Juon Rhapsodic Symphony

[FBerwald]

Actually if you happen to read the booklet you'll pretty much lose interest in the music [for reasons that are well known to all members here!]

[Alan Howe]

There's also a sort of chugging neo-classicism going on here - especially in the Sinfonietta Capricciosa, but it's all within a basically late, late-romantic idiom. But it's the Rhapsodic Symphony that's the thing here - a gorgeously coloured lyrical outpouring that seems to suggest that Juon found his own (orchestral) voice late on in his career.

Humble pie is now being consumed...

[Alan Howe]

Incidentally, it helps to have the Bamberg Symphony playing here. They are simply wonderful.

[semloh]

I rather like Juon's music. Among other things, I have the CPO disc of the Piano Sextet and Quintet, and they are quite engaging. The Divertimento for chamber ensemble, from 1913, is IMHO a step further along - lyrical, self-assured and coherent. I agree about him gradually finding his own voice as the years passed, and I am looking forward to hearing the Symphonic Rhapsody, in view of your enthusiasm, Alan.

[adriano]

I am glad to read that a less boring conductor is taking up a case for Juon!

[britishcomposer]

A BBC recording conducted by John Storgards is to be broadcast the coming monday:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08c2r17
Is there perhaps a Chandos CD in the can?

[Alan Howe]

Very possibly. The schedule (on BBC Radio 3), from 2pm on Mon.30th, is as follows:

Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op 47
Jennifer Pike (violin)
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena (conductor)

Juon: Rhapsodic Symphony
BBC Philharmonic
John Storgards (conductor)

So, if we tune in at around 2:30pm, we should catch the Juon...

A concert featuring the Juon was given last August at the BBC Philharmonic Studio, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Manchester. Here's a review of the Juon performance:

The music of Russian-German-Swiss composer Paul Juon is a very rare visitant to the world's concert halls. He's hardly a household name anywhere. Juon studied with Arensky and Taneyev and then pursued things further with Woldemar Bargiel at the Berlin School of Music. There he taught until 1934 and numbered Philipp Jarnach and Stefan Wolpe among his charges. He moved to Switzerland in 1939. Quite apart from writing three violin concertos Juon also left us two possibly intriguing twenty-minute works: Jotunheimen (1924) – a tone poem for two pianos and Mysterien (1928) – a symphonic poem for cello and orchestra after Knut Hamsun.

The Rhapsodic Symphony dates from the eve of the Second World War and was written within a year of its composer's death. It seems that this, his third and last symphony, met with an enthusiastic reception when premiered at the Reichsmusiktagen in Düsseldorf in 1939. There are two earlier and unnumbered symphonies from Juon's Russian years around the turn of century. Those two symphonies have been recorded fairly recently by the heroic Swedish Sterling label. There are two other Juon symphonies: a 1905 Chamber Symphony and a 1929 Small Symphony for student string orchestra. It doesn't seem to have occurred to Juon to go in for numbering any of them. Add to them a Sinfonietta Capriccioso from the late 1930s, three opus numbers later. That the BBC Phil gave this performance is remarkable and as Storgårds announced that this was probably the UK premiere. Storgårds reeled off a list of composers as an introduction to help orientate the audience: Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Korngold. Comparing notes, Yuri Torchinsky, the Leader, added two other names especially in the context of the first movement: Taneyev and Arensky. In one of those labels that adheres to composers after their death, Juon has been dubbed the 'Russian Brahms'. I detected no evidence of that in this Symphony.

Rhapsodic Symphony is something of a contradiction in terms so what does Paul Juon do with it? This 39-minute work is in two large movements: Commodo and Allegro Marziale. Predominantly speaking, the first movement was the more densely orchestrated and incident-intense of the two while the second was the most delicately orchestrated. The first ran the gamut with gaunt and harsh brass fanfares, a busy vertically crowded effect thronged with ideas and activity with the mood tense and the sound often luxurious. At various points listeners may catch a glimpse of Korngold here, of Miaskovsky there and there are moments of Mahlerian tenderness. There's certainly a romantic gleam about this music although the high cholesterol textures in the Commodo can occasionally congeal. The second movement – in which Storgårds began using his baton – starts with what sounded to me like a galumphing ländler from the cellos; not very Russian. This morphs into Tchaikovskian writing incorporating the sweetest solos for oboe, flute and then horn. Torchinsky contributes an old-style honeyed violin solo and the music becomes increasingly emotional in a way familiar from the famous ballet duet from Khachaturian's Spartacus. Impressions flood in: a delightful light-footed dance, skittish Korngoldian writing, urbane street-life, Straussian luxury and an emulation of a bell carillon. There's a tellingly magnificent peroration from horns and then the whole brass complement.

It is expected that the Juon will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 early in 2017.

There is a useful Juon website which is worth a look.

Each work was performed complete. Each required a couple of patches as directed from the control room. These were genially implemented by Storgårds and his orchestra.

This 2.00 pm concert was given as usual without intermission before a welcoming capacity audience.

Rob Barnett
http://seenandheard-international.com/2016/08/nordic-brevity-meets-unknown-russian-symphony-from-late-1930s/

[Alan Howe]

Incidentally, another appropriate comparison would be with the Bax of the 1930s.

[Ilja]

From what I can gather from the samples, these works exist in the same world as 1929's Kleine Symphonie (Op. 87), which I always found very enjoyable. It seems that like so many others, Juon actively looked for new forms after World War 1. I've just bought it in the iTunes store and am looking forward to spending more time with it.

[Christopher]

I did a youtube sweep for other orchestral works of Juon which have been recorded, for example in live performance.  I found a few:

Paul Juon: Kleine Sinfonie in A minor, Op. 87
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efMyhesk0OM


Five Pieces for String Orchestra, Op. 16 - Paul Juon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yot-tFYUBcg


Paul Juon: Octet, Op. 27 arranged for string orchestra (National Gramophonic Society, 1929)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezEBcPoRPOI


US premiere of Paul Juon's Triple Concerto part 1 - I havent listened to this yet, it might be the same as his "Episodes Concertantes"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc8HfpU2Ps0

US premiere of Paul Juon's Triple Concerto part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Dnk0z2Yvw

US premiere of Paul Juon's Triple Concerto part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM3LGY6Btm4


Paul Juon - kleine ballade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zIDopel-1A


Paul Juon - élégie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75rZpSz-VgQ


Paul Juon - intermezzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-LtXK8K3o 


On the page for the Kleine Sinfonie, it says "Several of these works have been recorded on compact disc, including several of the sonatas, two of the concertos...." - regarding the concertos, I have the Violin Concerto No.2 in A major, Op.49 with Sibylle Tschopp on the violin and the Winterthur Stadtorchester under Nicholas Carthy - but but anyone know what other concerto has been recorded?   Or maybe it refers to his Episodes Concertantes for violin cello and piano, Op.45 which has also been recorded?

[Gareth Vaughan]

The Episodes Concertants are also referred to as his Triple Concerto. They have been recorded on the Musique Suisse label coupled with his Cello Concerto "Mysterien".

[Christopher]

Thanks for clearing that up Gareth.

[adriano]

Incidentally, Musiques Suisses/Grammont have decided to end up producing CDs.
http://www.musikzeitung.ch/de/basis/stv/2016/12/Zum-Abschied.html#.WJId7StAKjo
No further comments to this.
Musik Hug/Jecklin are selling out their CD stock; you can buy opera or symphonic boxes for 5-20 CHF. Their Limmatquai shop is already reduced to half, with workmen's noises in the background, building-up a smaller department which should be selling scores and music books, what was the matter of two large departments in two different Zurich building.
The remaining Zurich CD shop (Rena Kaufmann) have already rented 30% to another shop selling statuettes and vases, so they will not be able to realize that at least one serious CD shop is still being needed over here, after all closings in many other Swiss towns...

[Alan Howe]

It's sad news that the Musiques Suisses label is to cease producing new recordings - owing, according to the link Adriano gave us, to the drop in CD sales. Does this bode ill for other labels?

Question: would a switch to a downloads-only business not be tenable?

[Ilja]

CD retail has been on a slide downwards for a very long time, and not only in classical music. In the Netherlands, most CD shops have shut their doors now, mainly due to the competition from online CD sales and and downloads. Of course, being able to hear loads of works in their entirety for fee on Youtube probably doesn't help commercial sales.


The stores that survive (and sometimes thrive) have taken on more of a boutique character, selling devices and (surprisingly) LPs but also keeping a much narrower stock. And finally the advent of streaming services such as Spotify (whose classical selection is steadily improving) has probably driven the nail into the coffin of "old-school" CD retail.

But let's not forget that we're talking about carriers, not music. The record industry has been inexcusably complacent and has for a long time failed to look at other, and new, streams of revenue. I don't mourn the passing of the CD, but I am worried about the music as there is no new status quo in sight as far as I can see.