Finally, a completion to the Natanael Berg Symphony Cycle. No.s 4 & 5 by Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Ari Rasilainen.
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/natanael-berg-symphonien-nr-4-5/hnum/4963362 (https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/natanael-berg-symphonien-nr-4-5/hnum/4963362)
(https://i.ibb.co/tPkf94k/N-berg-symphony-4-5.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
Recorded back in 2011 - and buried since...
You never know then, Alan. Maybe there's still hope for the Gernsheim Piano Concerto!
It is amazing, isn't it? Why do CPO take so long to release some recordings? I really don't understand it - but I presume there is some reasonable explanation.
Does anyone know when this release will be available for streaming?
What's the usual time-gap for cpo between physical release and other formats?
Seems to be settling down to three or four months delay before downloads are available - sometimes less.
It probably depends on their agreement with the relevant broadcasting company or orchestra, but I have the impression it's becoming less. The Kaun symphony was available on Presto a week after the CD release.
British cpo CD releases often lag behind availability from jpc by a couple of months, of course.
Listed now on Presto: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9544212--natanael-berg-symphonies-nos-4-5 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9544212--natanael-berg-symphonies-nos-4-5)
Release date of December 1st.
Album is now streaming on Spotify, Amazon Music and Qobuz.
Wonder if these works were ever commercially published. SMIC may have them though...
For the publishers, follow the jpc link above to the CD and consult the image of the rear insert.
Thanks!
Also, I failed to look them up under their nicknames (Worldcat still lists nothing, B&H or otherwise, for symphony 5/"Trilogia", but it turns out that Fleisher has the score & parts of the 1918 Pezzo sinfonico- so listed by them- in a copy from the Philadelphia Orchestra...)
A slightly broader-based search may turn up something though at the moment mostly it's making me think questions like "I wonder if "Kantat till åminnelse av Karin Åhlin" is interesting"
Cheers!
Berg's fourth symphony was the result of a bet with Kurt Atterberg to produce an "un-Scandinavian" symphony to counterweight the usual dark, lengthy, philosophizing fare (e.g. Stenhammar's 2nd, Atterberg's own 3rd and particularly Rangström's First); the timing (1918) probably played a role, too. Both attempted to produce more playful, lightweight (in every sense of the word) works, in both cases their 4th symphonies (although strictly speaking Berg's 5th*). For Berg it was this Pezzo Sinfonico, for Atterberg his Sinfonnia Piccola. But while the latter is arguably the more accomplished composer of the two, Berg stuck closer to the plan; Atterberg's 4th sounds monumental by comparison, and there's little piccolo about it apart from its length. Although even Berg's symphony gets more stereotypically Scandinavian as it gets closer to the finish.
As a composer Berg somewhat reminds me of Klenau. Despite some very superficial experimentation (particularly with chromaticism) he's still a romantic at heart, although less comfortably so than Atterberg or Lindberg. Very much an 'intermediary figure', on the way to a later generation of people like Hilding Rosenberg and Gösta Nystroem.
* The symphonic poem Varde Ljus (let there be light) from 1914 was originally presented as a symphony (his second) à la Antar, which led to some numbering misunderstandings.
Stenhammar 2 "philosophizing"- I wonder if Atterberg was thinking of Russell and Wittgenstein :)
Quote from: eschiss1 on Sunday 12 November 2023, 13:15Stenhammar 2 "philosophizing"- I wonder if Atterberg was thinking of Russell and Wittgenstein :)
Must have been Wittgenstein, since his brother was a pianist. The musical connection, you know.
I must say I'm quite fond of the Berg fourth. I bought the whole set of the five Berg symphonies, but the final disc of the Fourth and Fifth is the only one that I will keep. The Fourth strikes me as the right blend of seriousness and dignity, mixed with good nature. The Fifth is not bad, albeit a bit too expansive, but the others have too much of a Hollywood air for my taste, a problem I had with the Rangstrom symphonies too.
However, everyone should judge for himself. Give them a try.
The 5th Symphony dates from 1924-6 and is in three movements, hence 'Triologia delle passioni". It is a striking work in a darkly late-romantic and chromatic idiom, evidently expressive of suffering in the opening movement and deeply felt. The second movement combines slow movement and scherzo, with a particularly affecting passage eventually emerging out of the opening bars only to be submerged by scampering strings (the scherzo section). Peace ensues, although struggle is involved, the mood changing swiftly as the music progresses. The finale continues the theme of struggle, only now more violently, with sorrow gradually countered and conquered. Victory is at last won, but the attempt at a transcendant-sounding resolution doesn't really work. The fade-out ending is lovely, but it would take a greater composer to move this listener.
This is certainly eventful music. Is it particularly personal, though? I'm not sure. There doesn't seem to be an individual voice here. Although inventive, the impression is of an all-purpose late romanticism. Its most effective moments are probably the darker ones...
As a whole, this recent release makes for a nice listening session where luscious late-Romantic gestures and splendid orchestration are the rule, but these two symphonies are hardly essential I'm afraid. I wish there were more discernible and memorable tunes / thematic material on them. Anyway, thank CPO for completing another symphony cycle (now I'm waiting for them to complete Louis Glass's cycle).
Agreed. I remember the mood(s) of the music, but not much more...
Quote from: Alan Howe on Monday 13 November 2023, 16:35This is certainly eventful music. Is it particularly personal, though? I'm not sure. There doesn't seem to be an individual voice here. Although inventive, the impression is of an all-purpose late romanticism. Its most effective moments are probably the darker ones...
For me this is the crucial difference that makes Atterberg the better, or at least the more memorable, composer of the two. Atterberg's music is instantly recognizable, Berg's not so much.
There's a few others they've begun that I hope they will finish, of course :) - if this is in the realm of possibility.