Robert Schumann made it onto my Top 100 list of Classical Music Favorites with one of his piano works, and that, in a way, mirrors my knowledge of Schumann’s music – all piano and no orchestral works. Now, I don’t mean to imply that Schumann did not compose orchestral works – he did; I just know little to nothing about them – so I selected his very first piece for full orchestra to listen to this week, his Symphony No. 1 in B Flat.
Schumann composed the symphony in 1841 (he was 31 at the time), and prior to this he was known for his works for the piano and voice. It was his wife Clara who encouraged him to write symphonic music, noting in her diary, "it would be best if he composed for orchestra; his imagination cannot find sufficient scope on the piano... His compositions are all orchestral in feeling... My highest wish is that he should compose for orchestra—that is his field! May I succeed in bringing him to it!" The symphony consists of four movements, and the premiere took place under the baton of Felix Mendelssohn in March of 1841 in Leipzig, where – according to an article on Wikipedia (HERE) – “the symphony was warmly received” – and that two word description aptly summarizes how I responded to hearing the symphony now for a few times: it was “warmly received.” It is, indeed, a pleasant enough piece – lively at times and amiable – but it just wasn’t momentous or memorable. The first movement, Andante un poco maestoso – Allegro molto vivace, opens with a trumpet fanfare that called to mind the opening to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 – but that symphony was written between 1877 and 1878 so, obviously, Schumann was in no way alluding to it. However, that was the issue I had with Schumann’s work – I kept hearing other works and influences in it. A hint of Mendelssohn here, and a flash of Beethoven there – and even at about eight minutes into the first movement, there was a build up to a Wagnerian climax. The movement is pleasant enough, originally titled by Schuman as “The Beginning of Spring" (as he titled each of the four movements), and it was described by the composer as a "summons to awakening.” But it and the other three movements seem to be more copycat than original – and that statement might be unfair to Schumann because some of the works I “heard” in his symphony could have been written at a later date (as was the Tchaikovsky Fourth as noted above); however, for this work, it seemed to me that Schumann threw various composers’ styles and motifs into a Cuisine Art processor and blended it all into a mix of other the composers’ traits, tones and turns of a phrase leaving one to wonder what, exactly, is the Schumann sound?
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For my past ten entries, I listened to works by composers named on CultureTrip.com’s list of “10 Young Composers Who Are Redefining Classical Music," HERE. Therefore, since I have now written about ten contemporary pieces, I thought I’d turn my attention to something more traditional. I chose at random Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E Flat Major.
The Quintet was written in 1842, and it has four movements:
The work is certainly a pleasant if not lovely piece, though it is not particularly striking or memorable to me. I listened to Franz Schubert’s “Fantasie in F Minor” for two pianos for the first time this year (I wrote about it here), and it has really stuck with me. I listen to it quite often now. However, I’m not sure that will be the case with this quintet by Schumann. I did enjoy the piece. I liked it very much -- but again, while it is very pleasant music to listen to, there’s nothing particularly “catchy” about it. There’s nothing really memorable. It’s funny though that I say that the work is not “really memorable,” because I wonder if I’ve heard this piece before. There’s a passage in the fourth movement that I seem to remember. It starts at 23:02 in the YouTube video here. Have I heard this quintet before, and I just don’t remember it? Or does this passage just remind me of some other piece I’ve heard before? Comments under the YouTube video state that “Robert Schumann’s Quintet for piano and strings in E flat major has earned a place of distinction among piano quintets, one of only a handful...that are known to more than just a few performers.” The writer goes on to describe the work as “fresh, buoyant, and inventive” -- and that is true. Overall the work is very buoyant -- particularly the third movement, it’s a real foot-tapper -- and I suspect that the entire piece is fun to play. I just didn’t find it memorable. Impressive? Yes. Memorable? No. |
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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