Let's all learn a new symphony !

[Petrushka]

I bought the Polyansky/Glazunov set a few months ago but haven't yet heard most of it. The Glazunov sumphonies are entirely new to me.

The 6th is also the Sibelius symphony I know least. BPO/Karajan for me in that.

Another candidate: Bruckner 2. I've never got into this one at all despite several hearings. It still remains practically unknown to me even with 4 versions on my shelves. Can anyone help me with it?

[Pabmusic]

Can I be greedy and have 6.
Up until about a month ago I had never listened to a single symphony by Martinu.

Aren't they good, though? I understand (perhaps) why they haven't been as superficially popular as many contemporaries - something to do with the idiosyncratic scoring and complexity of thought - but I find them very satisfying. If you agree, you might try Edmund Rubbra's symphonies as well, because there's a similar thought-process happening in those.

To go Russian, can I also plug the two by Vasily Kalinnikov; 1 is reasonably popular among youth orchestras, but neither is exactly well known. They're both tuneful (memorably so) and well crafted in a sub-Tchaikovsky/Borodin/early Rachmaninov way. I once conducted No. 1 with an amateur group and recall a guest player dismissing it (as only horn players can, I've found!) as 'film music', which is actually a nice compliment for something from 1894!

As for me, I'm going to try Raff again - I haven't succeeded yet, but I have the 5th symphony here. He was very well thought of in his lifetime, so there must be something. If only I could find it ...

[jayne lee wilson]

My own offerings would be Dvorak No.1. especially in the Rowicki recording. Tuneful and dramatic, expansively lyrical and yes, Wagnerian! Try it, you'll be amazed.
How about Enesco No.3? That long, glitteringly delicate, choral and orchestral fade-out to the finale...
You probably know Roussel 3 & 4, but try delving among the pages of his brooding, darkly complex no.2 (you keep going back for more because it always just evades your grasp...), or his sensuously beautiful No.1, the Poem of The Forest.

Petrushka, have you got the Tintner Bruckner 2 on Naxos? It's the complete original text, gorgeously recorded and truer to the leisurely unfolding of the piece than most others. It (memorably) uses the horn, rather than the clarinet at the end of the andante - perhaps play that movement on its own to find your way in? It's one of his loveliest. The best of the revised versions just has to be Giulini/VSO on Testament - one of the most glowingly beautiful orchestral recordings (so cello-led!) of, well, anything.

When the new Behlolavek Martinu appeared I played through the glorious Bryden Thomson one (so underrated!) to see if i wanted another. I enjoyed them so much it took weeks to finally order the new one, but it too is very fine. Suddenly Martinu is making sense to me, there's that thrilling feeling of falling in love with music afresh! So I ordered the Vaclav Neumann cycle from HMV Japan in the 2005 Mastersonic transfer... so sharp, fresh and powerful, could have been recorded yesterday!

Like Bartok, the music of Martinu is often turbulent and intense, seeking calm through conflict; how wonderful are the slow movements!
I've had a tough time of it recently, life and business, and found my early love Bruckner impossible to listen to... in Martinu (and Bartok) I found a way back into listening, when almost anything seemed too happy or too sad.

It gets harder as you get older, to find new things to discover, but how exciting it is, perhaps the best musical experience you can have.

I bought the Polyansky/Glazunov set a few months ago but haven't yet heard most of it. The Glazunov sumphonies are entirely new to me.

The 6th is also the Sibelius symphony I know least. BPO/Karajan for me in that.

Another candidate: Bruckner 2. I've never got into this one at all despite several hearings. It still remains practically unknown to me even with 4 versions on my shelves. Can anyone help me with it?

[Dave2002]

I bought the Polyansky/Glazunov set a few months ago but haven't yet heard most of it. The Glazunov sumphonies are entirely new to me.

It might take a while to get into these, but it could eventually be worth it. Number 4 has a beautiful opening with a cor anglais, though some versions manage to make it sound less lovely. Yondani Butt's version of that is very good.

For about £6 I'd strongly recommend that you also get Fedoseyev's MP3 download - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glazunov-The...8570481&sr=8-6 or the slightly cheaper collection which omits the Slavonic Feast(?) and the E flat march. Personally I think there's more life in Fedoseyev's performances, and although the recording is slightly deficient, and there are spots of rough playing, for me overall it's a better experience. At the moment some CDs seem to be becoming available, but for a few years these were only available as downloads

You might decide to give up on these, but if you don't then you may later decide to try other versions, such as the BIS Tadaki Otaka set with BBC NOW (very good), the Serebrier set (which has Symphony 9 - may be even gloomier than 8), and the symphonies recorded by Butt (some of these are now available cheaply on Regis e.g. 6). I've yet to hear Svetlanov in these. This reviewer http://www.musicweb-international.co...v6_rrc1359.htm strongly recommends Serebrier's symphony 4 - but at a price.

It could take you quite a few playings to get into these, though numbers 1-3 are easy enough, and number 1 was a senstional hit for its young composer. I've never quite got into Polyansky's set myself, though it does have some rare extras - a choral cantata for a ceremonial occasion, for example.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Petrushka, have you got the Tintner Bruckner 2 on Naxos? It's the complete original text, gorgeously recorded and truer to the leisurely unfolding of the piece than most others. It (memorably) uses the horn, rather than the clarinet at the end of the andante - perhaps play that movement on its own to find your way in? It's one of his loveliest.

Exactly the recommendation I was going to suggest, Jayne. Tintner's is a fine set, but this Second is particularly fine: none better IMO.

Suddenly Martinu is making sense to me, there's that thrilling feeling of falling in love with music afresh!

Belohlavek's performances of these Symphonies were what removed the scales from my eyes about this composer. For over thirty years I made regular attempts to "get" this Music, all without success. Belohlavek and the BBCSO present Martinu's radiant sounds (full of glowing colours and shimmering textures) and the Symphonic logic of these works in ways that make me wonder how I could've been so stupid to have missed it before. (Suggestions on a postage stamp to Mrs Trellis, North Wales, please!) I'd also endorse Pabmusic's endorsement of the Rubbra cycle, which have similar "properties", although I don't think there is a single conductor who reveals the same sort of insights into these works as does Belohlavek with Martinu.

I've had a tough time of it recently, life and business, and found my early love Bruckner impossible to listen to... in Martinu (and Bartok) I found a way back into listening, when almost anything seemed too happy or too sad.

I'm really sorry to hear this, Jayne. I had a literally dread-ful time a couple of years ago: I found that I couldn't read fiction for nearly a year as a consequence. I hope this doesn't sound trite (it will inevitably sound inadequate) but I do hope things work out for you.

It gets harder as you get older, to find new things to discover, but how exciting it is, perhaps the best musical experience you can have.

Disagree with this. Now that I'm less concerned with my "career" (and have come to terms with the ridiculous aspects of my ego!) I find I have more intellectual space to investigate works and ideas that previously I wouldn't've given time to. I might even, given your "nod", give Dvorak's (as I remember it) tediously unmemorable First Symphony another go!

Best Wishes.

[Alison]

Any suggestions for a Martinu symphony to really get stuck into then, Ferney ?

Ive ordered the Naxos Bruckner 2 as well. Good stuff.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Try No 5. (There's a good performance - CzechPO/Neumann - on youTube: sound's a bit "boxy". Belahlavek does it better IMO!)

Best Wishes.

[Suffolkcoastal]

I've got recordings of nearly 1450 post Beethoven first symphonies plus a fair number 18th century ones. I am planning a symphony marathon for 2012 starting from Beethoven 1 in as near chronological order as I can which will give me a good chance to revisit some symphonies I may have only heard once and some I've recently downloaded/purchased and haven't got round to listening to yet.

Some suggestions for other MB's to try would be Kalliwoda nos 3 & 4 (very impressive and sometimes have reminded me of Schubert 9, though he couldn't have heard this work prior to writing them), the symphonies of Herman Koppel (a very underrated Danish composer) and the symphonies of Walter Piston and Roger Sessions (the latter will present challenging but ultimately rewarding listening).

[Petrushka]

Petrushka, have you got the Tintner Bruckner 2 on Naxos? It's the complete original text, gorgeously recorded and truer to the leisurely unfolding of the piece than most others. It (memorably) uses the horn, rather than the clarinet at the end of the andante - perhaps play that movement on its own to find your way in? It's one of his loveliest. The best of the revised versions just has to be Giulini/VSO on Testament - one of the most glowingly beautiful orchestral recordings (so cello-led!) of, well, anything.

Jayne, the Giulini/VSO is one of the 4 versions I have (the others are Jochum/Dresden Staatskapelle, Solti/Chicago SO and Karajan/BPO) yet it remains obstinately elusive. I'll look out for the Tintner - at Naxos prices it's got to be worth a go.

[Chris Newman]

Try No 5. (There's a good performance - CzechPO/Neumann - on youTube: sound's a bit "boxy". Belahlavek does it better IMO!)

Best Wishes.

Belohlavek and the BBCSO is the finest of many very fine full sets. I do not know which symphony I like best but Jiri hits the G spot in all of them with his Onyx set.

[BBMmk2]

Another cycle of symphonies worth hearing is that of Artur Honegger's. For a good starter for 10, I reccoend No.2.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Belohlavek and the BBCSO is the finest of many very fine full sets. I do not know which symphony I like best but Jiri hits the G spot in all of them with his Onyx set.

Yes ... YES ... YES

Bbm

Drier, more understated than the Martinu's, but with a quiet intensity all their own. Karajan in Nos 2 & 3 never equalled IMO.

[EdgeleyRob]

If you agree, you might try Edmund Rubbra's symphonies as well, because there's a similar thought-process happening in those.

Pabmusic,the Rubbra symphonies are favourites of mine.I am at a loss to understand why they are seldom played (surely there is room for one or two of them at the proms for example).

[johnb]

Slightly off on a tangent - anyone interested in Martinu should definitely listen to Sejna's electrifying performance of the Double Concerto for Two String Orchs, Piano and Timps. There isn't a CD available but it can be downloaded in mp3 format from:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dvorak-Suite-Matinu-Double-Czech/dp/B00000358O/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1318680727&sr=1-1

I don't know Sejna's recording of Dvorak's Symphony No 3 (in the same mp3 'album') but I will be getting the lot and listening later today.

[Pabmusic]

... the Rubbra symphonies are favourites of mine.I am at a loss to understand why they are seldom played (surely there is room for one or two of them at the proms for example).

I couldn't agree more: there's so much to enjoy. I suppose 5 is easiest at first hearing (Barbirolli recorded it), but they're all good and easily repay the listening.