Goetz Spring Overture

[JimL]

Semi.Serio, thanks for uploading this!  I used to own the old Genesis LP with the Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra conducted by Remoortel of the Symphony in F, this, and the overtures to Rimini and Shrew.  Now I can't even find the CD version of that available anywhere!  Bit just what exactly is the orchestra that Albert conducts?  I can find nothing that corresponds to "SWF RFO".  Is it the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg?  Because when I look up SWF Rundfunkorchester, that's what I get as its current name.  It used to be the Rundfunkorchester Des Südwestfunks, or variations thereof.

[eschiss1]

Apologies- what's the timing on the Goetz? Albert's recorded this work commercially for cpo on a CD that appeared back in the mid-1990s with the Radio-Philharmonie Hannover des NDR (timing, give or take seconds at the beginning or end, said to be 12 minutes 25 seconds, according to Allmusic.com)...

[sdtom]

I was not able to download the Goetz and listen to it.
Tom

[Richard Moss]

It took me two or three tries before the download worked but then it has been fine - I'm giving it a first listen as I type.

Thanks for the download - much appreciated.

Richard

[eschiss1]

BTW score and arrangement here at IMSLP; preface at Musikproduktion Höflich. First performed, it seems, 1877 May 8.

[semloh]

The finely crafted and evocative Frühlingsouverture has been on my 'wants list' for many, many years - so thank you, Semiserio, for making it available, and in such a carefully judged, expert performance. Marvellous! 

[JimL]

I interpreted the orchestra as being the Südwestfunk Rundfunkorchester for my iTunes file.  I hope that was a good translation of SWF RFO.

[sdtom]

I tried a second time and it worked! I'm now listening to it for the first time and what I hear I like.
Tom

[JimL]

Albert's performance is a shade slower than van Remoortel's, which I seem to recall was around 10 minutes.

[Semi.Serio]

Hi! I'm glad the Goetz upload was appreciated. A word upon the orchestra: There used to be two orchestras as a part of the Südwestfunk: the Symphonieorchester for the classical and modern repertoire (with conductors like Rosbaud to Gielen) and the Rundfunkorchester for lighter music (operetta, symphonic dances etc., like the BBC Concert Orchestra; this is the orchestra playing the Goetz Overture). But they played a lot of rarities, too, especially under Emmerich Smola (1922-2011), a Bohemian conductor. The Südwestfunk was merged with the Süddeutscher Rundfunk some years ago, it is now called SWR and still owns two orchestras: the SWR Symphonieorchester (ex SWF SO) and the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester des SWR (ex RSO Stuttgart). These ones will also disappear. In twenty years, the Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg will have merged three full orchestras into one, which also means that they will play less and less unusual repertoire.
Best
SemiSerio

[Martin Eastick]

By way of interest, I was looking on Amazon.co.uk for a copy of the CPO anthology of the Goetz orchestral works for a friend, prompted by this thread. Having located the appropriate copy, I noticed a review which goes to prove that there is still the most ridiculous bias out there, with the likes of Raff, Kalkbrenner, the Scharwenka brothers and Henselt (and others, whoever they may be?) being described producing "a great mass of thoroughly mediocre stuff" - although the reviewer does go on to compare these unfavourably with Goetz! Having described the "undiscovered masterpiece" phenomenon as a temporary craze, does anyone here think that this "craze" has passed with such repertoire being once again consigned to obscurity? Of the names mentioned, perhaps Kalkbrenner cannot be ranked with the others, but Raff.........? Perhaps this person knows Raff only by the Vox recordings and has not had the good fortune to have heard any of the subsequent performances..........

[sdtom]

Having spent many years in retail I'm not surprised at the comments that people/reviewers make about material they have little experience with.
tom

[JimL]

Hi! I'm glad the Goetz upload was appreciated. A word upon the orchestra: There used to be two orchestras as a part of the Südwestfunk: the Symphonieorchester for the classical and modern repertoire (with conductors like Rosbaud to Gielen) and the Rundfunkorchester for lighter music (operetta, symphonic dances etc., like the BBC Concert Orchestra; this is the orchestra playing the Goetz Overture). But they played a lot of rarities, too, especially under Emmerich Smola (1922-2011), a Bohemian conductor. The Südwestfunk was merged with the Süddeutscher Rundfunk some years ago, it is now called SWR and still owns two orchestras: the SWR Symphonieorchester (ex SWF SO) and the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester des SWR (ex RSO Stuttgart). These ones will also disappear. In twenty years, the Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg will have merged three full orchestras into one, which also means that they will play less and less unusual repertoire.

Best
SemiSerio

Thank you, SemiSerio, for your wonderfully informative and erudite explanation...and for affirming the correctness of my transliteration of the initials!

[chill319]

In twenty years, the Land of Baden-Württemberg will have merged three full orchestras into one, which also means that they will play less and less unusual repertoire.

As one who thinks Spengler had some intuitive insights, I thank my lucky stars every day that I was born before the late cultural flame of CD technology and international commerce burned out. Since 1980 it has been economically feasible for niche music (e.g., all 19th-century symphonic music) to be recorded and marketed as never before. This cannot last indefinitely.

@Martin Eastick. For what it's worth, it has long seemed to me that art music was during its early development much more dependent on the economies of courts than was literature (think Globe theater; think second-act ballets in Parisian operas). I'm not surprised, then, that a whiff of the courtier's uninformed and politically driven dismissal of creative efforts can still be detected in a goodly amount of musical criticism.

One of the things Unsung Composers fosters is an inclusive view of creative culture, where we can not only tolerate but revel in different approaches to art and craft, just as do readers of literature.

[semloh]

Sorry to wander off Goetz a bit here, but I don't believe there is any inevitability about the marginalization of his music or that of other UCs ... While their music may receive ever less attention in the concert hall, I think that's going to be increasingly true of much of the more standard repertoire too. Performances are becoming fewer, orchestras are fewer, and the programmes will be increasingly designed to please the minority who can afford to attend (or 'pop' a la Rieu, or crossover a la Katherine Jenkins). The lifeblood of classical music has become the digital recording... and I don't think we will see any diminution in the CD companies' search for new material.

As to Goetz, or any other UC, I don't think we need be concerned about the occasional ridiculous judgement that gets posted on Amazon, nor even the informed judgements of influential individuals within the music business. The task of the CD companies is to sell ... which means offering something that is not available elsewhere. So, I think they will always be recording new material, regardless of people's opinions as to its merit. Along the way, I am sure we'll get more Goetz, Raff, etc, etc. Hurrah to that!