Spohr: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

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Here is a follow-up to the recording of Louis Spohr’s first two symphonies that I praised last October … Shelley gets both delicacy and passion from the excellent orchestra — Classic FM Magazine More…

Release Date: 3rd Mar 2008
Catalogue No: CDA67622
Label: Hyperion
Series: Howard Shelley Spohr Symphonies
Length: 78 minutes

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Spohr: Das befreite Deutschland, WoO64: Overture

Work length8:18

$1.10

$1.50

Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
Howard Shelley

Spohr: Symphony No 4 in F major 'Die Weihe der Töne', Op 86

Work length36:34

$4.40

$6.00

Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
Howard Shelley

I. Largo – Allegro

Track length10:08

$1.10

$1.50

II. Andantino – Allegro – Andantino

Track length6:42

$1.10

$1.50

III. Tempo di Marcia – Andante maestoso

Track length12:54

$1.10

$1.50

IV. Larghetto – Allegretto

Track length6:50

$1.10

$1.50

Spohr: Symphony No 5 in C minor, Op 102

Work length33:25

$4.40

$6.00

Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
Howard Shelley

I. Andante – Allegro

Track length12:12

$1.10

$1.50

II. Larghetto

Track length6:25

$1.10

$1.50

III. Scherzo

Track length4:08

$1.10

$1.50

IV. Presto

Track length10:40

$1.10

$1.50

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Symphony No 4 was quickly acclaimed as the composer’s symphonic masterpiece after its first performance. It is a forward-looking, programmatic work based on a poem by Carl Pfeiffer, ‘The Consecration of Sounds’. Unusually, it features a slow finale, and in this way was an important example to future composers including Tchaikovsky and Mahler. Symphony No 5 is a deeply felt work, pouring out pent-up emotions from dramatic events in the composer’s life at the time of writing with real expressive power.

The disc also features the overture to a cantata Das befreite Deutschland (‘Germany liberated’), composed following Napoleon’s disastrous defeat at the battle of Leipzig in October 1813.

In this second volume of Spohr’s symphonies, Howard Shelley and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana continue their exploration of this enjoyable and little-known repertoire. Formerly one of the most significant personalities in nineteenth-century German music, Spohr’s symphonies were as popular as those of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven until he fell from fashion in the later part of the nineteenth century.

Reviews

Here is a follow-up to the recording of Louis Spohr’s first two symphonies that I praised last October … Shelley gets both delicacy and passion from the excellent orchestra

The Fifth Symphony … carries a weightier burden of grief in the wake of some personal losses … especially in the Larghetto, a dark movement beautifully scored with low strings and sombre brass … Howard Shelley and his orchestra give it a fresh and vivid performance

Spohr the symphonist repays the attention this disc merits; his programmatic fourth symphony features a slow finale that set a precedent for Tchaikovsky and Mahler, while Shelley and his fine Italian players capture the expressive power of the turbulent fifth

Spohr: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

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