Beethoven and Mendelssohn and I've bypassed
it for that precise reason.
It would have been impossible
for any composer writing in the middle of the 19th century to have produced
anything entirely bereft of influences, but the young Saint-Saëns certainly had
a go. The first movement is a standard sonata form and the last movement a
brilliant fugue, but within those classical formal strictures Saint-Saëns' own
gift for melody shines through. Nowhere is that more evident than in the
exquisite Adagio, in which a gorgeous
melody starts in the clarinet and soars above tremolando strings and harp
chords. The deserved popularity of his third 'Organ' symphony means that
Saint-Saëns' other symphonic works rarely get a look in, which is a pity
because this in particular ought to be performed more.