Have you ever heard of Hugo Alfven? I haven’t -- or at least I thought I hadn’t heard of him until last week. At the time, I was taking my daily walk through my neighborhood, and I was listening to Gustav Holst’s “Walt Whitman Overture,” my selection for this blog for last week (HERE). I was listening to the overture on Spotify, and once the song ended, Spotify started playing other songs from the same genre and from composers similar to Holst. At one point a song came on that I recognized right way, but I had no idea what it was called, so I looked at my cellphone’s screen to discover that I was listening to “Swedish Rhapsody No. 1” (also known as “Midsommarvaka”) by Hugo Alfven. My guess is that you’ve heard it too. You can listen to it HERE. My first thought, though, was "who in the world was Hugo Alfven?"
Interestingly, Wikipedia lists four movements for the work (HERE), and YouTube and Spotify list five (HERE):
There were no real surprises with this symphony. It’s a pretty typical work for something written in 1899 -- except maybe that “Preludio” fourth of five movements -- what’s with that? I was surprised by the tone of the piece. A few weeks ago I reviewed Muzio Clementi’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major (HERE), and at that time I wrote, “It is lively and exuberant -- and is there any key more lighthearted than D Major?” Well, there are lively and exuberant portions of this symphony. However I was surprised by the greater emphasis on modulations to minor keys and the amount of struggle this symphony evokes. I s'pose when I saw "D Major" I just expected more sunshine and...lollipops? Well...maybe sunshine and high spirits. The first movement opens quietly with a clarinet melody of dotted quarter notes and eighth notes that run to two tied whole notes over the course of four measures (see below). Alfven then plays on that melody throughout the first movement. And just how many variations could he come up with on that rhythm? Countless. The melody shifts from a solo, dolce clarinet to a lush, full strings section to an outright impassioned full orchestra. There’s a lot of melodrama here. At times I half-expected Dudley Do-Right to ride up on his faithful steed, but he’s Canadian so who would be his Swedish equivalent? The melodrama continues in the much slower second movement, but with a greater flair for mystery. A short section -- from the 8th through about the 20th measure -- reminded me considerably of Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” Remember that scene when John “Scottie” Feguson (Jimmy Stewart) followed Madeleine (Kim Novak) to the Mission San Francisco de Assis to visit the grave of Carlotta Valdes and then to the Legion of Honor Art Museum to gaze upon the Portrait of Carlotta? Alfven’s music fits that scene perfectly.
Later, around the 27th measure, the work becomes more desperate and dirge-like, and still later it becomes quiet and reflective -- and then throughout the rest of the movement, the mood alternates between pensive mystery, dramatic desperation, and quiet reflection. The third movement continues the mystery and the melodrama but just at a faster pace. Then came the fourth movement. Or was it the fourth and then the fifth movement? Or was it the fourth movement, part 1, followed by the fourth movement part 2? Well, the fourth movement (or the fourth movement part 1) is a gentle fugue that plays throughout the orchestra with a tranquil interlude toward the middle. The fifth movement (or the fourth movement part 2) picks up the tempo with yet another fugue, and it builds to various climactic sections with lots of big brass notes. At points, though, it all seems to plod along heavily. When I saw that the movement was marked “allegro energico” I expected some real foot-tapping energy like that of Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture” or maybe something like the fugue and finale of Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra" (talk about some big, inspirational brass notes). This symphony is certainly a pleasant enough work. I’m sure concert-goers would enjoy it in the concert hall, but it just wasn’t all that engrossing or memorable to me. I’ll be honest, I listened to this piece several times, and each time I found my mind wandering by the final movement (movements?). It just left me wondering, “What’s it all about, Alfven?”
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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