Heise Symphony

[Alan Howe]

I have relocated this correspondence about Heise's Symphony to a new thread:

Hello Andre,
Greetings from Australia. This is not about Brahms, but I am wondering if you know the Symphony in D minor by Peter Heise. (1830-1879) .It was played on ABC Classic-FM Radio on 27/8/2002, the recording courtesy of Danish Radio. I have contacted the ABC who no longer have the tape.
I have been scouring the catalogues, Da Capo & Danacord, particularly, hoping that it might appear, but so far without success. It is a beautiful romantic symphony, and as I was out in the bush & not near a tape recorder at that time, I would love to hear it again. Could you kindly relate this story to Princess Mary, she may wish to hear it too ! But seriously, any  info you might have would be appreciated
Cheers !
Marcus.

Hello Marcus,
I'm sorry, but I haven't got any information on the Heise symphony. I didn't even know he wrote one! I have tried to search through the Danish libraries, but no luck. How strange that a beautiful work by a much-loved composer isn't to be found. It's almost a bit embarrassing, really.
It's the same with Gade's fine violin concerto, which nobody seems to care for here in Denmark.
Well, I hope that a new recording will be made soon, so that you can hear it again.
André

[Alan Howe]

Hello Marcus and André,

I have an off-air recording of Heise's Symphony. Details as follows:

Symphony in D minor (1868)
01. 07:38
02. 06:51
03. 05:17
04. 07:02
Total: 26:48
Aalborg City Orchestra
conducted by Jens Schrøder

The Symphony is a pretty slight, though attractive work, with plenty of tunes. Sturm und Drang episodes alternate rather uneasily with more cheerful-sounding passages. There's also a lot of what I would call 'dutiful rhythmic chugging'. Worth a proper, up-to-date recording? Yes, but don't expect miracles: this is not a masterpiece waiting to be discovered.

BTW Gade's VC is a most lovely work - thoroughly memorable. It should be in the standard repertoire.

[edurban]

Funny how these things work, Alan.  Considering Heise's marvelous piano quintet, his opera Drot og Marsk, and the concert overture Drot og Marsk--my favorite unsung piece of all time--I would have expected Heise to do a real bang-up job on the symphony!  Just goes to show that not everyone, no matter how talented, is cut out for writing symphonies.  I think we could make a whole thread on fine composers who would have spent their time more profitably not writing symphonies...

Alas, writing symphonies was the mark of a serious composer in the 19th century century...and beyond...

David

[Marcus]

Thanks for that information on the Heise symphony Alan. Because of the quality of the small amount of Heise's  music which is available on Cd, I hope that it will not be too long before some recording company decides that this the Symphony is worthy of a recording.
Marcus.

[Mark Thomas]

Alan's assessment of the Heise Symphony is right, Marcus - I have the same off-air dub. I don't think that the performance itself is too bad, but the piece (which is a mature one, not an early work) somehow has a lack of confidence about it and it's very episodic, so you feel as if you are listening to a well put together suite, rather than a symphony. Tuneful it certainly is but I was most disappointed when I heard it.