# SS 29.08.20 - Weber #1



## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

SS 29.08.20 - Weber #1

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:

*Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826)*

Symphony #1 in C major, Op. 19

1. Allegro con Fuoco
2. Andante
3. Scherzo: Presto
4. Finale: Presto
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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)

This week we'll go classical with Weber's Symphony # 1. More known for his operas, Weber wrote two symphonies in C major both written in 1807. The first movement Weber described, appropriately as more of an overture than a symphonic style, and a "frantic fantasy movement". A warmly inventive slow movement and two fast movements follow. There are many recordings of the work, but I'll go with a master of classical-era symphony -- Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I am going with this one in a minute

Tapiola Sinfonietta
Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Recorded: March 2006
Recording Venue: Tapiola Hall, Espoo, Finland


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Perfectly pleasant and enjoyable works these! I have this CD, which I'll give a spin. In addition to the two Symphonies, it has some good extra bits, including some "Mahler" and "Hindemith"!


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Rogerx said:


> I am going with this one in a minute
> 
> Tapiola Sinfonietta
> Jean-Jacques Kantorow
> ...


Will listen this also


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## Joachim Raff (Jan 31, 2020)

A familiar piece for me. Weber is well up my street. Listening on a new release so this is ideal


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

CnC Bartok said:


> Perfectly pleasant and enjoyable works these! I have this CD, which I'll give a spin. In addition to the two Symphonies, it has some good extra bits, including some "Mahler" and "Hindemith"!
> 
> View attachment 142216


I'll listen to this one too.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Rogerx said:


> I am going with this one in a minute
> 
> Tapiola Sinfonietta
> Jean-Jacques Kantorow
> ...


This one for me, too. It is a work I like a lot.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Listening to Sawallisch on Spotify.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Just listened to my copy of the Queensland PO under John Georgiadis on Naxos.
A fine, at times joyous little Symphony influences of Haydn, Mozart but with glances forward towards the early romantics, Mendelssohn perhaps.

Again I am happy to be reminded of a disc that has lain too long without seeing the inside of my player, very enjoyable.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Randomly picked one on Spotify - Otmar Suitner and the Staatskapelle Dresden. I like what I'm hearing. A happy symphony!


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Joachim Raff said:


> View attachment 142217
> 
> 
> A familiar piece for me. Weber is well up my street. Listening on a new release so this is ideal


And another vote for this version


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Marriner for me.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

Being a big fan of Wolfgang Sawallisch, I'm going with









However, I've also lined up an obscure version:









I can stream both of these. I could even stream another recording of this work by Etti with the ORF Symphony Orchestra, but maybe that would be extreme.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Hadn’t listened to this one for a while so I spun up the Marriner. My impressions from this fine performance:

1, Allegro con fuoco: A fairly noisy movement, stronger on dramatic gestures than on melodies but showing a lot of imagination and some effective ideas. No pauses for reflection here!

2, Andante: The opening, in the minor, is rather gloomy. The oboe (I think) then offers a consoling counter-idea. A loud passage with trumpets and drums in the major segues into a soft minor key closing cadence. Further episodes explore the themes already set forth.

3, Scherzo, presto: Probably the most effective and memorable movement, it would have done credit to any composer of that period. The central trio, however, seems undistinguished by comparison.

4, Finale, presto: A vigorous rondo full of scurrying strings and chattering woodwinds. It has a distinctive and easy-to-remember main theme and most of its episodes are inspired enough to seize the attention. No doubt it sent ‘em home happy, always a good idea then and now.

This symphony is definitely on a lower level than Beethoven’s 4th, with which it can be compared and which was written at the same time. Still, it’s good fun and shows skill and in places a fine talent as well. To me, it’s most comparable to Schubert’s early symphonies, written a few years later, even though Weber had his own distinctive voice.

Thanks to SS for the chance to get reacquainted with this symphony.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I agree with Ken’s comments above
Reminded me more of Schubert than Beethoven and for me just about up there with them


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

As mentioned, Weber wrote this symphony in 1806-07 at the same time Beethoven was writing his Fourth Symphony. Weber didn't much like Beethoven's work and in 1809 published a biting satire on it. It was summarized by Sir George Grove in his 1896 book, "Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies." Here's Sir George:
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It is supposed to be a dream, in which the instruments of the orchestra are heard uttering their complaints after the rehearsal of the new work. They are in serious conclave round the principal violins, grave personages whose early years have been spent under Pleyel and Gyrowetz. The double bass is speaking.

"I have just come from the rehearsal of a Symphony by one of our newest composers; and though, as you know, I have a tolerably strong constitution, I could only just hold out, and five minutes more would have shattered my frame and burst the sinews of my life. I have been made to caper about like a wild goat, and to turn myself into a mere fiddle to execute the no-ideas of Mr. Composer. I'd sooner be a dancing-master's kit at once, and earn my bread with Muller and Kauer"-the Strausses of the day.

The first violoncello (bathed in perspiration) says that for his part he is too tired to speak, and can recollect nothing like the warming he has had since he played in Cherubini's last opera. The second violoncello is of opinion that the Symphony is a musical monstrosity, revolting alike to the nature of the instruments and the expression of thought, and with no intention whatever but that of mere show-off.

After this the orchestra-attendant enters and threatens them with the Sinfonia Eroica if they are not quiet, and makes a speech in which he tells them that the time has gone by for clearness and force, spirit and fancy, "like those of Gluck, Handel, and Mozart," and that the following (evidently a caricature of the work before us) is the latest Vienna recipe for a Symphony: First a slow movement full of short disjointed unconnected ideas, at the rate of three or four notes per quarter of an hour; then a mysterious roll of the drum and passage of the violas, seasoned with the proper quantity of pauses and ritardandos; and to end all a furious finale, in which the only requisite is that there should be no ideas for the hearer to make out, but plenty of transitions from one key to another -- on to the new note at once! never mind modulating! -- above all things, throw rules to the winds, for they only hamper a genius.

"At this point," says Weber in his own person, "I woke in a dreadful fright, lest I was on the road to become either a great composer or-a lunatic."
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Beethoven evidently harbored no grudge and became quite a fan of Weber's opera _Der Freischütz_ in later years. He commented to Rochlitz in the summer of 1823, "The little man, otherwise so gentle -- I never would have credited him with such a thing. Now Weber must write operas in earnest, one after the other, without caring too much for refinement! Kaspar, the monster, looms up like a house; wherever the devil sticks in his claw we feel it."

Weber called on him in October of the same year and was greeted thus: "There you are, you rascal; you're a devil of a fellow, God bless you! Weber, you always were a fine fellow."


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