Karl Weigl Symphony No.2

[Reverie]

I have a PDF copy of the 2nd Symphony (all 655 odd pages!!)

I spent a bit of time looking at parts of the final movement and was drawn to a slower section near the end. It's very lyrical starting down in the basses and cellos and rising to a glorious "Mahlerian" climax for full ensemble.

It's worth a listen - only 4 minutes


LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MURxawlyRy0

[eschiss1]

Listened to it. Very impressed.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks very much indeed, Martin. It's certainly a purple passage - just wondering, though, whether it has the ultimate level of 'release' to rank with the best of his contemporaries. I think it might just fall short, impressed though I am...

[eschiss1]

For an only 4-minute excerpt from what seems to be a conceivably 20-minute very slow movement influenced by Mahler among others- I will say for myself that I am absolutely hoping to hear the whole thing one of these days, maybe on a cpo or Capriccio CD or even in concert (not likely in my area, where Mahler 5 is rare enough. Though NYC is not -that- far away.)

[Alan Howe]

Agreed, Eric!

Incidentally, friends may be interested in this entry at the Karl Weigl Foundation:

Mässig / Stürmisch bewegt
Lebhaft (Scherzo)
Pro defunctis (Adagio)
Sehr lebhaft (Zwischenspiel)*
Sehr mässig / Heftig bewegt (Finale)

Composition begun in 1919 and completed in 1922. The work originally comprised five movements; Weigl eventually dropped the original penultimate movement, titled Zwischenspiel*, and revised it as the Fantastic Intermezzo op. 18. One of the Liebeslieder of 1908 appears in the work as "träumerische Erinnerung," to quote Rudolf Stephan Hoffmann, and "Erscheinung," the first of the Three Songs for high male voice and orchestra of 1915 is motivically integrated in the movement. Pro defunctis may be performed separately. (asterisks added for clarity)

https://karlweigl.org/works.php?work=112

[John Boyer]

...I am absolutely hoping to hear the whole thing one of these days, maybe on a cpo or Capriccio CD or even in concert (not likely in my area, where Mahler 5 is rare enough. Though NYC is not -that- far away.)

You are not alone, Eric.  Based on posts now several years old at the Weigl Foundation site about a future recording, I have been continually expecting that Capriccio's next Weigl release would be the Second, but it appears they are saving it for last.  Of course, I heartily welcome all the others, but it's curious that this would be the one we are all waiting for.