New! d'Albert Symphony op.4

[Falparsi]

Soon a new release from CPO:

Eugen d'Albert Symphony op.4 and Seejungfräulein op. 15 für Sopran & Orchester

I hope to know about more releases from this great composer!

[JimL]

I have the Symphony in F coupled with the Cello Concerto on an old CD (I forget the label).  The symphony is ambitious, but somehow strangely unmemorable, at least in comparison to the Cello Concerto and PC 2.  PC 1 has some good material, but is overlong IMHO.

[Alan Howe]

Yes, I thought the symphony was unmemorable, until I decided to get to know the Pan Classics recording better (which is excellent, by the way). So I had it on permanent listen in the car recently - and guess what? It's not unmemorable at all, just unfamiliar. And it's become a firm favourite: very much of its time (1886), it is the work of an ambitious young composer with a phenomenal compositional technique and ability to handle mass orchestral forces. The basic template is Brahms/Gernsheim - something of the toughness of the former and the lyrical relaxation of the latter - but the harmonic range is more daring, with distinct pre-echoes of, say, Elgar.

Is it a great work? No. It's too derivative (and probably too undisciplined) for that - d'Albert didn't find his true voice until rather later in his operas. Nevertheless, it beats the two early Strauss symphonies and the early one by Thuille hands down. No wonder the great Hans von Bülow championed the piece.

If you don't know the work, do order the new cpo recording, because the Pan Classics version (the premiere recording) is unavailable - although I managed to track it down second-hand on Amazon. If you persevere, you won't be disappointed...

[Alan Howe]

If you follow the link to the new CD at jpc, you can listen to some brief extracts of the Symphony (tracks 2 - 5)...

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Eugene-d-Albert-Symphonie-op-4/hnum/9600247

[Ilja]

Yes, I thought the symphony was unmemorable, until I decided to get to know the Pan Classics recording better (which is excellent, by the way). So I had it on permanent listen in the car recently - and guess what? It's not unmemorable at all, just unfamiliar.

I persevered for most of today, and after putting the hours in I have to agree. Like with Urspruch, you have to put it the effort, but it'll be rewarding in the end.

Not that I think it's quite as good as Strauss' second, though...

[Alan Howe]

...and so I must now do the same listening exercise with Strauss 2!

[Alan Howe]

My first careful-ish re-audition of Strauss 2 reveals a much more self-confident composer than d'Albert - and a much less obviously Brahmsian one, at least to my ears. Of course, it too is written in full knowledge of the great Germanic symphonic tradition, but I don't hear the obvious resonances of Brahms which can be detected in the d'Albert. I agree, though, with Ilja: it is a very good piece indeed and easily as good as the d'Albert, much though I have grown to love that work recently.

[JimL]

Great!  Now I'll have to dig that up out of all that mess from my move.  Of course, my CDs have been in a mess for a while anyway. 

[Marcus]

This Symphony has been available on Pan CD #510 066 together with the Cello concerto in C major Op.20.
Pan have also recorded  his two String quartets ; no1 in A minor Op.7 & no2 in E flat major Op.11. Pan CD # 510 097

[Alan Howe]

Yes, but the Pan Classics CD has been long deleted, so the new cpo release is the only realistic way of hearing the Symphony. The Cello Concerto is available on Hyperion.

Incidentally: a hearty welcome, Marcus!

[Alan Howe]

The cpo recording of the Symphony is very good - but also very different from the one on Pan Classics. The most obvious difference is the much more flexible approach taken in the first movement by conductor Hermann Bäumer on cpo (many more accelerandi and ritardandi). The music can certainly take it - and it's well performed by the Osnabrück SO.

The piece is (at nearly 50 minutes) a long listen, of course. So it all depends on your patience with late-ish Romantic, Brahmsian  symphonies. I personally love this period and can certainly recommend the new CD if you think it might suit you too...

[DennisS]

I yesterday received  the CPO disc and listened to the symphony this morning. My first impression is that it makes for an enjoyable listen. I feel though that I will have to listen to it a number of times, before fully appreciating all its qualities. I already have d'Albert's two piano concertos and enjoy listening to both.

Cheers
Dennis