science

thanks for that, i enjoy reading your blogs.

re schumann (i don't know if you're aware of this?) - did you know that his 4th symphony was actually composed first? due to difference between the dates of composition & dates of publication, what we have in terms of them being numbered, is not in chronological order.

sym 1 comp. 1841, publ. 1853

sym 2 comp. 1845, pub. 1846

sym 3 comp. 1850

sym 4 - original version written 1841 ("real" first sym.), revised & publ. 1851

so "real" order (in terms of composition) is -

sym. 4

sym. 1

sym. 2

sym. 3

This may explain why you said you don't get it/them. i actually think the sym. 4 is most "accessible" - eg. how he takes the single theme, based on clara's motto, through the whole work (movts. go without breaks).

i don't know the 3rd that well (have never owned a recording of it). difficult to comment on that. but yes syms. 1 & 2 I do have, and found them similarly "difficult." I don't know why, i only listened to them once or twice. they're on the "backburner" but i guess at least i've connected with sym. 4. always liked that from the word go.

so maybe (if you haven't already, weren't aware of these things?) - get right into sym. 4, it may "work" then go to the others.

another work that i find delightful, innovative, emotional is the late cello concerto. heard it last yr live & it's an absolute gem. some people skip straight from haydn's 2 concertos to dvorak's, elgar's, tchaikovsky's rococo variations for cello/orch, & "miss out" the schumann, which to me is just so so special.

btw - i've got a set cond. by ansermet, with syms. 1,2, cello conc., manfred ov., pno conc., 2 discs, pretty good, but i've only gotten in deep with cello conc., & i have known the pno conc. for ages. i like this guy a lot, a lot of his stuff (eg. lieder, solo piano, chamber) is unexplored territory for me still, after all these years/decades...

I should probably try a different recording. Often that helps.

Schumann's cello concerto is probably my favorite of his orchestral compositions. I like his chamber music pretty well, but I also don't connect with his solo piano music, though I've only heard a bit of it.

Oh - I like the lieder too. Put a lot of work into them a few years ago.

I should probably try a different recording. Often that helps.

another idea is just to put schumann's symphonies on "the backburner" for now, come back to them later. that's me speaking from personal experience. recently i've come back - after a break of many months, maybe a year - things like boulez's piano sonatas & roger sessions 2nd piano sonata & (for some reasons, not due to repeated listening or getting another/other recordings) these just "clicked" with me. i really got into their "vibes." of course, this often depends on variable things/factors, eg. mood, what other things are on your mind, work/family pressures, these things can kind of take their toll.

but i'm just putting these things "out there." that's how i do things (often).


but yes, sometimes getting other interpretations/recordings can change how you "hear" a work/composer. i used to think schoenberg's music kind of lacking "color" for want of a better term, angsty, dark, stodgy. then i got away from karajan doing his stuff, who tended to have a "top heavy" take. recently got some newer recordings. a big "revelation" was hilary hahn's recording of his violin concerto. it totally "sold" me on schoenberg. i also borrowed the orpheus ch. orch. recording of transfigured night. struck me as with much more "nuance" than karajan's one, which made me think schoenberg was kind of dull. as schoenberg said "my music isn't modern, it's just badly played."...

I've had experiences like that too.

Thank God (and of course science and capitalism and democracy) for recorded music - imagine only getting to hear a work once or twice. We'd miss so much.