As there is no recording that I'm aware of here is a very brief programme note to accompany the realisation.
1st mov - Slow introduction followed by standard Allegro in which this driving rhythm dominates. D minor on the whole.
|_|||_||_|
3
At over 13 minutes (and that's without repeating the exposition) this is a heavyweight movement. Solid exposition / development which is quite eccentric then recapitulation with coda as standard.
2nd mov - Trauermarsch but surprisingly with much in the major key. A very beautiful string section (marked p and ppp) after the initial brass fanfares. 8 minutues in length.
3rd mov - Scherzo in 3/4 time but exploiting a ||_| 2/4 cross rhythm across the barlines which adds to the playfulness of this movement. It's 6 minutes in length and I think I have the tempo about right. It shouldn't be too rushed.
4th mov - Allegro. This is a perpetuum mobile and provides a good workout for the 1st violins. It is a thoroughly delightful movement, bright and cheerful and predominately in the major key. It's just under ten minutes in length.
This symphony runs for about 40 minutes in total and is clearly a significant work. It seems to be labelled as D minor but to be honest most of it is in the major key. It begs for a decent recording. Hope for the future maybe?
I initially didn't warm to this symphony but I have to conclude that after two or three auditions I find myself in complete admiration of Otto's achievement. His magnum opus?
I hope you find it enlightening at least.
Symphony in D minor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnYB2v7Q2t4
This is magnificent work on a magnificent symphony. Thanks, Martin, ever so much.
Thank you so much Reverie. How do you work so fast? I've been putting together Borgstrom's Symphony in G from the handwritten parts (its full score is missing/lost), and I'm sure it will take another month for me. Regardless; it's fantastic to be able to hear this Symphony of Grimm's - I'll try to listen to it this afternoon.
Wonderful, Martin! Thank you so much. I'm delighted too that you've warmed to the work and that it bears out Chris Fifield's contention that it's a significant piece.
I too am full of admiration for your efforts, Martin. This is a really impressive symphony and I do hope your realisation will lead to its being taken up by some enterprising conductor and performed by a competent orchestra; and committed to CD. It is just the sort of repertoire that ought to appeal to CPO in this last respect.
This is surely one of the great unknown symphonies of the 19th century. It's crying out for a recording.
Maybe a project for Martin Anderson's Toccata?
And/or one of the Järvi family given that Grimm was from Estonia (a Baltic-German)?
The recurring motif in the first movement is almost exactly the same as the opening of Dargomyzhsky's overture to his opera Rusalka. I don't know if that's significant.
By the way, did you know there is a new edition of the score than the older Leipzig-Biedermann copy found on IMSLP? http://www.konsid-musik.de/KM092.html (http://www.konsid-musik.de/KM092.html).
This Symphony was premiered (I don't know if it means premiered in the States or anywhere – at least the concert brochure says "first time") in Boston in 1884. https://cdm15982.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/PROG/id/190119 (https://cdm15982.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/PROG/id/190119)
What a fine realization of this score. I had resigned myself to never hearing it but what do you know! It's been discussed so much that it seems like something CPO should have picked up a long time ago. Having heard it, well, now I must admit being somewhat disappointed. The first three movements are just textbook German routine. Although around 8 minutes in it sure sounds like Bruckner - those bass lines! Only in the finale does Grimm exert some energy and keep the music moving. But melodically, most of the symphony is pretty inert. Harmonically predictable. No real insights in the orchestra - although I like the use of the horns in the finale. Note spinning at its best. When you consider that only one year after this symphony came out Brahms would dazzle the musical world with his First, the Grimm seems pretty pale. I'm very glad to have finally had a chance to hear it, but like so many other symphonies of the era, perhaps its obscurity is understandable. Grimm was no Raff, no Bruckner or Brahms.
tpaloj- generally I think that means first time in Boston, not first time anywhere... but I'll see if any source I can find knows anything more...
A review of the reduction in the 1876 Allgemeiner Musikalische Zeitung, 1876 Jan. 12, says : "Die Symphonie ist bereits in Leipzig (unter Leitung des Componisten) , Berlin und Münster mit grossem Beifall zur Aufführung gekommen und wir empfehlen sie allen Musikdirectoren angelegentlich und zwar um so mehr, weil sie von Seiten der musikalischen Kritik bisher noch nicht diejenige Beachtung gefunden hat, welche sie verdiehnt. (See AMZ (https://books.google.com/books?id=VzRLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA19).)
("The symphony has already been performed in Leipzig (under the direction of the composer), Berlin and Münster with great applause and we recommend it to all music directors, all the more because it has not yet received the attention from musical critics which it deserves.")
This by way of possibly more or less proving it was premiered before 1884, at any rate.
I notice that there is an earlier (midi) rendition of the work on YouTube from 4 years ago, though I don't doubt that this one is probably better.
QuoteWhen you consider that only one year after this symphony came out Brahms would dazzle the musical world with his First, the Grimm seems pretty pale
Well, herein lies the problem. There is evidence to believe that the Symphony was begun as early as 1852; for further information, one needs to consult Chris Fifield's important book,
The German Symphony between Beethoven and Brahms, pp.267ff. The idea that the work is wholly a product of the mid-1870s is entirely to be rejected and reminds us all that publication dates can very often be misleading...
In any case, I find the symphony to be a very fine work - memorable, original and powerful. If Gernsheim in 1910 could sing the two-bar motif which opens the first movement following the introduction 58 years after Grimm had been working on it in their 'Leipzig time' together, it must have made quite an impression - as Fifield himself comments.
I have just been replaying the first movement of this marvellous symphony: I was particularly thrilled by the passage beginning around 12 minutes in, i.e approx. 90 seconds before the end. What a Luftpause!
That bit gave me goosebumps, Alan! I agree wholeheartedly with the positive responses in this thread. Let's hope it catches the attention of a CD producer.
Thanks.
Interesting and diverse comments.
I must admit I initially didn't warm to this work as I was looking for more melody. However, as I have said previously, after a few listenings it has revealed more than a few master strokes. I could list these but it would be on the verge of being tedious to do so.
QuoteNote spinning at its best
I think this is a bit harsh to be honest. It's a throw away comment with no justification. Works emerging from the classical genre will inevitably have a foundation based on tonic/dominant with associated melodic construction. I think the innovotive moments in this work are the creative development of
form and that is evident in each movement if you look for it. It's form that Otto was being driven by. And it's form that later composers developed further.
A few thoughts .....
"Note spinning at its best" But not at it's worst, ala Rubinstein's lowest moments. In the Grimm, the continual use of sequences gets tiresome quickly. It's common and easy to use technique that lesser composers (and some majors) gave in to. Every movement makes use of it. Kind of like Robert Volkmann, whose symphonies were also widely praised in their day...
You make it sound like Vivaldi !
Actually, it's what Grimm does with what seems like a note-spinning exercise in his finale. I find it tremendously exciting and not at all predictable. And, as for sequences, well there's the finale of Elgar 2 (which some have complained about) - and that has greatness stamped all over it.
Sequences have often bothered me - and far better musicians than me - in much better-known works than this (I forget who it was who pointed out that at one point he lumped Brahms with Wagner among overusers of sequences-- but noticed that some of what he thought were sequential passages in Brahms were sequential in the melody only, but made often made very clever shifts in the accompaniment that moved the music along in ways that the sequences didn't. I doubt this is the case with the development passage in Schumann's piano concerto that much annoys me (but I'll check), and maybe not with those in Grimm's symphony*, but.)
*I'll listen to it later today, it's been a busy and stressy week, I apologize. I've been looking forward to it for awhile.
Dear members,
I have just uploaded a recent broadcast of a live performance of this symphony.
Like Fritz Volbach Grimm was important for the city of Münster as a conductor and teacher.
So it was the Sinfonieorchester Münster under Golo Berg which performed the work last December.
According to the WDR website Grimm finished the work in 1871. I could not find any confirmation for this assertion elsewhere but decided to tag it accordingly.
Hi Mathias,
This is wonderful - thanks so much. I can't wait to hear this.
Let's hope one of the enterprising German labels brings this out.
Wow! What a surprise!
Maybe it's mentioned in a letter in this book "Johannes Brahms im Briefwechsel mit J.O. Grimm", published in 1908. I have no access to it offhand, unfortunately.
This report describes the Symphony as the work of the 25 year-old Grimm while a student at the Leipzig Conservatory. That would make the date of composition (or at least the date of the work's conception) 1852:
https://www.muensterschezeitung.de/lokales/staedte/muenster/musik-in-faszinierenden-farben-2504967
Together with the last two symphonies of Rufinatscha and the Symphony in C by Kufferath, I think we now have at least four works worthy of admission to the repertoire dating (roughly) from the period between Schumann 4 and Brahms 1, i.e. the so-called 'Dahlhaus Gap'.
Oh great - at last! Will give this a good listen with the score.
Listening to the Symphony again, it's hard not to be persuaded that this is a major mid-nineteenth century contribution to the genre. It's also hard to disagree with Chris Fifield's contention that Grimm had a significant influence upon Brahms.
I enjoy it more than any of Brahms's symphonies, but am grateful to Johannes for the inspiration to Grimm. It's about pursuing a perfection of a style.
At long last! I've been reading about this symphony for what seems like decades on this site...and here it is. Still surprising that CPO, Naxos, or some other adventurous label hasn't recorded it. It's a pleasant enough work, but honestly it's no earth-shattering forgotten masterpiece. The melodic material isn't memorable, the orchestration very workman-like, no more. Nowhere did I feel any stress and strain, no struggle to break through to the light. Maybe at 37:00 or so there was a short lived attempt at a pedal point to create some tension that Tchaikovsky would prove the master of, but Grimm released it too early. The music moves along nicely, never bogs down. But next to any of the Brahms symphonies it's easy to see why Grimm's is forgotten. Maybe in 1871 it would provide good enough entertainment for an evening, but the competition got very stiff in the next 25 years what with Dvorak, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and some others. Very please to hear this, though. Sure helps clarify the mid-19th symphony situation.
QuoteThe melodic material isn't memorable
Well, Gernsheim wouldn't have agreed with that: he evidently remembered the first movement over fifty years later!
And I can recall all four movements in my mind's ear. For me this is an intensely memorable and moving work - joyous too by the end.
BTW I think the Symphony should be described as being in D minor/major.
For some reason my PC will not let me connect to 'Mediafire' (something about an unsupported protocol??). Anyway, if anyone has available the mp3 file(s?) that are in the link for this work I would really it if someone could e-mail it/them to me. Having very much enjoyed 'Reverie's' synthesised version on YOUTUBE, I would love to hear the rea\l orchestral thing!
Many thanks
Richard
Only if one gets to describe Beethoven's 5th symphony and Brahms' 1st as being in "C minor/major", likewise half of Haydn's symphonies in c (and mutatis mutandis many of his symphonies in other minor keys), likewise- er- I mean- why? What does "D minor" imply, other than the key of the first fast/substantial movement's main theme, that makes it misleading enough in Grimm's case that we should consider using "D minor/major" here?
-Eric, more and more annoyed by online listings at Amazon Music along the lines of "Tchaikovsky 5 in E minor, first movement", "Tchaikovsky 5 in D major, 2nd movement", "Tchaikovsky 5 in A major, 3rd movement", etc, a whole other category of wth unrelated to this.
QuoteOnly if one gets to describe Beethoven's 5th symphony and Brahms' 1st as being in "C minor/major"
You are quite correct, Eric - thanks. The score clearly says 'D minor'.
Had a listen to this with the score and enjoyed it. I can understand some peoples reserved reaction. It's a heavy weight for sure and not an instantly appealing work. For me it's form driven at the expense of melodic invention. Having said that the Finale, a kind of perpetum mobile, has delightful melodies over the busy 1st violins. I think this is the most attractive movement.
My only gripe is with regards to this performance - the opening of the first movement. The tempo is completely wrong - it's like wading through thick mud! Awful!
Get a move on!!
Oh and I forgot. If you want some great tunes from this composer have a listen to his Zwei Märsche (1872)
Perfect for a Morgen aufwachen ;D
(click below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeMnMqyScQM
I agree with Martin over some aspects of the performance. The opening is very slow - and the lead-up to the dramatic 'Luftpause' shortly before the end of the first movement is just a bit too laboured to make its full effect. Having said that, though, I don't agree that it's short on melodic invention - just the opposite in fact. My response is therefore to give it repeated listens and see whether the material sticks in the memory. It certainly does for me!
BTW approximate timings for the Golo Berg recording. (Also, I do see this is the ensemble that recorded Volbach's symphony for cpo, with the same conductor...)
Sostenuto - Allegro (16:25)
Trauermarsch. Andante. 11:08 (ends 27:35)
Scherzo. Presto. 27:40-32:59 (5:19)
Finale. Allegro vivace. 33:04-42:08 (9:04) - then a few seconds of applause.
Thanks for those timings.
As I thought the 1st mov is too slow by a full 3 minutes probably because of the Grave tempo for the intro. (it's actually marked sostenuto). The 2nd mov is 2 mins slower. How slow does a death march have to be before we all join the deceased!
The last two movs have it right.
All IMO of course ;)
I greatly enjoyed the performance. I think extra licence regarding tempi in a live performance is almost inevitable.
This would not be the only symphony performance out there to take Andante way too slowly :) - unfortunately.
Indeed. However, computer realisations are likely to differ from real-world performances where the conductor's interpretation comes into play. That's what makes the latter interesting, surely?
True. And some funeral marches are more truly march while others focus on the funereal, arguably. It sounds like this is meant to be more among the former and the performance doesn't -quite- catch that to my ear all the time, but it's not a yes-or-no and I may change my mind.
Grimm's Symphony has been on repeat play for weeks now and I have to say I find the work more and more convincing the more often I listen to it. In fact I absolutely love it - for its generosity of spirit, its melodic fecundity and, frankly, its daring.