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Site review by Castor December 4, 2007
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Performance: Sonics: |
The Overture ‘Aus ernster Zeit’ that opens this, the fifth volume of CPO’s excellent survey of Weingartner’s orchestral works, is an unusual, not to say bizarre, piece of music. The ‘serious time’ in question is the Great War (1914-1918) and Weingartner’s reasons for its composition seem rather ambiguous. Outraged by the “perpetual vilification of holy German music” following the outbreak of hostilities, he wrote the piece bringing together the National Anthems of Prussian Germany (Heil dir im Siegerkranz - better known in the UK as ‘God save the Queen’), France, Russia and Austria. The profits from the publication of the piece were to be used to assist German and Austrian musicians.
It opens with a restless dramatic theme that soon gives way to one of those rich, soaring and heart-warming melodies that Weingartner seemed to be able to produce quite effortlessly. Suddenly at 3’04 ‘God save the Queen’ emerges, quietly on the strings, and this is immediately followed by a distorted, almost Ivesian version, of the Marseillaise from the winds. After some development of all this material and the fragmented introduction of both Russia and Austria into the mix, Haydn’s well-known Emperor’s Hymn is stated softly on the organ. The music builds in excitement and reaches its climax with a grandiose statement of the Haydn, first on the brass and then the full orchestra. The overall impression left by this ‘pièce d’occasion’ is of a pot-pourri of Wellington’s Victory, the 1812 Overture and the Brahms Academic Festival Overture, all no doubt well known to Weingartner when he was composing it.
The remainder of the disc is devoted to the substantial 5th symphony (43’41) and Weingartner, the composer and pre-eminent Beethoven conductor, must have been aware that writing a Symphony No. 5 in C minor would not only be a considerable challenge, but also raise high expectations from any audience. Unfortunately he fails to meet that challenge and the result is a rather conventional work with a pleasant, but not overly dramatic first movement rescued by its attractive second subject, a gentle consoling melody riding over a four note pulsating background. The Bruckner of the 7th and 8th symphonies is clearly the model for the two movements that follow. The ‘Allegro scherzando ma poco moderato’ is distinguished by the ravishing melody of its trio section while the character of the lovely slow movement could best be described as more humane, but certainly less spiritual, than the epic grandeur of those of Bruckner
The finale, a sonata fugue movement that follows without a break, strikes me as the weakest part of this symphony. It opens with a rather dry academic theme on the strings that is developed at length and with increasing complexity by the full orchestra, but it seems to be going nowhere and eventually Weingartner brings the symphony to an end with something of an anticlimax.
In spite of my doubts about the musical quality of this symphony as a whole, there is still much to enjoy, not least its memorable melodic content, and those who have investigated the first four releases should not hesitate to acquire this one.
I have no reservations whatsoever about the committed performances of both pieces by Marko Letonja and the fine Sinfonieorchester Basel, that, as on the earlier releases are first-rate. The recording quality is exemplary. It captures the rich and spacious acoustic of the Casino Basel, Musiksaal and has both depth of soundstage and considerable weight at the bass end of the spectrum. I hope that we will not have to wait too long for the final two Weingartner symphonies to appear.
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Copyright © 2007 Graham Williams and SA-CD.net
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