# 20th Century Symphonic Masterpieces: Part Twelve - Schnittke's Symphony No. 4



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

20th Century Symphonic Masterpieces: Part Twelve - Schnittke's _Symphony No. 4_



















It's ironic that the most instinctive metaphors for Alfred Schnittke's Fourth Symphony (1984) are ones of connection. The far greater part of Schnittke's output is a testament to disconnection, to the inevitable atrophy, entropy, and dissolution of any musical material. But the wisdom of paradox tells us that the skeptic often conceals the most fervent believer, and that the best unravelers are, at heart, even greater weavers.

That is the strange logic behind Schnittke's Fourth, perhaps his most tightly knit work. It bears all the metaphors of wholeness: the pledge, the oath, the seal, threads which interlace in a fabric of virtuosic density, single seeds which cross-pollinate and disseminate, and roots that extend deep and wide into separate traditions. Out of the discordant, Schnittke spins an intricate harmonic web.

Analyzing (literally, "loosening up") this web is a real challenge, however. The Fourth Symphony's "surface," on a symbolic level, contains four separate religious traditions: on one hand, three braids of Christianity (Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant), and on another, their implied precursor, Judaism. Schnittke calls forth each of these disparate strands as a particular musical line, hymn-like and stepwise, each varying from the other two only in subtle degrees of intonation. Schnittke adds to these three discrete modes a fourth "Semitic" mode in semitones, echoing ancient synagogue chant.

With these four musical pillars, Schnittke constructs a three-fold "plot" for the entire Symphony based on the Catholic rosary. The rosary concentrates on the Virgin Mary, recounting the story of Christ's life through her eyes in a series of three expressive states--the Joyful, the Sorrowful, and the Glorious. Each of these states further consists of five episodes: the Joyful thus recounts the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, Jesus's Presentation in the Temple, and the Finding of Jesus in the Temple; the Sorrowful presents among other events the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the cross, and the Crucifixion; and likewise, the Glorious relates the Resurrection and so on.

Schnittke's task in this work-both awesomely rigid and seamlessly lyrical--is to musically reconstruct each of these events in an unbroken, single-movement chain. In the process, Schnittke relies upon a Baroque-like continuo of piano, harpsichord, and celesta, again reflecting the rosary's triple-structure and the three Christian denominations. These keyboards form the Symphony's spine, following each other in a relentless, unbreakable canon whose strange dissonances emit a pearly luminescence. And as each keyboard's line moves in one of the "denominational" modes (that is, Orthodox, Lutheran, or Protestant), the three in combination ubiquitously sound the chromatic, "Jewish" fourth mode. The sound-world of this continuo group fill the entire work; as Schnittke himself has said, "The whole work is yoked into this bent space of intonation."

In addition to the keyboards, Schnittke also employs vocal solos at three key structural moments--a tenor roughly one third through the work, a countertenor two-thirds through, and, to end the Symphony, a choral setting of the Ave Maria, synthesizing all previous motives in a single diatonic mode. Schnittke originally had to suppress this text; its religious nature would have disallowed it performance in the Soviet Union (only after Schnittke left Moscow for Hamburg did he notify his publishers of the text).

Yet even after this concealment is made explicit, Schnittke's Fourth still bears the marks of a secret rite; it weaves far too many levels, layers, and patterns into its hazy, melancholic space to be entirely comprehensible. But like Schnittke's other works of spiritual affirmation and connection, few as they are, the Fourth Symphony follows not the logic of clarity, but the conviction of scarred, fervid prayer.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

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What a bizarre, but deeply rewarding symphony from Schnittke. There really aren't any intelligent things I can say about this symphony other than it should be heard. I remember reading that Schnittke's symphonies can be divided up between political (odd numbers) and religious (even numbers). I suppose this would make sense in a way. One of the things about this particular symphony is its juxtapositions of such different musical elements (i. e. Polystylism). There are several performances of it on record, but I think my favorite is Polyansky's on Chandos. This conductor is good in these kind of religious works that require vocals. It seems to be right up his alley. What do you guys think of this work?

Here's an interesting quote from Schnittke: _"I set down a beautiful chord on paper—and suddenly it rusts."_


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I have been wondering, Neo (can I call you Neo?), where this interesting series is going. Is it to be one symphony per composer (and therefore that the one chosen is to you the best or most interesting)? Or are your plans looser than that?

On this one I have little to say. I love quite a lot of Schnittke but don't really enjoy his symphonies so much.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Unlike the first three symphonies, this is scored for a chamber orchestra: One each of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet and trombone. 4 percussionists with metallic instruments only, then Schnittke's established "continuo" of piano, celesta and harpsichord, and a string section.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I do enjoy the symphonies of Alfred Schnittke. No.3 is probably my favorite but they are all interesting creations from the mind of a master who was gone before most of us heard his name.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> I have been wondering, Neo (can I call you Neo?), where this interesting series is going. Is it to be one symphony per composer (and therefore that the one chosen is to you the best or most interesting)? Or are your plans looser than that?
> 
> On this one I have little to say. I love quite a lot of Schnittke but don't really enjoy his symphonies so much.


Sure, you can call me Neo.  Well, my plans for this series will certainly be looser than one symphony per composer. I wouldn't make the claim that each of the symphonies featured throughout this series are going to be composer's "best". They will be, however, symphonies that I like a lot. Some more well-known and obscure repertoire will be featured in this series.

As for Schnittke's symphonies, I absolutely love the 3rd-5th and the 8th. I'm coming around to the other ones --- I still don't think much of the 9th and neither did the composer since he requested it never be performed again.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

That request was based on a much-inferior decipheration by Rozhdestvensky. Due to a 1994 stroke, Schnittke was unable to speak and could only write with his left hand, but he still managed to write the 9th Symphony and other works, but obviously not as well as if he had all his faculties about him. Alexander Raskatov's attempt at deciphering the score, which is the one that has been recorded, although it was done after Schnittke's death, is far closer to Schnittke's intention.

More information in this booklet from the Chandos recording.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

maestro267 said:


> That request was based on a much-inferior decipheration by Rozhdestvensky. Due to a 1994 stroke, Schnittke was unable to speak and could only write with his left hand, but he still managed to write the 9th Symphony and other works, but obviously not as well as if he had all his faculties about him. Alexander Raskatov's attempt at deciphering the score, which is the one that has been recorded, although it was done after Schnittke's death, is far closer to Schnittke's intention.
> 
> More information in this booklet from the Chandos recording.


I own and have heard that ECM recording with Raskatov's reconstruction and the music itself does little for me. Anyway, what do you think of the 4th symphony?


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I like it a lot. Not as highly as my favourites, Nos. 1 & 3, but still up there. The all-metallic percussion ensemble gives it a particular feel, along with his continuo, most prominent in the introduction, of piano, celesta and harpsichord, with those repetitions of each other's phrases.


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