# SS 1.12.18 - Berwald #1 "Sinfonie sérieuse"



## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:
*
Franz Berwald (1796-1868)*

Symphony No. 1 "Sinfonie sérieuse"

1. Allegro con energia 
2. Adagio maestoso 
3. Stretto - 
4. Finale: Adagio - allegro molto

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

Berwald's symphonies are very much in the early Romantic tradition of Schubert and Mendelssohn. Wonderful melodies and superb orchestration. A crisp and pleasant symphony. I'll listen to the Blomstedt and San Francisco.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

This is good. I normally listen to the _Singuliere_, so a bit of horizon-broadening will be welcome. I have Dausgaard and some others.


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I'll listen to Kamu/Helsingborg here.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Järvi for me.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> Järvi for me.


.....and here as well! (have always enjoyed Berwald since I was given the same recordings on cassette 30 years ago)


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I have this set and can recommend it
The Jarvi performances I also enjoyed previously when I tried them


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Hmmm… I see the Sixten Ehrling set can be had for $16 VG condition used, with $4 shipping. Why must I always suffer such temptations???


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

I will listen this one


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

I'll listen to Goodman as well, maybe give Jarvi a spin afterwards?

It seems Berwald is that composer who wrote the Singuliere, a truly magnificent work. 

Oh, and a couple of other symphonies that are so easy to overlook. Unfair, like Ken, I feel horizon-broadening is very much on the cards.....


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

D Smith said:


> I'll listen to Kamu/Helsingborg here.


This one for me too.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

I again find that although often seen as a lesser contemporary of Mendelssohn, Schubert and others from the earlier part of the 19th century Berwald has much more to offer than is perhaps acknowledged......he seems to be looking forward rather than back and as I have 'argued' in other posts it is perhaps possible to hear Nielsen here......

this is a great example of the Saturday Symphony perhaps serving one of its purposes and reminding us of works we might not have listened to for a while....I for one am really enjoying the Jarvi and the Gothenburg S.O.

(could not resist ordering a bargain second hand copy of the Goodman recordings just now!)


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

KenOC said:


> Hmmm… I see the Sixten Ehrling set can be had for $16 VG condition used, with $4 shipping. Why must I always suffer such temptations???


That's the recording I'll be giving a spin. For what its worth Ken - I find Ehrling finds a little more depth to the Symphonies than Jarvi with slightly more considered tempos. 
I guess, as usual, it's all down to individual preference.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

As posted on another thread, recently discovered this composer as one of my Twitter friends posted symphony no 3 and was more than impressed so obtained the Jarvi set. Something for me to get my teeth into


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

Thanks for stepping in Cougarjuno and keeping Saturday Symphony going. I really enjoyed your selection. (I had heard Berwald's other symphonies but not this one. I'll definitely give it another spin in the future).


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

So who remembers this, this week's SS plus the Singuliere, Stockholm PO with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt conducting, on Nonesuch? It was my introduction to Berwald many years ago. I mostly listened to the Singuliere. A very good performance as I remember!


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## Eramire156 (Sep 28, 2017)

Berwald seems to have led a very interesting life, business man, writer not only on music but also on social issues. Sadly many of his works didn't get performances in his lifetime, only one of his symphonies for example and that by all accounts received a bad performance.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Based on previous reading, and a discussion here, Berwald may not have been Mr. Personality. He certainly seems to have gotten up the nose of Mendelssohn, who would have been in position to help him get exposure in Germany and England. Can't remember the exact issue, but I believe Felix spoke poorly of him in a letter after their meeting.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

KenOC said:


> Hmmm… I see the Sixten Ehrling set can be had for $16 VG condition used, with $4 shipping. Why must I always suffer such temptations???


I have this one! It is gut and quite a rarity. Buy it!


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I listened to both the Dausgaard and the Kamu. Both are good performances, but the Kamu is in _much_ better sound so it gets my vote.

This is a vigorous and eventful work that was good to start with and even better on second listening. It lacks some of the arresting and original ideas found in the Singuliere, but in terms of the general level of the music it's quite competitive. I'm very happy this week's "assignment" led me to listen to it.

I agree with post #12 that Berwald seems very forward-looking. My own way of putting it is that he seems more "modern" than his symphonist contemporaries. This may be due to the nervous tension in his music, which sometimes seems almost jittery, like he's had a few cups of coffee too many. It's certainly an unusual effect, and one that seems more interesting than irritating today. His contemporaries, of course, may have heard things quite differently.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

On giving up his composing career, Berwald wrote a friend: "Music makes a thin soup."

Alas, often so. A pity that Berwald's talent wasn't recognized in his lifetime.


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## Vaan (Nov 17, 2018)

Ehrling recorded the Serieuse earlier, released by the Swedish Radio on vinyl (coupled with the wonderful Suite from The Merchant of Venice by Gösta Nystroem - not available on CD) but the BIS set is the one to go for. The earlier Berwald is available on the Bluebell label.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Great to get reacquainted with this work! No, it's not as interesting or as profoundly beautiful as the Singuliere, and maybe the finale isn't as good as the rest, but it's a very fine work, good one to listen to; it all came flooding back....!


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

KenOC said:


> So who remembers this, this week's SS plus the Singuliere, Stockholm PO with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt conducting, on Nonesuch? It was my introduction to Berwald many years ago. I mostly listened to the Singuliere. A very good performance as I remember!


this cover looks familiar and was surely my introduction to Berwald who was curiously enough one of the first composers I got to know when starting to get into classical music seriously as a student. Probably being half-Swedish had something to do with it. This is a passionate full-blown reading compared to the lighter approach of someone like Jarvi or Kaumu. As a cycle, I think Ehrling remains the one to go for. Berwald symphonies for me are as inventive, fresh and original as anything from the early romantic period and deserve to be performed as often as the now repertoire standard Schumann cycle. I really cannot understand the continuing neglect outside Sweden. The Singuliere is the most daring but I like all of them.


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