...forthcoming from dacapo:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9640029--bendix-symphonies-1-3
Dacapo has a reputation for following such symphonic recording projects through, so I'm really hopeful we'll have a full set soon.
Remember our despondency some years ago at the thought that labels would consider the Bendix symphonies "done" after the sub-par (IMO) Omsk set? We have arrived at a point where a fair bunch of previously very obscure works exist in more than one recording. Of course, there's still oodles of stuff that need to receive their premiere, but I consider this encouraging.
If they follow this up with Symphonies 2 and 4, we'll finally be able to retire the very disappointing Danacord/Omsk set.
Great news. Are they downloads only, though?
I don't think so - see this Amazon entry:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=bendix+dacapo&i=classical&crid=2WAJ04D46814O&sprefix=bendix+dacapo%2Cclassical%2C115&ref=nb_sb_noss
Thanks, Alan.
My copy of the CD arrived from jpc in Germany this afternoon. I must admit that I had completely forgotten what Bendix's Symphonies sounded like (the Danacord set of all four symphonies is very poor with regard to both performance and recording and doesn't exactly invite repeated listening).
Symphony No.1 in C major, Op.16 'Ascension' (more accurately 'Mountain Climb'), which dates from 1877-78, is actually quite a shock in terms of idiom, for this is quite clearly the work of a Wagner/Liszt disciple setting out a programme depicting in music a mountain ascent representing a sort of personal struggle for artistic acceptance. All in all, it's very different from the conservative tradition of Danish composers such as Gade and more advanced in idiom than, say, Raff (who, of course, was born nearly thirty years before Bendix). A closer match might be a composer such as Rauchenecker.
All in all, Symphony No.1 is a highly enjoyable work, more interesting for its idiom than its achievement, I think, but surely a landmark in Danish symphonic music. Now for No.3...
Symphony No.3 in A minor, Op.25 (1891-2) is a more confident work, this time in three movements (13:43; 7:30; 14:24) taking 35:37 in total in this new recording, with the central movement being the Scherzo. Once again, the influence of Liszt/Wagner is felt, although there is a gentler, more melancholy spirit at work here, especially in the opening movement. The Scherzo is one of those spooky/rustic romantic creations very much of its time, while the Finale is titled 'Elegie. Lento ma non troppo', a sort of milder Danish pre-echo of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique, but no less genuinely felt.
The performance and recording are both first-class. Bendix's is an original symphonic voice well worth getting to know. I'm not sure he's a major talent, but there's more to his music than one grasps at first hearing, perhaps something distinctly nordic. And the finale of No.3 really is quite something, full of melancholy and barely suppressed emotion until its eventual release in a blaze of glory, only to be cut short by a dissonance distantly related to the much more violent one towards the close of Bruckner's 9th. The ending is one of pain and (just about) resignation.
Let's hope that Dacapo have Symphonies 2 and 4 up their sleeves...
This is sounding like another disc for the want list!
It's fascinating music. I must listen to No.3 again soon!
Glad to have these symphonies in better performances and recordings. Can't wait to listen to these ones. I guess we'll have to wait one year or so for the other two symphonies.
Alas, those of us who prefer downloads over physical media will need to be patient for another month...
There's life in physical media yet, it would seem...
Oh, I'll wait; Bendix is not that central to my happiness. Anyhow, Danacord's archaic web site does suggest that they haven't fully embraced the digital age yet.
In general, the sale of physical media seems to have been slightly on the up (https://deadline.com/2024/03/recorded-music-sales-2023-streaming-vinyl-1235869333/) for a few years now, although in general CDs are vastly outsold by LPs these days.
For myself, it is "pride of possession". I like to view my prized LPs and CDs, and read the booklets.. Downloads just don't interest me - I might just as well wait to listen to YouTube offerings. It took me nearly 30 years to embrace CDs,and I have had a lot of catching up to do, but that is as far as I am going. The Jurassic is fine for me.
Of course,all this means that i have only just purchased the Omsk. Ah well!
Well, if one has YouTube premium, it's one thing. I do subscribe to Amazon unlimited, but listening to things with YouTube means ads randomly placed everywhere (and not just for copyrighted works, and performances there without permission. Mind, I suppose there's a question whether the video I was listening to of a recital performance of Draeseke's clarinet sonata a couple of days ago- one of his most performed and uploaded works- was using the Kistner or Wollenweber edition, but I don't know if YouTube really cared...)
Anyhow, enough griping on my part, you do have a good point on the whole, and there are things only available one way and only available the other...
Quote from: Ilja on Wednesday 31 July 2024, 11:07Oh, I'll wait; Bendix is not that central to my happiness. Anyhow, Danacord's archaic web site does suggest that they haven't fully embraced the digital age yet.
It's a dacapo release, thank goodness. (I get them muddled up too!)
I'm not the biggest advocate for Danish composers as even Nielsen has failed to really register with me despite repeated listens. However I do find Victor Bendix rather interesting and I like the general way he handles the orchestra. His symphonic progression is a bit unusual for the times I think. The Symphony 1 seems influenced by Schumann and early Bruckner (it was roughly contemporaneous with the B7) while the Symphony 4 is heading towards the Sibelius of Sym 3 and 6. It was written while Sibelius was composing the Symphony 3. His music lacks a certain clarity of phrase structure but is still interesting. I find a mild parallel with the Swiss Robert Hermann who is also a bit enigmatic.
Nielsen is a radical symphonist. Even his 1st Symphony is like a stiff breeze blowing in the muggy sludge of late-romanticism with all its excesses. Bendix is an individual voice too, but one who takes the musical apparatus of the more progressive composers of his day and produces his own rather particular blend. Speaking personally, I don't hear any pre-echoes of his younger Scandinavian contemporaries such as Nielsen or Sibelius whose idioms are far more pungent and personal than the rather milder, but still attractive music of Bendix.
Bendix and Hermann have more in the way of discernable melodies than Nielsen, particularly Bendix's 3rd symphpony.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Wednesday 31 July 2024, 22:16I don't hear any pre-echoes of his younger Scandinavian contemporaries such as Nielsen or Sibelius whose idioms are far more pungent and personal than the rather milder, but still attractive music of Bendix.
My post referenced the Symphonies 3 and 6 of Sibelius which I don't think fit a description of pungent but all this is subjective. I didn't mention Nielsen as a point of contact with Bendix but was just noting my inability to connect with his music. FWIW Bendix is the Danish composer I find most listenable. I was mostly remarking on the unusual progression from a 3Q 19th C Romantic symphony 1 to a quite different and not at all neo-Romantic Symphony 4 that one would have expected but something moving to a lighter style. I look forward to the Da Capo releases because I only heard the Omsk CDs but can't find them in the usual places.
All I was suggesting is that the more powerful and progressive idioms of Nielsen and Sibelius (both very different from each other) are quite different from the much milder but still interesting voice of Bendix. I simply don't hear much more than an incidental likeness to the music of those two much greater composers. But that's just how I hear him. So, for example, Nielsen is a much more thorny listen, probably even than Sibelius; both offer excitements in their music that are far in advance of Bendix - so much so that comparisons are, to my mind, rather forced, whereas consideration of Bendix's predecessors/contemporaries, e.g. Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Bruckner and maybe some of the Russian nationalists is more likely, I think, to help us identify the influences upon his music.
Justin- er, how much Nielsen do you know?
I regret even mentioning Nielsen en passant.
Anyone should like Nielsen's 1st. Try this splendid performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkhRX2vL-LY
I was thinking, in terms of memorable themes, his songs/vocal works, actually. Eg the early Sømmersang from the Op.10 set, or several others...
Yes I was referring to his symphonies, Eric. Tunge, Mørke Natteskyer is a great song, so I agree with you on the vocal works.
Anyway back to Bendix: The third movement Marcia solenne. Andante sostenuto from the first symphony will be released tomorrow. https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9640032--symphony-no-1-in-c-major-op-16-ascension-iii-marcia-solenne
I assume this is a teaser by Dacapo to create interest.
Alan do you know what the recording dates are for this according to your CD? Perhaps we will get the other two symphonies in a similar timeframe.
The recordings were made between 7th and 10th June 2022.
Symphonies 1 & 3 are now available on Presto and Amazon as of late last month, I see...
Of course, Bendix started out about ten years before either Sibelius or Nielsen, and that was a very important ten years; at this time Gade's influence was still very noticeable in Denmark, and also as Bendix's teacher. Probably as a consequence, Bendix's first symphony sounds quite Mendelssonian in places, particularly the middle movements. On the other hand, it is a cyclical work composed in C major, a key that Gade never used for a symphony. Bendix's set of four symphonies shows us the development of a composer influenced by Gade and Liszt in No. 1 to someone who'd clearly heard Nielsen in No. 4.
To come back to this recording, it is obviously a huge improvement over the old Shestakov set, and well played. The standout here, in every way, is No. 3, and to me this is pretty much perfectly executed. I have some niggles about the first though; the first movement still is troppo Adagio for me, while the finale, particularly the first half, sounds too animato for my liking. Despite that, I hope Dacapo will continue in their effort and give us the other two symphonies.
Thanks for the notice. In the Amazon cart.
Hurwitz's review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVSpFnmnAPE
This is a brilliant master class. As someone who taught English at secondary school level and has worked extensively in copy-editing I can confidently state that Hurwitz is spot-on in his criticism of the "reviews" submitted to him by would-be musical critics. He gives praise where it is due but is unsparing in his judgement on style, form and language, as well, of course, of basic accuracy. Those who wish to write well should listen to him and learn from his strictures.
Agreed - thanks, Gareth.
My only reservation in this regard would be to wonder whether Hurwitz obeys his own strictures in assessing other unsung music.
I'd also argue that he spends far too much of his time as a critic on (a) the standard repertoire in general and (b) the every-growing pile of new recordings of Bruckner (and, to a lesser extent) of Mahler in particular.
My other reservation concerns Hurwitz's preference for quasi-improvised video presentations over more carefully considered written articles. Far too often a positive assessment will go something like this: "It's wonderful - it really is." That's a content-free word-salad as far as I'm concerned.
In this particular case I rather missed Hurwitz' personal opinion of this recording; it rather gets lost amidst the deconstruction.
While Hurwitz is of course correct in his listener comment critique, I wonder if the commenter isn't more in tune with the internet audience? Is it going to sell more Bendix to talk about his symphonic development or to dwell on his life as a wild living pop star in Old Denmark?
I would imagine that only those interested in the music will buy this recording. I want to know more about the music he wrote, not his personal peccadillos!
Here's a perceptive and appreciative review:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/bendix-symphonies-1-3-dacapo/
A very thoughtful piece, also because it limits itself to incorporating biography insofar as it is relevant to the music; texts about Bendix far too often obsess about his private life. Barnard is perhaps a bit too kind to the Shestakov cycle, which for me remains a textbook example of how not to unearth unsung repertoire.
Agreed, Ilja. We don't need all the sordid details of the composer's life constantly regurgitated. We need to know about the music and the performances - which is what we get in this latest review. And what's more, I think the reviewer gets the music about right.
Looking forward to Symphonies 2 and 4 from the same performers/label...