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Louis SPOHR (1784-1859)
Overture: Das befreite Deutschland, WoO64 1814 [8:10]
Symphony No. 4 in F major Die Weihe der Töne, Op. 86 1832 [36:27]
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 102 1837 [33:19]
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana/Howard Shelley
rec. 23-27 April 2007, Auditorio Stelio Molo, Lugano, Switzerland
HYPERION CDA67622 [78:00]

 
Spohr Symphonies from Hyperion
1 / 2 CDA67616
3 / 6 CDA67788
 
Spohr composed nine published symphonies between 1811 and 1850. A tenth was composed in 1857, but this had to wait until 1998 for its first public performance and remained in manuscript until it was published in 2006.
 
It was after Spohr’s move to Kassel in 1822 and then to Leipzig that his artistic emphasis switched from virtuoso violinist and the churning out of numerous violin concertos to the writer of symphonies..
 
Alongside these accomplishments his roster of cantatas is substantial. Das Befreite Deutschland (German Liberated) was written to mark the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Premiered in 1815 at Frankenhausen, its overture provides the curtain-up for this disc. It's the second in Hyperion's estimable Spohr symphony series. The overture follows a recognised pattern. There’s an ominous and pregnant Beethovenian preamble preceding a vigorous Schumann-inflected Allegro which is stirringly sanguine. The template suggests Weber's opera overtures such as Euryanthe and Oberon. The Fourth Symphony is a grand work - probably the most epic of Spohr's ten symphonies. The Largo-into-Allegro first movement tracks through a very deliberate introduction with Egmontian anxiety to a more serene bel canto style which carries over into the pensive and then Mendelssohnianly chuckling Andantino. The third movement starts with brawly blown brass fanfares and a jinglingly military Tempo di Marcia. The final Larghetto-into-Allegretto is surprisingly overcast with a potently depressive Tchaikovskian droop to the proceedings. Shelley and his orchestra play with an admirable restraint and an unerringly apposite mood. The movement ends in a downward curving sigh that must have been revolutionary at the time. Most of the symphonies of that era end in the conventional tonal heroic gesture varied within only a very narrow compass.
 
Five years later came the Fifth Symphony - again in four movements. This winds from a thoughtful Andante into a troubled romantic Allegro, in turn ending in a conventional tonal ‘crunch’. The Larghetto has a sweet, even placid, temperament in touch with Beethoven's pastoral meadows. The little four minute scherzo provides vigorous contrast in which the echo-calling horns are very nicely caught by the engineers. There’s a touch of Schubert's Great C Major here. Another Presto confirms the second half of the symphony as providing a more exuberant and even tempestuous panel to contrast with the reflective steadier pulse of the first two.
 
Pleasing symphonies from Spohr. They deserve your attention and make a refreshing break from Beethoven. Spohr strikes out in individual directions in the Fourth. It contrasts well with the heart-warming yet convention-bound pleasures of the Fifth.
 
Rob Barnett