The Austro-German Symphonic Tradition after Mahler

[Alan Howe]

I would have excluded Dohnanyi (Hungarian) and had left out Strauss (sung). I had forgotten about Marx, though - and Hindemith (although there's the perennial debate about whether his 'symphonies' are symphonies...)

Anyone know Pepping?

[M. Henriksen]

Maybe Siegmund von Hausegger fits in here?


Morten

[britishcomposer]

Oh yes! I like the Pepping symphonies very much, esp #1 and #2. And the Serenade from 1945. A very original musical personality I think.
His main output consists of choral music which is very popular among church choirs.
Any chamber music? I have a very old recording of an engaging piano suite 'Tanzweisen und Rundgesang' (1938)

[britishcomposer]

Hausegger is a bore, isn't he?

[Alan Howe]

Hausegger a bore? Not for me: there's too much to enjoy in his Natursymphonie to call him a bore. Depends whether you like this highly-coloured, hyper-Romantic stuff, I suppose. Of course, I can't really judge the rest of his output...

Here's a sympathetic review:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2008/May08/Hausegger_7772372.htm

[britishcomposer]

That is my problem, I think: ONE Strauss is more than I can bear.
More craggy Weismann for me, please! 

I see the symphonic poems 'Barbarossa' and 'Wieland der Schmied' have not yet been released?! I thought cpo had brought them out, too...

[Alan Howe]

And more hyper-Romantic Weismann (à la VC1) for me...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I happen to have listened to Joseph Marx's Herbstsymphonie tonight - it pushes the boundaries of hedonism, out-Korngolds Korngold, out-ecstasies Delius and has more 'ivresse' than Scriabin. Still, I liked this wash of sound. It'll be one of my guilty pleasures, I think. ..

[Gareth Vaughan]

The Herbstsymphonie is definitely a guilty pleasure. I love it - but will deny ever having written that!

[Amphissa]

I think Marx was surely enjoying herb when he wrote his Herb Symphony.

[Crescendo]

As one who has tired of Mahler...

i can not ever imagine getting tired of mahler... inconceivable to me. but i guess it would be boring if we all felt the same way.

anyway, here are two more to add to the list:
alfredo casella - his 2nd and 3rd symphonies in particular. in the 2nd there is a wonderful mahlerian funeral march and in the third symphony the slow movement reminds of some of mahler's last works. brilliant music, at least to my ears.

another one i would mention is the second symphony by franco alfano.

as many other comments already pointed out, the earlier symphonies by wellesz have some fascinating qualities especially in the slow movements. i also would love to learn about more music in that vein. i guess the challenge is that the more the tonal envelope is being stretched, the stronger the temptation there is to sacrifice emotion for an imbalance in favor of the left brain.

[Crescendo]

The Herbstsymphonie is definitely a guilty pleasure. I love it - but will deny ever having written that!

i love this one. if we were not to enjoy music by fully indulging with heart and soul, we would get only a portion of what it has to offer to us. i encourage to remove the "guilty" part of the pleasure and turn up the volume. it is just such a rewarding ride and balm to the soul.

[Crescendo]

I see the symphonic poems 'Barbarossa' and 'Wieland der Schmied' have not yet been released?! I thought cpo had brought them out, too...

"Wieland der Schmied" is available as MP3 on Amazon with Leon Botstein. It is not quite as strong as the "Natursymphonie" but still very enjoyable.

[eschiss1]

there's really a debate whether Hindemith's symphony in E-flat is a symphony? I'm surprised.  If you mean the operatic-extract ones, they fit in another ongoing tradition, continued by Prokofiev too of course (sym.3) and many others. there was such a debate in the 19th century, it's true... though (not to compliment earlier times too much- in some musical things time has brought a great improvement; note e.g. Walker's account of the standard of orchestral playing in much of Europe at that time) Schoenberg's comparison of critical debate in the late 19th century and early 20th is still- interesting too (pointing out that the latter time could see only harmonic oddnesses when the best critics of an earlier time knew what form, rhythm, and other things were and when to compliment or criticize a composer for making good or poor use of out of the ordinary manner of any of those...)

[Alan Howe]

It's the Robert Simpson argument that Hindemith's 'symphonies' don't really go anywhere, but are more akin to baroque structures in which the music is picked up and finally put down much as it was...