Who would you consider a Brucknerian composer?

[Maury]

Yes that (abbreviated) format enables the composer to bury the (troublesome) Finale in a safe place out of earshot. 

[Alan Howe]

The difference, of course, is between an unfinished 'torso' and a work purposely created in that format.

[eschiss1]

Actually, in the Wellesz and similar works the 3rd movement obviously -is- the finale...

[Alan Howe]

,,,which isn't the case with Bruckner 9.

[Maury]

I got the Wetz LP of Sym 3 with the Berlin Sym as well as the Col Legno CD of the Scherber Sym 3 and can recommend both recordings, both for themselves and as likely to interest Bruckner fans. I have also started listening to the CPO CD box of Wetz complete symphonies and violin concerto. I have to thank the Rheinland Pfalz orchestra for most of the available Wetz recordings plus the Scherber. I find Scherber quite interesting too. Many thanks to this site for mentioning these two composers.

[adriano]

Scherber's First Symphony is definitely a Bruckner homage :-)

[Alan Howe]

Adriano is too modest to mention his recording of Scherber's 1st Symphony:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8399983--martin-scherber-erste-symphonie-goethelieder-kinderlieder

[Maury]

Scherber's First Symphony is definitely a Bruckner homage :-)

Adriano,

 It's on order but I haven't received it yet! BTW I have others that you did for Marco Polo. I think the first one I got was the Honegger Film music. 

[terry martyn]

A number of young composers have dedicated their First Symphony to their musical hero, and some have achieved a fair measure of success in so doing. Nils Gade's First followed on from his Echoes of Ossian overture in telling a story of innocence and derring-do,as a tribute to Mendelssohn. Charles Ives composed a hauntingly beautiful homage to Dvorak on the occasion of the latter's return from America in the slow movement of his First.

Scherber falls into this category of success. Taking,I believe, Bruckner's Ninth as a starting-point, he has distilled his admiration into 30 minutes of loving respect. Maestro adriano has brought Scherber's First to life with palladian limpidity and we are greatly in his debt. This is a must-buy for me!

[Maury]

I finally got the Scherber CD with the Sym 1 conducted by Adriano plus a collection of Scherber's songs for tenor. First of all I must commend the sonics of this CD. They are wonderfully natural with no apparent digititus. Secondly, Scherber is a much more substantial composer than I ever suspected. Third, the Symphony although closer to Bruckner than the more radical Sym 3 is still a fine work and conducted wonderfully by Adriano. Then there are several collection of songs for tenor added to the CD. I must admit that Lieder for voice and piano is not a format that I am overly fond of because of the constraints that the piano puts on the voice. However these songs by Scherber are marvelous with very flexible piano accompaniment.

I did not think Bruckner's symphonic style to be particularly good as a model for others but on the evidence of Scherber and Wetz I was wrong. These two composers made adroit use of the general music style of Bruckner without copying him and the results are interesting and satisfying. 

[terry martyn]

I have now played the CD of Scherber's Symphony No 1 about twenty times.   I said above that I thought his starting-point was Bruckner's Ninth, but now I think differently. To my ears, the work inhabits the world of the original versions of Bruckner's Symphonies 1 to 3, the early 1870s. I am highly delighted with the Scherber,which has all the qualities of early Bruckner without the length. I have a guilty feeling that I prefer it to Bruckner itself,possibly because of its accessibilty.

[Alan Howe]

No need to feel guilty. That's the whole point of this forum! As I've said repeatedly, I have my own 'left-field' views on the status of various composers and I no longer feel guilty in expressing them.

[Maury]

Terry,

I agree that the B3 (and possibly B2) is more likely a general starting point for Wetz and Scherber. It is Romantic and questing without the specific and highly charged angst near the surface of B8 and all over B9. But I don't see either composer as simply imitating Bruckner but rather using him as a generalized starting point the way Brahms did in his Symphony 1 with Beethoven.

I am curious what you thought of Scherber's Lieder included with the Symphony 1 on the Adriano CD.

[terry martyn]

I am not qualified to judge the songs,Maury,as I am only a collector of orchestral music,both symphonic and concertante.  In my collection,there are a number of operatic works (even including Boieldieu's Dame Blanche!), fewer choral,and next to no songs, unless orchestrated. Nor do I collect chamber music. Some things just don't appeal,I'm afraid.

[Alan Howe]

The consequence for me is discovering a piece of music on a CD which I'd bought for the main work  that it contains and finding that I'd never listened to it!