Again? Yes, again. I listened to this symphony last week, but when I was about to post my comments and rating, I came across an entirely different composition entitled "Symphony No. 2" with the same opus number by the same composer. What's up with that? If you know anything about this -- why there are two different symphonies by Grechaninov numbered "2" -- please fill me in. The first movement of the symphony I listened to last week is HERE. The other symphony I discovered later in the week is HERE. This week I'm going to listen to the second Symphony No. 2, and then I'll write about both number 2s. Stay tuned -- or should I say "stay two-ned"? UPDATE: MYSTERY SOLVED Okay, so it turns out there are NOT two different Symphonies No. 2 by Grechaninov. Instead, a recording on YouTube -- the very performance I listened to on Spotify -- has the movements in the wrong order, and they are identified incorrectly. I didn't know the symphony well enough to pick up on this last night when I thought I had stumbled upon a completely different Symphony No. 2. I figured this out today when I sat down to listen to both symphonies. First, I listened to the opening movement on this recording, HERE. Then I listened to the first movement of the symphony I had previously heard on Spotify featuring the Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra, HERE. Then, I went back to the other symphony to listen to it's second movement and realized that it was what I had just listened to as the opening movement for the symphony with the Moscow RTV Orchestra. So here's how it breaks down: This recording, HERE, has the movements in the correct order (and the movements are very obviously in the correct order because the video has a score to the piece with which you can follow along). The Spotify and YouTube versions featuring the Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra have the movements mixed up. They have the second movement of the symphony, HERE, labeled as the opening movement. What is labeled as the second movement, HERE, is really the third movement's scherzo (I had wondered why the conductor was taking the andante piece at such a clip). What is identified as the scherzo, HERE, is really the symphony's finale, and what is labeled as the finale, HERE, is really the symphony's opening movement. To recap:
So now that I have figured all of this out, what do I think of the symphony? I'll gather my thoughts and post my comments and rating soon. Stay tuned! LOL -- after all the confusion detailed above, I hope I have all my notes right for the correct movements of this work.
The true first movement of the symphony opens with short fanfares with brass and woodwinds followed by soft, sustained chords in the strings. This leads to pastoral passages with flute trills, soft woodwinds, and lush strings followed by a sunny refrain in the brass. Some of the movement conjures a jaunty ride in the country or perhaps a woodland hunt. The second movement, marked andante, is beautiful. It opens with a slow, quiet pulse in the strings, and then a tender lament by a solo clarinet soars above. There is a hint, to me, of Tchaikovsky’s famous horn solo from the second movement of his Symphony No. 5 (written in 1888), and other sections of the movement are quite Tchaikovsky-esque, especially in the sway and surge of lush string passages. The scherzo in the third movement is quite energetic and playful. Toward the end it sounds more than a bit Mussorgsky-esque. Of course, when I listened to this on my first go-round with the movements in the incorrect order, this was labeled “Andante,” and I was completely confused. I kept wondering why the conductor was taking it at such a clip. I even looked up a “list of tempos from slowest to fastest” (HERE), to see if I could figure out what was going on. Now I know that the movement was labeled incorrectly. The finale, marked allegro vivace, is a busy, hectic -- but not frantic -- piece where the melody bounces from section to section by way of abrupt and nimble eighth notes. Flurrying but not feverish, the movement is a foot-tapper to be sure. Overall, I did enjoy Grechaninov's Symphony No. 2. I loved the second movement, the andante (which, at first -- due to the mislabeled movements on Spotify -- I thought was the opening movement to the symphony). I'll admit, though, my brain is a bit fried after all of this confusion. Hopefully, things will go a little easier next week with whatever piece I pick to listen to. ;-)
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Yikes! It's Saturday already, and the week is quickly disappearing. I've had a busy week, so I'm late in getting to Grechaninov's symphony, but I'll see if I can finish up my comments and rating today. I only had the chance to listen to the work once, earlier in the week, so I'll listen to it again and then complete this post later in the day. I'll confess right up front, though: Not only have I not heard this symphony before, I've never even heard of this composer, Alexander Grechaninov, a Russian Romantic composer. You can read a little bit about him HERE.
Composed in 1908, the symphony consists of four movements: I. Pastorale. Moderato assai e poco rubato II. Andante III. Scherzo. Vivo assai IV. Finale. Allegro vivace I got a chance to listen to the symphony earlier in the week, and then I listened once again today. On both of those occasions I listened on Spotify. Finally I started a YouTube version of the symphony on my laptop so that I could hear it again as I began to type my thoughts, but now I am confused as hell. Oops. Pardon my French.
The symphony linked above -- HERE -- opens by a short fanfare of brass answered by quiet, sustained notes in the strings. A second, short fanfare is met again by short, sustained chords in the strings before an oboe begins a sprightly tune to move the piece forward.
The symphony I listened to on Spotify -- like the YouTube video HERE -- opens with a quiet pulse of strings as a clarinet then soars above them with a beautiful but mournful lament. Both works claim to be Symphony No. 2, Opus 27, by Alexander Grechaninov -- but they are definitely two completely different compositions. I listened to the Spotify version, and then I was utterly surprised when the YouTube version began playing. Does anyone know anything about this mystery? I was all set to put down my thoughts on the Spotify version of Grechaninov's Symphony No. 2, but now I'm not ever sure if I listened to the correct work, so here is what I'm going to do: Since tomorrow begins a new week, I'm going to postpone the work I had originally selected for next week, and I am going to listen to the YouTube version of Grechaninov's Symphony No. 2 to see how different it is from the Spotify version -- and then I'll post my comments and ratings on both next week. So far I've only compared the first four or five minutes of the first movements of the two versions, but they are definitely different works of art. I do not know, at this point, if that holds true for the second, third and fourth movements -- are they the same or are they different? I'm so confused. Again, if anyone knows anything about this mystery please let me know. In the meantime, I'll listen to the YouTube version, and then I'll discuss both symphonies next week. Stay tuned! |
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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