JADASSOHN Symphony No.4 in C minor

[Alan Howe]

What we can agree about, surely, is the wonderful melodic content of Jadassohn's 4th. I'm still humming its tunes and tapping my feet to its various rhythmic features as I write this...

[Richard Moss]

Does anyone have any information (timings, tempi etc) on the various movements of this lovely piece?

Thanks

Richard

[JimL]

Thank you, Richard.  You took the question right off my fingers. 

[britishcomposer]

I also recorded the youtube version conducted by Israel Yinon (the CPO recording) back in 2009 but movement titles etc weren't provided.
Has Yinon recorded the other symphonies, too? This one has been aired a couple of times but none of the others.

[Alan Howe]

That's the recording starting towards the close of the first movement, right? Or have you the whole thing? We know that Yinon has recorded all four symphonies for cpo, but there's no sign of them yet.

[britishcomposer]

Yes, I have the complete recording of the first movement. I did not upload my recording because I knew that CPO would release it some day.

[Alan Howe]

It'd be good to hear it. We'd obviously have to take it down when cpo's recording comes out, so might you consider uploading your recording of the whole symphony? (I think it's superior to Bruns'.)

[eschiss1]

Re what I think was the premiere, from NZM (1888) -
"Das neunte Gewandhaus-Konzert wurde am 6. Dezember eröffnet mit einer neuen Symphonie (Cmoll, nr. 4) von Sal. Jadassohn. Sie fand unter des Leitung des Componisten bei einer vortrefflichen Ausführung eine nicht ungünstige (?) Aufnahme ; am meisten schien das Scherzo zu gefallen, ein vorzugsweise französischen Mustern geschicht nachgebildetes, an Pariser Plauderton gemahnendes Tonstück, dem nur ein gewählteres Trio noth thut.   Das einleitende sostenuto des ersten Satzes wird auch dem Finale vorausgeschicht, ohne dass dafür ein zwingender Grund anzugeben wäre. Das Adagio ist wie auch in den drei Vorgängerinnen die Achillesferfe(? Achilles' heel?) des Werkes, das begreiflicherweise von irgendwie aufrührerischen Gesinnüngen sich fernhält, im Uebringen glatt und geschickt gearbeitet ist und gut klingt.  ..."

(Excerpted, with a poor effort on my part to transcribe from the Gothic German, from archive.org. Will attempt to translate when my brain cools... ouch!!!!!!)

[matesic]

Even from what we can hear on Youtube, the differences in timings between the two performances seem extraordinary. Yinon takes three minutes less over the scherzo and no less than twelve minutes more over the finale, at the same tempo. Is he trying to kill his violinists?

[britishcomposer]

For your information: Yinon takes 7:45 min for the first movement.

[eschiss1]

Is there a repeat in the finale?

[matesic]

Two I'd guess, although that wouldn't account for Bruns's time being more than doubled! The proportions of the 4 movements in Yinon's version are most peculiar, and I can't think of any other piece of this period that places such weight on the finale. Maybe Bruns also made cuts? And unauthorised repeats in the scherzo?? Without the score it's hard to tell what's going on.

[eschiss1]

There are copies of the symphony (in full score or reduction or something) at St. Pancras (British library - 144pp - full score) and Newberry Library , Chicago, Illinois (also 144 pp, "Partitur-Bibliothek", plate 18324 of Breitkopf), among other places, if anyone wants to look. I don't think Newberry interloans to my library here (not for free and maybe not at all), but some people on this list may live near St Pancras station...

St Pancras shelfmark: Music Collections h.1567.s.(2.)
UIN: BLL01004433659
Identifier: 004433659
(OCLC: Worldcat.org.  Newberry: Worldcat.)

[Ilja]

Yes, I have the complete recording of the first movement. I did not upload my recording because I knew that CPO would release it some day.

"Some day" is unlikely to be this decade, I fear, knowing the typical speed (or rather, lack thereof) that cpo requires to get recordings into distribution. It's exaxperating to know that so many interesting pieces have been recorded by them, only to languish on tapes and harddrives for years on end.

[eschiss1]

In my honest opinion: This will be less exasperating the moment one can say: their total product (program notes, CD case (if CD), sound quality, everything together) has been put together so well by them that releases that come more quickly from other labels feel rushed in comparison. 

Actually, sometimes they do pretty well with much of this, except for some times when they should have spent yet more time on the program notes...