Customer Reviews

SMETANA: Festive Symphony

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Festive Symphony is an underrated work by Smetana. People who love "Ma Vlast" or symphonies of Dvorak should try this. The mainstream labels might provide you with better sound, they can not give you the choice to buy CD containing music hardly heard like this.

The Festive Symphony (or, actually, the 'Triumph-Symphonie', as it is called in German) is an early work by Smetana, later revised somewhat. He wrote it in honor of the marriage of the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Joseph, and although he dedicated it to the royal couple, they never acknowledged receipt of it and it was never played until years later. It is Smetana's only symphony. And it is clear that classic symphonic elaboration of musical materials is not Smetana's forte. The working out of the sonata-form of the first movement is predictable and, well, clunky. The language is rather like Schumann or early Brahms, but the materials are pedestrian and what he does with them doesn't turn them into gold. The second movement, largo maestoso, makes use of the Austrian imperial anthem (as do the first and last movements) and goes on much too long. The best movement of the four is the folk-tinged scherzo which shows some of the lively tune-making that Smetana later became famous for in his shorter, more Bohemian works. In later life Smetana himself conducted only this movement, possibly because by then the Austrian hymn had less positive connotations to his listeners.

The performance by the ORF Symphony led by Lothar Zagrosek is competent and they couldn't have been expected to raise this piece above its own level. The sound is somewhat murky.

This is attractive, well-crafted music that clearly presages Smetana's unique achievement in "My Country". I agree that it's not on a par with symphonies by masters like Schumann or Brahms, but that's not where Smetana was going. His destiny was to compose a music-cycle unique for the symphonic world as Wagner's "Ring" was for the operatic. The music of his "Festive Symphony" is rather more rhapsodic than symphonic, still yearning after the element that will galvanize it. If you love the "compleat" Smetana, you'll be charmed by this work, which is here neatly and gracefully presented, without excessive weight or pretension.