Who would you consider a Brucknerian composer?

Started by swanekj, Thursday 08 July 2010, 01:53

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eschiss1


Hovite

Also, Josef Pembaur the Elder, although he is far more jolly, perhaps closer to Cowen, Goldmark, and Humperdinck.

jerfilm

I recall thinking that one of the Robert Herman Symphonys sounded quite Brucknerian but I don't recall which one and I'm not a home to check it out.  Maybe #1.

eschiss1

Quote from: jerfilm on Tuesday 14 September 2010, 15:56
I recall thinking that one of the Robert Herman Symphonys sounded quite Brucknerian but I don't recall which one and I'm not a home to check it out.  Maybe #1.
Yes, I thought no. 2 in B minor had quite a few Brucknerian chorales in its first movement.  A spooky effect (and movement), in my opinion.

Ilja

I'm not so sure about Stenhammar 1; yes, Brucknerian in form, but not at all in structure (closer to Tchaikovsky, even).

What about Paul Büttner? A strange mix of Wagner and Bruckner. Not unattractive, though.

Hovite

Quote from: swanekj on Thursday 08 July 2010, 01:53Would folks think of Schmidt-Kowalski as "Brucknerian"?

Yes indeed. The sound world is definitely Brucknerian, although the results are somewhat different. Another name to consider in this context is Magnard, although it is many years since I heard his four symphonies. It rather depends, of course, on what is meant by Brucknerian. If length is important, then Pettersson's 8th Symphony is a candidate. The notes for the CPO recording assert that it should be compared to Bruckner and Schubert. However, as a general rule, Pettersson is more akin to late Mahler (but a distant descendant, not a twin brother).

eschiss1

Some of the mid-century 20th century German composers (Johann Nepomuk David comes to mind but certainly many others?) influenced in part by Hindemith might also qualify - heavy use of chorale and fugue in many works including symphonies, much religious liturgical music - out of that same tradition of which Bruckner was in some general sense a member.

jerfilm


eschiss1

Quote from: jerfilm on Thursday 02 December 2010, 23:01
Also Richard Wetz.
Agreed. (First ran across his name, I think, in some contemporary - 1920s?- issue of the NZM- and was surprised, first, to see that his third symphony had once been recorded on LP (the version that's now on a Sterling CD); was surprised, too, to see cpo announce fairly soon after a recording of his first symphony; was glad to purchase it of course, and the second symphony soon after. Besides the symphonies have only heard the violin concerto so far unfortunately, though one of the string quartets is at IMSLP and I think the other one is at NYPL.)

Though... the early reviews of recordings of his first symphony "played up" the Brucknerian angle so strong ... (reviewer in Fanfare magazine when the first cpo CD came out, going for the hyperbolic exaggeration about Bader's Wetz 1: that you wouldn't know this wasn't a Bruckner symphony unless you knew all 9 (well, 11) of his symphonies backwards and forwards. or something like that. ... erm... no? (assuming) it's a Bruckner symphony, so- let's see-  last movement doesn't start with any sort of tremolo, so it's pretty definitely Bruckner 1 - except it isn't - end of story... also, soundworld and counterpoint aren't quite as Brucknerian as -that- description would imply. That said, it's still pretty Brucknerian, I have to agree, just not as copy-of-Bruckner-to-the-plate-numbers as the bad taste of that review etc. ...) erm.  Which may have encouraged some people to get the recording, discouraged others, and had no effect on those most others who never read that review, of course.

jerfilm

There is also his Requiem in b, opuw 50, Hyperion for baritone, chorus & orch and Summer Nights Dream for womens chorus and orch. available on CD.

chill319

Regarding Wetz and IMSLP, I have posted several requests on IMSLP's suggestion board for specific works -- the first Wetz quartet being one. In each case I have included copyright information and one or more holding institutions with call number. It may be pure coincidence, but every request I have thus made has ended up on IMSLP within two or three months. So I encourage others who enjoy access to scores to do the same.

eschiss1

Quote from: chill319 on Sunday 05 December 2010, 22:41
Regarding Wetz and IMSLP, I have posted several requests on IMSLP's suggestion board for specific works -- the first Wetz quartet being one. In each case I have included copyright information and one or more holding institutions with call number. It may be pure coincidence, but every request I have thus made has ended up on IMSLP within two or three months. So I encourage others who enjoy access to scores to do the same.
Oh, so you're the guilty party... er... I mean... I agree! I completely agree. (When the holding institution is one with an active scanning program like U Rochester for example, even better still, but even so (yes, ok, most people here know this), people at a university can generally of course borrow a non-locked-press score, take it home, and carefully use a home scanner... etc. Emphasis on carefully, he says, going ouch and being glad that the one scan I've done wasn't of a -library- copy...)
Eric

Lucanuscervus


Rainolf

I think that it is somewhat hard to find truely Brucknerian composers. There is maybee nobody, who sounds Brucknerian as Rietz sounds Mendelssohnian, or as Herzogenberg sounds Brahmsian.
Bruckner was in many ways a solitary figure, who couldn't be added clearly to one of the musical directions of his time. A Wagnerian, who wrote (characteristic but) not programmatic symphonies in classical structure. But there are, as I think, elements of his style, that make him equaly differing from Brahms as he does from Wagner. The latter two composers, as different there views were in generaly, shared an aesthetic of organical developments in music. Bruckner had another concept of building great musical architectures, which seems to be more based on mechanical progressions, as it is shown by his strict use of four bar phrases. Wagner and Brahms on the contrary  were more interested in the cultivation of odd phrases, which Schönberg called ,,musical prose". The views of Wagner and Brahms dominated the most musicians of the late 19th century, so Bruckner, I think, was mostly misunderstood by his contemporaries.
And the few composers who wanted to follow Bruckner seem to me to be led by a kind of ,,productive misunderstanding". You must consider in Bruckner's case, that some of his works were played in arrangements by his pupils even 40 years after his death. The composers of the early 20th century only knew Bruckner's symphonies in this versions. Imagine: Richard Wetz died in the same the year, when Bruckner's 5th symphony was played for the first time in its original version!
The Brucknerian influences on other composers seem largely superficial to me. I have named Wetz, and would add Rott, Sibelius (surely Bruckner's most productive heir), Robert Hermann (I don't know if he knew Bruckner's music, but he uses square phrases in a striking similar way), Hausegger, Franz Schmidt, Braunfels, Furtwängler, Wilhelm Petersen. Everybody a genius in his own way. They may have seen Bruckner as their idol, but nobody of them sounds truely Brucknerian to my ears, even if it is audible, that they recieved some inspiration from his works.