Day 237
Wilhelm Furtwängler: Symphony no 2
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Neeme Järvi
Many conductors have thought of themselves primarily as composers - but few of them have managed to established a firm place in the repertory for their music. Mahler is the obvious exception, though if I had been doing this blog 100 years ago I would probably have discounted his music as at most an interesting curiosity.
So in this part of the project, looking at 20th century German symphonies it seems appropriate to consider Furtwängler as a composer. He of course was a pre-eminent conductor - many would say the greatest conductor of the central Austro-German symphonic repertoire, so I was curious to hear what his music sounded like. This symphony dates from 1944-1945 and it is tempting to see it as a look back at the world of the 19th century masters, as if looking forward was too painful to contemplate. It is very substantial work, in 4 movements lasting over 80 minutes in total. I didn't hear it straight though but sampled it a movement at a time.
Bruckner is an obvious influence, but one can also feel the presence of Brahms. Traces of Dvořák, and more surprisingly Sibelius, also come through from time to time. Unfortunately for me however this did not make for an attractive or compelling listening experience. In fact to be honest I thought that this was a dreadful piece. Furtwängler had no melodic gift and the music simple droned on and on with, what appeared to me, to have no shape or sense of line. It was also totally overscored. Time and time again the composer couldn't leave well alone but had to add extra bits and pieces in the background which had no real interest in themselves and only served to muddy the texture. Some of the music had moments of interest but elsewhere it seemed trite and even banal - the ending was just awful.
I am glad in a way to have heard this - but I will never want to listen to it again!
No comments:
Post a Comment