Johanna Senfter: Symphonies

[Gareth Vaughan]

May I heartily echo Alan's thanks. I shall be very interested to hear these works unfragmented.

[eschiss1]

How's the quality of the download as it appeared on our board years ago, compared to YouTube?

[Droosbury]

Thanks very much for the uploads of the Piano Concerto and the upgraded Symphony No 4.

Here's a little more info I've got from Senfter's listings on the Schott site. For the Symphony, the conductor's surname is Mága (ie not with an umlaut), and it gives the work's performance history:

Johanna Senfter
4th Symphony Bb major
Conductor: Othmar Mága
Orchestra: Jenaer Philharmonie
October 14, 2011 | Jena (Germany) , Volkshaus

Conductor: Johannes Goritzki
Orchestra: Bamberger Symphoniker
November 19, 2000 | Fürth (Germany) , Stadttheater

Conductor: Johannes Goritzki
Orchestra: Bamberger Symphoniker
November 18, 2000 | Fürth (Germany) , Stadttheater — World Premiere

For the concerto, there's the following:

Conductor: Jonathan Bloxham
Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales
November 17, 2021 | Cardiff (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) , BBC Hoddinott Hall

[Alan Howe]

I'm sorry to say that I find Senfter's relentless, shifting chromaticism virtually unlistenable for any length of time - certainly in her orchestral music. It seems to me that her best music is to be found in works such as her viola or violin sonatas where there is there is far less material to muddy the musical waters, so to speak. The Piano Concerto is similar in feel to Reger's PC, but it doesn't seem to me to enjoy the same level of memorability. I wanted to like her 4th Symphony, but for me it's really hard work to listen to; even the slow movement comes across as if searching for a resolution that never really arrives. But maybe that's the point...

No doubt I'm missing something here...

[tuatara442442]

I'm sorry to say that I find Senfter's relentless, shifting chromaticism virtually unlistenable for any length of time

I listened to her Clarinet Quintet a few months ago and have the same feeling. She inherited the worst traits of Regerite chromaticism. It is aimless and empty, instead of angular.

[tuatara442442]

I find it a bit more tolerable than Mov I of Reger's PC...

[semloh]

I liked the sound of the piano concerto and constantly felt I should be enjoying it more than I did. It sounds to me like someone trying to play Rachmaninov but getting half the notes wrong.
I suppose that's chromaticism for you! 

[Alan Howe]

All the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order? 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPEUcVyJsc

Just a Preview, you understand...

[semloh]

Still funny after all these years.

[Alan Howe]

I don't think Senfter's music is going to make much headway, sad though I am to say this. But I'll follow any forthcoming recordings with interest.

[eschiss1]

If there's a solution, it isn't to remove all the chromaticism and stay in the white notes of the piano (though Prokofiev had some interesting success building themes with that in a few 1920s-30s works, eg Fiery Angel and the op.50 quartet...)

[Alan Howe]

I don't think it's the chromaticism itself that's the problem; it's the continually evolving chromaticism that's the issue here. By this I mean a type of chromaticism that never seems to resolve itself - and when it does, as at the end of the finale of the 4th Symphony, it comes as more of a surprise than a logical outcome.

Now, as I've said, this might simply be my problem. Maybe I need to work harder at the music and try to understand it better - for example, with the help of our distinguished contributor, Dr Petteri Nieminen who, I hope, will feel able to tell us more about Senfter in due course.