Julius Zellner 1832-1900

[Alan Howe]

I have become very fond of this finely crafted and memorable symphony over recent weeks. This is a composer clearly working in the great classical tradition: there are no frills - everything works together to form a hugely satisfying whole. It's maddening to think that such superb music has been lost in the tides of fashion. Grateful thanks once again to Reverie for fabulous work in recreating this unjustly forgotten symphony.

[Alan Howe]

Zellner's Symphony No.1 prompts a thought which has been going round in my mind, namely this: as the nineteenth century progressed, symphonic writing tended to become more and more extended and symphonic allegros ever slower - to the extent, for example, that one of the greatest composers of the second half of the century, Bruckner, turned out to be in incapable of writing a symphonic allegro at all. And I would contend that even Brahms succumbed to the same problem, with only 2/IV and 3/IV really qualifying among his symphonies.

As I have got older I have become less tolerant of the flabby tendencies of later romantic symphonists, finding greater pleasure in composers such as Raff and Zellner who, it seems to me, preserve much more successfully the dynamism of the tradition. This may have something to do with an over-exposure in my earlier years to Bruckner and Mahler (who were just becoming known at that point), but now I even find that, for example, Brahms 1/I lumbers along - but I seem to be a lone voice.

So, it must be me...

[terry martyn]

I couldn´t agree more, and I´m glad to find I´m not alone in this.  Fleetness of foot, with the possible exception of some of the Russian composers (and,even there, there is melancholy and angst), seems to be a dying art as the century progresses. Contrast the early symphony of Bizet, with that of, say, Dukas, when it comes to the allegro.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Alan makes an interesting observation with which, by and large, I must agree - but the matter has not been helped by the tendency of many conductors sometimes to ignore metronome markings and adopt a slower, and hence flabbier, tempo than was the composer's intention. Consider how Jarvi's Raff 5 opened our ears to how thrilling that already exciting symphony could be. I am sure I am not alone in wishing he had recorded 3 & 4 (as Chandos originally announced).
Dvorak could write a good symphonic allegro.

[Alan Howe]

Yes, Dvorak could indeed. I thought that too - after I had finished my earlier post!

[eschiss1]

I'd even stick my neck out for the first movement of (probably the obvious) one of Brahms' 4 symphonies in this regard (not that symphonies were their only attempts at symphonic allegros - viz. also overtures, sections of symphonic poems, etc.) (And maybe the first of Fuchs' 3 symphonies too.)
(Apparently, according to Edition Silvertrust, Zellner's 2nd string quartet was a prize-recipient from a jury with Fuchs and Brahms on the latter, which I did not know. Something of this is also mentioned in the media announcement for February's performance of Zellner's string trio op.36 (by the Concordia Trio which has also recorded it) at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, too.)