Ernst Rudorff - Symphony No.1

[Reverie]

Well I hope it's been worth the wait -  here is my realisation:



RUDORFF -  1st SYMPHONY:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vLlNTPlTNo

[Ilja]

Having listened to the first two movements, it's absolutely been worth the wait, thank you!

We can now listen to all three of Rudorff's symphonies, even if the quality of the 2nd is rather rough (to put it mildly). It'll be interesting to take in his entire body of symphonies (excluding the Ballade perhaps, but at least including the Variationen für Orchester über ein eigenes Thema, Op. 24, which are also something of a symphony exercise).

Edit: I've done a bit more work on the archival recording of Rudorff's 2nd symphony in G minor (1890) in order to create a more enjoyable listening experience. You can download it here.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks for all the work on the recording of Rudorff's 2nd, Ilja. It's still a demanding listen, but is at least bearable now and does give a worthwhile impression of what the work would sound like played in a professional performance. Thanks too, of course, to Martin for the opportunity to hear the 1st - a very strong work, I think.

[Ilja]

It's a very interesting symphony, Martin. On the YouTube page you write how:

Rudorff – like Brahms – approached the genre of the symphony not directly, but first tested his skills as a composer of orchestral works

The result is very different from Brahms' first symphony, however. That is a supremely confident work, whereas I get the sense that Rudorff is still very much testing the waters here. It is often beautiful, but I'd say it's not particularly effective. Having re-listened to all three of his symphonies (and having been helped through the execrably executed second by virtue of a stiff drink) it is interesting to hear the growth in symphonic expression (perhaps again, contrary to Brahms), and the attainment of that confidence over time. I'm very grateful to you for giving us this opportunity.

[terry martyn]

I am very fond of his Third, anachronistic as it might have felt at the time of composition. But his (to my ears,tentative) First left me unshaken and unstirred. I abandoned it after the first two movements and returned to a German symphony seven years its junior,fresher,and more invigorating.  Martin  of all people will well know to which work I am referring!

[eschiss1]

German/Austrian symphonies composed or premiered in 1884 includes some rather well-known works, that I look at it

[Reverie]

Thanks for the comments.

Yes Ilja, I think "testing the waters" is about spot on. The final movement, a theme and variations (never liked these in a symphony particularly with one or two obvious exceptions) is a bit of a let down to be honest. This symphony could possibly be called a student work - but maybe that's not fair for a man in his late thirties with a great deal of experience behind him.

Another interesting work from this time which I'm looking into is Arnold Krug's Symphony (1876) - there's some quite powerful stuff in there and it has a symphonic expansiveness which I didn't expect.

[terry martyn]

Aha!  I thought the Rudorff was  composed and first performed in 1879.......

[eschiss1]

ah, then seven years its junior would be 1886, my mistake. (Could we be speaking of the C major symphony of one Felix August Bernhard... hrmm....!) Quite fond of a well-managed theme and variations myself, like the one that concludes Brahms 4, or the 3rd movement of Beethoven's 9th, or the 2nd movement of Stenhammar's 2nd, e.g. ... (or the finale of Stenhammar's 4th string quartet...)

[Reverie]

Aha!  I thought the Rudorff was  composed and first performed in 1879.......

I think it was completed in 1879 and first performed in 1881

[Reverie]

Quite fond of a well-managed theme and variations myself,

As am I 

[terry martyn]

It's the Fritz Kaufmann, I was referring to. Wonderful work.