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Confessions about your all-round favorite symphony

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shawn:
Perhaps this topic has already been discussed on this board.

'I'm not at all sure that I like it myself now. All I know is that it's what I wanted to do at the time'

Well, people are often amazed when I confess about my favorite symphony from the complete symphony repertoire. I can understand that all to well. Because my favorite is an extremely nihilistic work, very forbidding, hardly accessible. It's not the kind of symphony you want people to hear when introducing them to Classical Music, because they'll probably run away screaming.

Here it comes...

Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fourth Symphony.

Yes. He tops my list.

There's something uncompromisingly honest about this work which I admire greatly. The mood is dismal throughout, but RVW counters those feelings, successfully and spine-chillingly with few moments of repose, which are extremely bitter sweet, not quite consoling, but unbelievably beautiful. The Fourth is a totally different deal than RVW's more pastoral symphonies (the 3rd, 5th). Copland once described the Fifth as looking at a cow for a considerable amount of time. In that respect, the Fourth is more like running away from a raging bull.

The Fourth is masterfully crafted. It's certainly not just a case of 'I felt depressed and disturbed, and therefore wanted to write it to shout a lot'. For what it's worth, William Walton called it the greatest symphony since Beethoven!  :o

My very favorite recording of this symphony? It was my first acquaintance of the work, Bernstein's on Sony. You know, on that embarrassing Royal Edition. Of course, Prince Charles' water color painting on the front had nothing in common with this boisterous symphony. But it's a great reading, and very well recorded considering the often disappointing sound Columbia got from the New York recording venues. Bernstein's approach to the first movement is much more measured, not so hectic, but without sacrificing the severity of tone.

And severe it is. Some see it as a portrait of war, but WW I ended some 16 years before. May be it's more of a Mahlerian premonition, towards WW II.

In fact, I think it's RVW's most Mahlerian symphony. Comparable to the Tragic Mahler Sixth, although the latter is on a much larger scale, uses a larger orchestra (especially brass) and feels more classically organized than RVW. What makes RVW's Fourth also special, for me, is the fact that it is very expressionistic, without sacrificing the basic principles of tonality.

Well, there you have it. What's your confession about the symphony that holds first place in your book?  ;D

barryguerrero:
Other great first symphonies: Mahler (of course); Sibelius; Shostakovich; Brahms (of course); Schumann; Vaughan Williams; Elgar (I like his 2nd better); Franck d-minor (his only symphony); Debussy's "La Mer" (yeah, I know - but some claim it's a symphony), and numerous others I'm just not thinking of.

Other symphonists got better as they went along. In that category, I would place: Dvorak; Bruckner Saint-Saens; Nielsen; Rimsky-Korsakov; Copland; Ives and Schubert (although, his early symphonies are better than some think).

Bruckner is an odd case for me. I like the scherzo from his first symphony, but I haven't been able to finish listening to his second symphony. It just seems like scrambled ramblings of not-so-great melodic ideas, etc.  Funny, because I really like the middle version (Oeser Edition) of his third symphony.  In fact, I like that more than the fourth symphony, although there are some truly great moments in his 4th (coda to the first movement!).

shawn:
Bruckner is an odd case for me, too  :D There isn't a Mahler symphony I do not cherish greatly (of course, I have my favorites), but I'm far more selective (critical?) when it comes to Bruckner.

For me, Bruckner starts getting interesting with his Third. Wonderful brooding first movement. For some reason, I do not like his Fourth. Perhaps the self-imposed nickname 'Romantic' puts me off, I think it's rather pretentious, especially since this Fourth is no more or less romantic than his other output. It raises high expectations which Bruckner does not quite fulfill.

The Fifth is a milestone in his output. Wonderful. It also has the best finale (Bruckner wasn't always in his element when it came to finales). The Sixth, well, it's not one of my favorites, but the Adagio is classic Bruckner.

I always compare the Seventh to Mahler's Ninth; a magnificent first movement (a symphony in itself), and with remaining movements on a lower level of inspiration.

The Eighth is probably the one I admire most, despite the fact that the Finale is far too long (and rather episodic), and the Scherzo can be very repetitive. The first movement has great urgency. The Adagio is, imho, Bruckner's most spiritual statement, like a long prayer. I always refer to climax in this movement as the Mount Everest of musical climaxes, though the Adagio from No. 7 is no weak tea either!

The Ninth is a far more consistently inspired work than his Mahlerian counterpart, which may shock some people! Thank the Lord it hasn't got a finale! I think of the last notes of the Adagio as the most consoling music ever written, before Mahler came to the scene with his DLVDE and, ultimately, his Tenth...

I admire Bruckner, but I don't feel the same 'click' I feel with Mahler. Perhaps the comparison is unfair to begin with. Also, I cannot sense a distinct evolution in Bruckner's composing style. Which is no crime at all, but it would have made things a little more interesting.  :D

barryguerrero:
You're scaring me - reading your posts is just like reading my posts. I agree on pretty much every point you make. Anyway, Jochum said that Bruckner 4 really should have been subtitled 'the mysterious', as opposed to "The Romantic".  That makes sense to me.

shawn:
 ;D I'll try not to scare you in future  ;D

'Mysterious'... very interesting. Great Brucknerian, Jochum, great in Berlin/Bavaria and just as great in Dresden (though, I have a soft spot for that orchestra).

I relish Van Beinum in Bruckner. Though in mono, this man knew what it meant to be a true Brucknerian. He knew exactly how to maintain forward momentum, without hurting the overall structure. His coda to the Eighth is unique, it's unbelievably exciting, and has never been done that way!

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