Spohr Symphonies from Hyperion
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review
4 / 5 not yet reviewed
This is the third CD in Hyperion's Spohr cycle. Rather like Tudor's
Raff project this one was also preceded by a mixed origins cycle
from Marco Polo. When complete this will be the first Spohr symphony
cycle to be produced by one orchestra, one conductor and one company.
There are ten symphonies spanning the years 1811 to 1857. For
Spohr the symphony was a lifelong attraction to one of the world's
most demanding art-forms. By the look of it there’s another two
discs to go.
Before we get to the symphonies on this disc we hear the premiere
recording of the overture to an oratorio written in 1840:
Der
Fall Babylons. It was premiered at the Norwich Musical
Festival in 1842. Spohr’s oratorios were as popular in the Victorian
British Isles as those of Bruch, Dvorák and Mendelssohn. The overture
is a compact work of about the same length as Beethoven's
Egmont.
The work that had so impressed the Norwich committee as to result
in a further major commission was the oratorio
Des Heilands
letzte Stunden (known in the UK as
Calvary). The overture
smacks of Schumann especially in its vigorous aspects. Its structure
recalls the overtures of Weber with a subdued mellifluous prelude
preceding the restless and the almost heroic sections.
Then
we come to two romantic half hour symphonies. The
Third Symphony
is determined, sunny, smooth and reminiscent again of Schumann
this time in his Second Symphony. The second movement is sweetly
themed with some decorative woodwind work. The woodland Scherzo
trips along in pastoral contentment. The Allegro finale romps
cheerily with deft Rossinian lightness of spirit. The work ends
amid grandeur: drums and brass to the vanguard. The work was premiered
in Kassel in 1828 in a concert which also included Beethoven's
Choral. A decade later came the
Sixth Symphony.
The Historical Symphony is in four movements each modelled
on the music of a particular era. The first is
Bach-Handel
1720. It's fugal and has a weightiness that contrasts with
the Third Symphony. The accomplishment and confidence of a master
craftsman can be felt. Despite the schema Spohr does not impose
rigid pastiche constraints. This is Spohr with a nod towards fugal
Bach – no more. The
Haydn-Mozart 1780 - Larghetto is sweetly
rounded with some lovely airborne effects as at 00:54 where Shelley
pitches the transition so that the music takes delightfully to
wing. This is smooth and suave music. The
Scherzo represents
the
Beethoven period 1810 with quite a striking and patteringly
tense piece of writing. It smacks of a
Midsummer Night's Dream
- fairy stuff. The finale
1840 is stirring and somewhat
military in its percussion lines. The strings are delicate here
but not as rich as they might ideally be though I only noticed
this in this movement.
The whole is completed by Keith Warsop who is Chairman of the
Spohr Society of Great Britain. I hope that the other two instalments
are already in the bag.
Rob Barnett
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana/Howard Shelley 
