How did I happen to pick this piece to listen to this week? Here’s what I thought I would do: I would run a search on the Top 100 composers of classical music, pick a list and read from the top down, and then select a work from the first composer named about whom I knew little to nothing. So that's what I did. I ran a search and randomly picked this list from DigitalDreamDoor.com, the “100 Greatest Classical Composers,” HERE. I started at the top with Ludwig van Beethoven made my way down to #26, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Who? Well, I’ve never heard of Palestrina, but I was disappointed when I saw that he lived in the 16th century because I had recently listened to and commented on a work by Johann Pachelbel, who lived in the 17th century. I had hoped to choose something a little more current -- so I kept perusing the list. I ultimately decided to listen to a piece by Paul Hindemith. I knew the name “Hindemith,” but I couldn’t actually name a single piece by him. I went to YouTube and typed in his name, and “Symphonic Metamorphosis” popped up. That sounded interesting -- a piece focused on some sort of evolution or transfiguration -- and so here we are. It turns out that the piece is not an original work that changes or mutates in some way or another from beginning to end; instead, the full title of the piece, written in 1943, is “Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber" -- so this work is really just a set of orchestral variations on some of Weber’s music. The word “metamorphosis” seems to be a bit hyperbolic. “Symphonic Variations” might be a bit more accurate. Or maybe “Symphonic Metamorphoses” since Hindemith orchestrated several themes by Weber? The work is divided into four movements: 1. Allegro 2. Scherzo 3. Andantino 4. March After just two and a half measures of heavy beats in the bass, the first movement takes off abruptly, It’s a foot-tapper through most of the work, with a softer side here and there, but nothing about it really stood out to me as a memorable piece. The second movement opens with a chipper melody from a solo flute which is then echoed by a few other woodwinds, until a quiet drum line transfers the melody to the strings. At this point there is repetition after repetition after repetition of this refrain as more and more instruments and sections are brought in to play it. This goes on for about 130 measures, and while repetition -- if handled in an innovative way -- can be interesting (say, like Ravel’s recurring melody lines in “Bolero”), that’s not the case here. Even as the orchestration and the dynamics build as the piece moves forward, the repetition is more monotonous than inventive. However, things change about 150 measures in when the brass section launches a perky, syncopated fugue that circulates throughout the orchestra. It is exuberant. Things slow down in the third movement, and it is pleasant enough. Yes, it is pleasant. And through most of it there is a pleasant flute line soaring above the rest. **yawn** Suddenly there is a short fanfare in the brass as the fourth movement, the march, begins. Le ikthe first movement, it’s a foot-tapper, and it is dramatic enough. At times it seems like it could herald some adventure on the part of Indiana Jones -- so it is exciting and likeable enough -- but maybe just too predictable? Don’t get me wrong -- the variations -- er, the metamorphoses -- are okay. I just didn’t find them entirely satisfying. To be honest, I didn’t even recognize anything remotely related to Carl Maria von Weber -- but then again, I’m sure there are plenty of pieces by Weber I haven’t heard. Of course, everyone has his or her own taste -- what might be “meh” to me could be magnificent to another. When I selected this work to listen to this week, I read up on “Symphonic Metamorphosis” and found an article at WQXR.com by Fran Hoepfner entitled, “On a Lifelong Love of Hindemith’s ‘Symphonic Metamorphosis,’” HERE.
While Ms. Hoepfner loves the piece and returns to it “time and time again” and I found the piece to be pleasant but unexceptional, we do both agree on one interesting point: the importance of high school band. In her column, Hoepfner stated, “This was one of my earliest exposures to classical (music), introduced to me by my marching band, chopped and mixed and arranged for a 200-person band rather than a traditional orchestra. We also only played the final movement, so I listened to the other movements in all their baffling complexities on my own time. It remains one of the most enigmatic and adaptable pieces out there, and with each subsequent listen, I discover or fall in love with something new.” When I began this website, I started by listing my Top 100 Classical Music Favorites, and I would guess that I was introduced to at least a dozen of the works while I was in high school band. Of course, those pieces led me to other pieces and to works by other composers. Like Hoepfner, “with each subsequent listen" of my Top 100, "I discover or fall in love with something new.” So give Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis” a listen. It just might be the magnificent “something new” you’ve been waiting for!
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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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