Suter Symphony from Musiques Suisses/MGB

[Alan Howe]

...with Douglas Bostock conducting:
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Hermann-Suter-1870-1926-Symphonie-in-d-op-17/hnum/1454225

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Anyone aware of any compelling reasons why this new Bostock recording might be preferable to the older one by the Moscow SO / Adriano on Sterling?

[Alan Howe]

Dunno - yet. I'll let you know when it arrives...

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Thank you, Alan. When the Sterling disc was released about 10 years ago there were two reviews on MusicWeb. Rob Barrett seemed, on balance, favourable to both the work and the performance of it. The other review was rather dismissive, claiming the symphony was overblown and like Strauss on a bad day.

But I'm a sucker for curiosities, so I guess the new Bostock recording will be added to the wants list. It reflects my own preferences and prejudices, but rather than a second recording of a possibly loud and blowsy piece I'd much prefer recordings of Suter's chamber music - looks as if there's a nice little cluster of string quartets and the like.

[Alan Howe]

Maybe this new performance will make the symphony sound less loud and blowsy...

[X. Trapnel]

Suter's violin concerto sounds like what one wishes the other Bruch vc's sounded like.

[FBerwald]

@X. Trapnel. Im quite happy with how the "other" Bruch Violin Concertos sound!

[Alan Howe]

Me too. In any case, Suter's VC is clearly by a much later composer.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

...and carried over from the other thread that Alan sensibly transferred here.

I hope, Jeremy, you will be kind enough to let us know your account of the Bostock version when you've listened to the disc?

[Gareth Vaughan]

The Suter VC is a gem. However, the only recording of it (now no longer available) came coupled with a concerto by another composer which was definitely not the sort of work that would be enjoyed by contributors to this forum (it wasn't enjoyed by this one!).  I hope Hyperion will record it in due course with a more appropriate coupling.

[Alan Howe]

The Suter Symphony's quite a piece - just the sort of late, late romantic work to get the juices going. Glad your post has reminded me to have another listen, Jeremy. Thanks!

[Miles R.]

Maybe this new performance will make the symphony sound less loud and blowsy...

Well, it hasn't got the Loud and Blowsy Symphony Orchestra—I mean the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, so here's hoping. 

[DennisS]

Reading this thread reminded me also to have another listen to the symphony. A fine work. Thanks for the reminder.

[Ilja]

It's been a while, but readers would perhaps appreciate these Youtube videos of Bostock conducting the Argovia Philharmonic in the Suter symphony, recorded last May:


1st Movement: [size=78%]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y15oF2paddM[/size]
2nd Movement:  [/size][size=78%]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JhWyNbBQ98[/size]
3rd Movement: [/size][size=78%]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvJ9cd5vmXQ[/size]
4th Movement: [/size][size=78%]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk3L855YDjw[/size]

[adriano]

When I recorded Suter's Symphony with the MSO in 2002, I had planned to couple it my own string orchestra version of his magnificent (but very difficult) sextet; but the players could not cope with it. Sorry that my interpretation causes some harsh reactions in here. It is a rather loud (and, occasionally Straussian) piece - and this not only due to my interpretation... The last movement can be considered as the weakest - and I have tried, with various tempi changes, to make it a bit more "tempered". The Violin Concerto would have been another coupling alternative, but there were various reasons against this idea. The recent Musiques Suisses CD is a very good recording; after all, Bostock is a better and more professional conductor that I am - and he got much more time to rehearse...