Orchestration of a haunting Scherzo fragment by Mendelssohn for his 6th symph. ?

[Mark Thomas]

Fair enough, it's up to Gerd of course - it's his symphony, not Mendelssohn's.

[gprengel]

I listened to the work now over and over again and I must say that I love the trio as it is! First I was wondering whether I should refrain from the repetition of the first trio melody ...
The problem what I see is: The Scherzo part after the Trio has some repeated passages which I will try to cut out. For this reapeated Scherzo I find is a bit tiring after all ...

[Alan Howe]

I think that would be a good move. Best wishes for your revision.

[eschiss1]

A "much briefer scherzo" is no hard-and-fast rule, though symphonies with scherzos almost in proportion (think Schumann's 2nd symphony from about the same time) often do something special to maintain interest (in Schumann's case, at the very least, 2 trios rather than one, as so often with him, for instance- and that latter 2nd symphony's scherzo does -many- things in that connection, between the very unusual scherzo material itself, the canonic 2nd trio, etc. so that it hardly feels stretched out.)

[Alan Howe]

But Mendelssohn wasn't Schumann.

[eschiss1]

Actually, it was all done with mirrors, so I never noticed.
However, Mendelssohn was also not Mendelssohn. His early works are not a template for his late ones.

[Alan Howe]

Well, since we're talking about a candidate for the scherzo movement of GP's proposed 'Mendelssohn 6', it's interesting to note how consistently brief the scherzos of Symphones 1 (1824), 5 (1832) and 3 (1842) are - over an 18-year period from age 15 to age 33, so I don't believe your argument stacks up, Eric. 

[gprengel]

So, I shortend now the repetition of the Scherzo only a little bit , BUT: I found also still another solution for the Trio - I use the wonderful Cappricio from op. 81.3 ! Isn't this a more logic and consistent  solution as the Scherzo is based on op. 81.2 ? And it's a great piece of music... What do you think which Trio version fits better?

http://www.gerdprengel.de/Scherzo81-new.mp3

http://www.gerdprengel.de/Scherzo81-new.pdf 

(if possible please listen to it with headphones)

[Alan Howe]

Sorry - at 8:42 it's still too long. I found it tiring, if I'm honest. It's like Mendelssohn on steroids!

[eschiss1]

I'd suggest pulling something Berwaldish off, combining the scherzo with a slow movement, but Mendelssohn didn't much like Berwald's music, it seems? Still, there are multiple kinds of solutions to a given problem (I say as someone who sort of likes the idea behind Blackwood's what-if musics.)

[Alan Howe]

Nah - just shorten the scherzo by cutting out all unnecessary repetitions and make sure the trio doesn't 'spread'. Mendelssohn, after all, was a classical romantic, if you see what I mean.

[rosflute]

congratulations on a nice piece of stylistic orchestration. I only had time to listen to the first 5 minutes of your original version, but my comments are: tempo is good - no problem for flutes etc who are use to and enjoy playing Italian symphony at speed. It does feel a bit awkward at 0.17/18; 1.14; 2.37  and 3.05-3.20 where (without viewing the score) it seems to me that the orchestration might need adjustment. And at 4.0-ish it all seemed uncharacteristically lacking in oomph. Just my personal opinions on a first hearing, but overall I thought it very well done.