The question we're exploring: What good is a "symphonic adagio" anyways? Like, what can one of 'em do for us? -- Part 1

[1] WE KNOW THE ARCHETYPAL SYMPHONIC ADAGIO,
BUT HERE ARE SOME DIFFERENT WAYS OF HEARING IT

Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. DG, recorded live in the Vienna State Opera, September 1979

Staatskapelle Dresden, Herbert Blomstedt, cond. Berlin Classics, recorded in the Lukaskirche, Apr. 1979 & Mar. 1980

Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Tamás Vásáry, cond. Hungaroton, recorded live in the Concert Hall of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, June 26, 1997

Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell, cond. Epic-CBS-Sony, recorded in Severance Hall, Apr. 21-22, 1961

New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, cond. New York Philharmonic Special Editions, recorded live in Avery Fisher Hall, Dec. 31, 1999

Even if you're dead sure that back in the day "adagio" didn't mean
all that slow, you can still make some kind of statement --

Tonhalle Orchestra (Zürich), David Zinman, cond. Arte Nova, recorded in the Tonhalle, Dec. 12 & 14, 1998

[NOTE: It happens that the performances are arranged from longest to shortest. Is there anything to be made of this? Hint: Might it be not so much "getting better" or "getting worse" as working differently? -- Ed.]


[2] IN FACT, THERE HAVE BEEN SYMPHONIC ADAGIOS
ALMOST AS LONG AS THERE HAVE BEEN SYMPHONIES

Hungarian Chamber Orchestra, Vilmos Tátrai, solo violin and leader. Hungaroton, recorded 1965

Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies, cond. Sony, recorded in the Mercedes Benz Center, Stuttgart, between 1995 and 2006

Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Adam Fischer, cond. Nimbus-Brilliant Classics, recorded in the Haydnsaal of the Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria, Apr.-May 2001

Orchestra of St. Luke's, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. Telarc, recorded in the John Harms Center for the Arts, Englewood, NJ, Nov. 8-9, 1988

[NOTE: Here our timings are affected by repeats. There are two, which together would cause the whole movement to be repeated. Vilmos Tátrai, probably best known as founder and first violinist of the great Tátrai Quartet, takes no repeats (and how much, really, do we miss them?) in the gorgeous sort-of-"luxuriant adagio" Hungarian Chamber Orchestra performance, where he plays the quicksilver violin solos; Dennis Russell Davies and Adam Fischer take the first repeat but not the second, meaning that Fischer's pace is kind of a quickstep adagio; and Sir Charles M. takes both repeats. -- Ed.]


[3] SO WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A SYMPHONIC ADAGIO?
Hmm, is there anything else in music like this one-two punch?

[For as long as I've been listening to this symphony, these two movements, outwardly so different, have seemed to be telling essentially the same story, if from very different viewing points. I think of them as fraternal twins. -- Ed.]

A composer known for rafter-shaking orchestral climaxes sure can scale it down: Over pp violin tremolos, a theme is sounded mf by solo horn with cellos rising two octaves to that high B (directed to use long bow strokes, as if the players wouldn't figure that out!) -- until the violas displace the horn.

And then: A solo tenor tuba, backed by a choir of a second tenor tuba, two bass tubas, and a contrabass tuba, sings with the violas, supported by cellos and basses, setting us up for the tinglingly vibrant string chorale.


[2. at 20:51] Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in the American Legion Hall, Hollywood, March 1961

[2. at 21:21] BBC Symphony Orchestra, Reginald Goodall, cond. BBC Legends, recorded live in the Royal Festival Hall, Nov. 3, 1971 (released 2004)

[2. at 21:01] Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi, cond. Decca, recorded in Severance Hall, August 1990

[2. at 21:10] Staatskapelle Dresden, Herbert Blomstedt, cond. Denon-Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded in Studio Lukaskirche, June 30-July 3, 1980

by Ken

I can't imagine that the byline has ever previously dropped this far into a post. The general idea is to, you know, get us started with some music. Okay, I think we've got a pretty good start! You may recall that awhile back we left off at what I called Part 2 of "Rassling with the symphonic adagios of Bruckner and Mahler." Mahler is on hold in this episode, but we're still rassling with Bruckner, and we've brought back Beethoven -- you recall those gorgeous performances we heard by Carlo Maria Giulini and Wilhelm Furtwänlger of the Adagio of the Ninth Symphony ["In which we chart our course from Beethoven's visionary symphonic adagio to the great symphonic adagios of Bruckner and Mahler," March 31]. This time we've got a whole bunch of other performances, about which I'll say some things -- when we get to it, which I'm afraid is going to have to be in Part 2 of this post.

Plus, we've reached back to Haydn! Giving us three symphonies that could hardly be more unlike, and three adagios ditto. I'm hoping at this point by example rather than dry verbiage we've got a clearer working sense about the world of "adagio," notably that it's more than just slow and really pretty. And of course, where Herr Bruckner is concerned, solemn, indeed very solemn -- you know, sehr feierlich [emphasis added].

What's more, we've begun looking left and right, up and down -- that is, to the before-and-after, to hear some ways in which our composers have built symponies with, or even around, symphonic adagios. What's left for us to do, in addition to some minimal pondering on the music (and performances) we've already heard, is to bring in the rest of these three symphonies -- and indeed to hear each of them whole.

I SUPPOSE, AS A MATTER OF FORM, IT WOULD BE
APPROPRIATE TO IDENTIFY OUR SYMPHONIES

I was thinking we could leave the identifications till we got to the rest of our consideration of each symphony, but as you may have guessed that's not going to happen in what has become "Part 1" of a two-part post. Considering the number and size of the files already embedded, which are likely to make even this much of the projected post a difficult download, I think we're going to have to leave the rest for Part 2, which'll be up shortly (I hope! -- it's mostly done). I don't like at all being in the position of commenting in one post on music that's stuck in a whole other post. We'll just have to do the best we can.

Oh, right, the symphonies -- and their Adagios!

[1] BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125:
iii. Adagio molto e cantabile

-- from Oxford Languages, via Google

[2] HAYDN: Symphony No. 31 in D (Horn Signal):
ii. Adagio

[3] BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7 in E:
i. Allegro moderato
ii. Adagio - Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam
(Very solemn and very slow)

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