# SS 09.05.20 - Zemlinsky #2



## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:

*Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871 - 1942)*

Symphony #2 in B flat major:

1. Sostenuto
2. Scherzo
3. Adagio
4. Moderato

---------------------

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


----------



## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

This week the offering is Zemlinsky's Symphony no. 2. A grand Romantic piece written in 1896, which owes much to his symphonic predecessors as well as the general influences that pervaded music and arts during turn-of-the-century Vienna. I haven't listened to this in a long time. Several recordings of the work, but I'll go with the Naxos disc and Slovak Philharmonic conducted by Edgar Seipenbusch which has received good reviews.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

This one for me.


----------



## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

Chailly here, this is a good pick for this week.


----------



## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

Chailly/RSO Berlin on Youtube for me. Looking forward to it!


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I have an EMI disc of 1&2 by James Conlon. I didn't enjoy these as much as the other orchestral works but I do need to revisit these symphonies.


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Zemlinsky: Symphony No. 2 in B flat major,/Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Antony Beaumont
For me .


----------



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

I picked this from spotify


----------



## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

KenOC said:


> This one for me.


And this version for me


----------



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

KenOC said:


> This one for me.


Chailly for me too. I like Zem's 2nd.


----------



## DaddyGeorge (Mar 16, 2020)

Merl said:


> Chailly for me too. I like Zem's 2nd.


I'll listen to this too...


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

And Chailly for me, too.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Like his first it's an accomplished work for sure but I prefer Zemlinsky's output from about ten years later and onwards.


----------



## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

First listen to this Symphony for me - Chailly via Qobuz.









Decent enough piece without anything overly memorable that grabbed my attention, the Scherzando movement came closest to doing so.
I have noted it and will definitely give it another listen, as I get the impression it may be a grower that requires a few chances to make its mark.


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

elgars ghost said:


> Like his first it's an accomplished work for sure but I prefer Zemlinsky's output from about ten years later and onwards.


I seem to know only shorter works - songs and the like - by Zemlinsky. Do, please, tell me more about the works of his that you feel best show his talents ...


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Enthusiast said:


> I seem to know only shorter works - songs and the like - by Zemlinsky. Do, please, tell me more about the works of his that you feel best show his talents ...


I was really interested in the way that Zemlinsky was aware of the musical changes going on around him in the years directly before and after WWI and was largely sympathetic to them but that his own steps away from out-and-out late romanticism were more cautious.

He composed a fair amount of opera, and I think the two shortish ones containing expressionist elements and both based on Oscar Wilde short stories, _Eine florentinische Tragödie_ (1915-16) and _Der Zwerg_ (1919-21), are good starting-off points from this corner of his output.

The second string quartet from 1913-14 sounds like a real advance on the first. The fourth is almost akin to Berg's _Lyric Suite_ in structure (it was actually written as an elegy for Berg the year after his death) but throughout the cycle of four there is a sense of stylistic evolution which perhaps isn't as noticeable elsewhere in Zemlinsky's output.

Near the end of Zemlinsky's career came the _Sinfonietta_ from 1934 which is an almost austere example of neoclassicism.

The _Lyric Symphony_ from 1922-23 is one of Zemlinsky's more celebrated works despite some thinking it as basking in the shadow of Mahler's _Das Lied von der Erde_, but in the vocal/orchestra stakes I think the _Symphonische Gesänge_ (1929 - using African-American texts) is in the running for being his best.

Hope this might be enough to whet the appetite. :tiphat:


----------



## Joachim Raff (Jan 31, 2020)

Malx said:


> First listen to this Symphony for me - Chailly via Qobuz.
> 
> View attachment 135500
> 
> ...


I quite agree but its a composer i have not given much attention until now, so i thank the Saturday Symphony for that. There is much to like with a Bruckner flavour but its not Bruckner in a lot of ways. One can hear Brahms or even Dvorak in the piece. What makes a desirable listen is Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Chailly combination and the warm, dynamic, detailed Decca sound. Really enjoyed this week's choice. Jolly good show!


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

elgars ghost said:


> Hope this might be enough to whet the appetite. :tiphat:


That was *really* useful. Thanks very much.


----------



## MrMeatScience (Feb 15, 2015)

Really enjoyed this piece; I listened to the Chailly recording like most here. I'm a total sucker for this style of music so it wasn't a hard sell. I agree that the second movement is a real highlight, but Zemlinsky kept me engaged all the way through the symphony, though it perhaps sags a bit in the finale. I haven't heard the First, from 1893, but I think I'll seek that out now. Great pick this week!


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Listened to Chailly’s performance today. I can’t say I listened terribly closely because my attention kept wandering due to disinterest. I tried to pay attention, though. So, needless to say, I have a contrary view.

The symphony is musically confusing with all of its heaving and throbbing, a not unheard of failing in music of its period. Ideas are not exactly indistinct but are certainly not memorable either. As noted, there are echoes of a lot of composers here, but nothing resembling an original (or interesting) style.

I think there’s some good music in there, somewhere. The composer needed to ruthlessly edit it until only the best ideas remained and the structure was a lot clearer. That might make the symphony 25 minutes long rather than its current 45-minute Eroica length. Since he has passed on (to a better place, one assumes) that is unlikely to happen now.


----------



## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Zemlinsky's 2nd is a very good work: tuneful, consistently developed and with energy. I like when the main tune of the 1st movement (which sounds pretty similar to that of Lohengrin's Wedding March) appears near the ending, in all its splendour.

The 1st Symphony really lacks inspiration, but the 2nd doesn't at all. I'm very fond of it.


----------



## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

Joachim Raff said:


> I quite agree but its a composer i have not given much attention until now, so i thank the Saturday Symphony for that. There is much to like with a Bruckner flavour but its not Bruckner in a lot of ways. One can hear Brahms or even Dvorak in the piece. What makes a desirable listen is Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Chailly combination and the warm, dynamic, detailed Decca sound. Really enjoyed this week's choice. Jolly good show!


My thoughts almost exactly. I had been thinking I heard a lot of Mahler, but now that Raff mentions it, I think it's more Bruckner. At first I thought I heard some R. Strauss-like ideas, but Zemlinsky turned out to be much less adventurous (and interesting) than Strauss. This music is very diatonic. I definitely agree that the playing and sound quality were top quality, and I would like to hear this with SACD quality on my system rather than on Youtube, but I'm not thrilled enough with the piece to prioritize it for adding to my collection. But I like it a lot and have good memories already of listening to it happily while sitting in my sunny family room one day and while sitting in bed on a rainy day just yesterday.


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

elgars ghost said:


> The second string quartet from 1913-14 sounds like a real advance on the first. The fourth is almost akin to Berg's _Lyric Suite_ in structure (it was actually written as an elegy for Berg the year after his death) but throughout the cycle of four there is a sense of stylistic evolution which perhaps isn't as noticeable elsewhere in Zemlinsky's output.


I spent some time with the 4th quartet today. A wonderful piece!


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

KenOC said:


> I think there's some good music in there, somewhere.


I gave it only one listen but the good stuff was in the the second half as far as I could hear. The first two movements didn't really do much for me. But I would have to listen a few more times to establish a more informed opinion.


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Wow this composer had such an interesting life and background...He even loox interesting in his picture...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Zemlinsky


----------

