Emanuel Moór Symphony 2 in C (1895)

[Mark Thomas]

... and they don't disappoint. It's easy to see why Moór's contemporaries regarded this symphony as one of his best pieces, it's really very good.

[janbul]

Who are the performers???

[mikehopf]

Movements 3 & 4 just up on  youtube! Everything comes to him who waits!

[Mark Thomas]

Didn't have to wait very long!

[Mark Thomas]

janbul wrote:

Who are the performers???

Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra conducted by János Kovács.

[Alan Howe]

Yes, more good, strong stuff in these final two movements. What a privilege to be able to hear the whole thing. Thanks to Ilja for finding them and making them available.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Hear! Hear! Thank you, Ilja. At last we can hear ALL of this very fine symphony.

[Martin Eastick]

Having just (rather belatedly) listened to this for the first time, I was immediately impressed, and my due thanks to Ilja for providing this! Another fine example of what we are missing in today's extremely limited market for classical music it saddens me to say- especailly in the concert hall (much less so in the recording studio, but for how much longer?......). I never ceased to be amazed by the sheer quantity and diversity of excellent music of real quality produced during the 19th century, especially towards the end of this period. This simple fact is something that cannot and will not be replicated anytime soon unfortunately! Nevertheless in the meanwhile there is still much to rediscover from the likes of Moór and his contemporaries.......

[Simon]

According to a comment under the video of 3rd and 4th movements on (the very reliable) YouTube, there is a recording of this Symphony (and the Triple Concerto) currently in production by the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. No more details regarding if it's already recorded or the label, though.

[Mark Thomas]

Probably cpo, I imagine.

[Ilja]

Having listened to the symphony, the triple concerto, and the second cello concerto for a couple of times now, I'm really impressed by Moór's works. Particularly the symphony and the cello concerto exude confidence, and are both rhythmically and melodically very attractive. Despite the unavoidably diminishing returns in the quest for new works of quality, this is the sort of thing that gives me the energy to continue.

[Alan Howe]

The label might also be Capriccio.

[Alan Howe]

Listening and re-listening to the symphony reveals three things, to my way of thinking: firstly, thematically it's a really memorable work; secondly, it's a very busy score, with an enormous amount of detail in the writing. And thirdly, it often operates at full throttle, which may be its only downside. Now, of course, the symphony is subtitled 'In memoriam Kossuth Lajos'; Kossuth was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and Governor-President of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848–49 who had died in 1894, just prior to the writing of the symphony, so one might justifiably expect the tone of the work to be nationalistic, indeed heroic - which indeed it is. But is it too much so? What do others think?

[Mark Thomas]

"Full throttle" is spot on, Alan, but despite the lack of respite I do feel that Moór gets away with it because of the work's other qualities. Heroic the work certainly is, but oddly I don't feel that it's a particularly nationalistic work - there's precious little conventional Magyar colouring to it. No verbunkos rhythms or zither effects. In sum, Moór goes about as far as he safely can, but no further. I love it.

[Alan Howe]

I love it too. Just wondered what others thought...