Fritz Volbach Königskinder, Symphony in B minor, Op.33

[Justin]

I apologize for such short notice on this broadcast which will take place today, but I thought it was particularly noteworthy due to two recent recordings of Volbach's repertoire.

His Königskinder and Symphony have appeared on this site and on YouTube, but they are older recordings. Today's broadcast will be of a recording from January 29th of this year, so it will be interesting to hear them with improved sound quality and possibly very different interpretations!

I've never been to WDR 3's website, but it appears that all concerts are available on their online player for 30 days after their broadcast, so I don't think anyone will need to personally record it off of their radio/computer.

https://www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr3/programm/sendungen/wdr3-konzert/staedtekonzerte-in-nrw-160.html

Enjoy!

[Alan Howe]

Nevertheless, it would be good to have the two Volbach works recorded ASAP! Is anyone in a position to do this?

[jimsemadeni]

Placed in downloads

Fritz Volbach
,,Königskinder"

Fritz Volbach
Sinfonie h-Moll op. 33


Sinfonieorchester Münster
Leitung: Golo Berg

Aufnahme vom 29. Januar 2019 aus dem Theater Münster

Der Komponist Fritz Volbach lehrte ab 1918 an der Universität Münster und war bis 1925 auch Musikdirektor und Leiter des Musikvereins dieser Stadt, bis er 1929 emeritiert wurde. 1919 hat er das Sinfonieorchester Münster gegründet. Dazu brachte er schon einiges an Erfahrung mit, hatte er doch während des Ersten Weltkriegs im besetzten Belgien mit Fritz Brandt unter den Besatzern in Brüssel ein deutsches Sinfonieorchester ins Leben gerufen. Die Bedingungen in Münster waren deutlich besser und halfen Volbach dabei, zu einer der zentralen Figuren in der Musikgeschichte der Stadt zu werden.
Google translation:
The composer Fritz Volbach taught from 1918 at the University of Münster and until 1925 also music director and conductor of the music club of this city, until he retired in 1929. In 1919 he founded the Sinfonieorchester Münster. In addition he brought quite some experience, because he had created during the First World War in occupied Belgium with Fritz Brandt under the occupiers in Brussels a German symphony orchestra to life. The conditions in Münster were significantly better and helped Volbach to become one of the central figures in the music history of the city.

[Alan Howe]

Many, many thanks! Perhaps we might hope for a cpo release at some point?

[Hector]

Does anyone know who the two royal children are? Princes in the tower?

[Alan Howe]

I'm assuming they're the ones in this children's folk ballad:
http://www.labbe.de/liederbaum/index.asp?themaid=69&titelid=877

[Alan Howe]

...and wow! Doesn't a really good recording/performance of an unsung work make all the difference? The Symphony is a fine piece - not as advanced as Mahler/Strauss, but with exciting writing for the brass and plenty of contrast between slower, lyrical sections and the driving music which characterises the work's opening. I have seen it described as Brucknerian, but it really isn't - except, perhaps, the glorious slow movement.

Our fellow member Rainolf wrote:

I have listened to the symphony. This is a real work of quality, and its slow movement a piece of true greatness! Axel Beer, who is the author of the commentary about Volbachs compositions in the book...has written, that Volbach used the Adagio as an orchestral interlude in a late oratorio, called "Auferstehung" (1930), about the passion and resurrection of Christ. According to this fact, Beer supposes, that even Volbach's symphony has a hidden program, in which the Adagio would describe the passion, and the Finale the resurrection. Volbach himself gave the text "Haleluja" to the first six notes of the main theme of the finale.

Some interesting background on Volbach - and his relationship with Elgar - can be found here:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EsYgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA205&lpg=PA205&dq=fritz+volbach+symphony&source=bl&ots=tmxjgUWkgx&sig=ACfU3U2Mkg2PjnUnvVDMVHp0MSMMveph1Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAx7udrsjgAhXYSRUIHTf6AwwQ6AEwDHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=fritz%20volbach%20symphony&f=false

[hyperdanny]

I say wow too..I was not aware of this symphony (or of Volbach, for that matter) so I searched YT, and there actually is a performance by the Philharmonia Hungarica under Varga.
Even with the so-so performance and the dreadful sound I went through the whole blessed thing in one sitting, and I quite like it.
It avoids some traps often found in several German turn-of-the-century Unsung symphonies: yes it does have the prescribed stirring first movement and the impassioned adagio, but the scherzo is very interestingly syncopated rather than foursquare, and the symphonic edifice does not peter out with a weak-ish finale like oftentimes, because the finale is pretty glorious.
And here comes the shock: listening to it I was thinking that it reminded me, of all composers, of Elgar: the scherzo reminded me a bit of the scherzo of the 2nd symphony, while the finale to me is sort of an Elgarian nobilmente seen through German lenses.
And now I learn here there actually was a rather substantial Volbach-Elgar connection, crazy stuff.
Bottom line: thanks very much indeed for the download, and let's hope that there'a cpo release in the can (and that I'm stlll alive when they finally release it)

[Alan Howe]

Yes: I too heard a kinship with Elgar. How strange.

[semloh]

For me, this is a symphony that just gets better with each movement, and by the 3rd movement Volbach seems to have entered another level of expression - hints of Mahler, and yes even Elgar. It's a wonderful symphony. I've had the  ex-radio performance by the Philharmonia Hungarica on the computer for some years, which was available from UC (as Zusac notes) and it's marvellous. I am looking forward to listening to the recent performance by way of comparison....

Thanks to jimsemadeni for uploading and Ilya for converting. 

[Alan Howe]

I too am convinced that this is a major (re-)discovery. It has extraordinary power and yet also extraordinary lyricism and breadth. Thanks so much, Jim, for recording this for us.

Oh, and by the way: the commentary between the end of the Symphony and Königskinder confirms that the latter's inspiration is indeed the children's folk ballad mentioned previously.

[M. Yaskovsky]

CD production by cpo available from Augsut, 19: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/fritz-volbach-symphonie/hnum/9254282

[Alan Howe]

Aha! Wonderful!

[semloh]

This is a definite purchase for me. Thanks for letting us know.

[Alan Howe]

And all one's first impressions are confirmed by this superlative release. How fortunate it is that there are such fine regional orchestras in Germany as the Münster Symphony Orchestra:
https://www.jjv-hannover.de/en/debut_%20muenster-symphony-orchestra
...under Golo Berg:
http://goloberg.com/english.html