Farrenc Symphony no 3

 Day 33

Farrenc Symphony no 3 in g minor op 36

Insula orchestra

Laurence Equilbey

I've mentioned before in this series the important collection of music by French women composers - Compostrices on the Bru Zane label.  One of the most distinctive composers there is Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) and the shorter pieces in the collection led me to explore some of her more substantial compositions. I had already heard the 1st symphony but this 3rd symphony was new to me.

It is a really impressive piece. Listening to it cold you would identify the composer as somebody who knew the symphonies of Haydn and Beethoven but was clearly from the early romantic period.  If you had to guess I think that you might well say that it was a previously unknown piece by Mendelssohn. What I don't think that you would do is recognise this as by a French composer (man or woman). The musical tradition in mid 19th century France was dominated by opera and any distinct French symphonic school didn't start to emerge until much later in the century. So any French composer who wanted to write a symphony had to turn to German models.

Farrenc writes in a full-blooded style with plenty of strong gestures. The orchestra she uses is small (double wind and no trumpets or trombones) but she uses it to great effect through - with some very innovative timpani writing, particularly in the way that that quiet timpani notes support the lyrical theme of the slow movement. Perhaps the most distinctive movement is the 3rd - a scherzo which I am sure that Mendelssohn would have been proud to call his own. The 4th movement is perhaps the weakest - it is rather episodic and at times seem to lose its way a bit but overall this is a symphony of real quality which certainly deserves a place in the repertory. The shadow of Beethoven looms large over the piece but this is no pale imitation but a strong and distinctive approach to symphonic form from a composer at the height of her powers.