Albéric Magnard - Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 (Thomas Sanderling)

Information

Composer: Albéric Magnard

CD1:

1. Symphony No. 2 in E major, Op. 6: I. Ouverture. Assez animé
2. Symphony No. 2 in E major, Op. 6: II. Danses. Vif
3. Symphony No. 2 in E major, Op. 6: III. Chant varié. Andante con moto
4. Symphony No. 2 in E major, Op. 6: IV. Final. Vif et gai

CD2:

1. Symphony No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 21: I. Modéré - Allegro
2. Symphony No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 21: II. Vif
3. Symphony No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 21: III. Sans lenteur et nuancé -
4. Symphony No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 21: IV. Animé

Malmö Symphony Orchestra

Thomas Sanderling, conductor
Date: 2000
Label: BIS
http://bis.se/conductors/sanderling-thomas/magnard-symphonies-no2-no4

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

Major Discoveries: Sanderling’s Transcendent Magnard Fourth

This is without question a truly great orchestral recording. French composer Albéric Magnard's Fourth Symphony has long been regarded by connoisseurs as a neglected masterwork, but this is the first performance that proves it conclusively, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Comparing Thomas Sanderling's performance to the pallid Plasson on EMI, or the recent Hyperion recording featuring Jean-Yves Ossance and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (a performance that I enthusiastically welcomed on initial release) is like comparing a color photo to a black and white of the same object. In Sanderling's hands, everything is more vivid, emphatic, and sharply contrasted. The very opening sounds far more dramatic as shaped by Sanderling, the deep brass richer, the piccolo (which announces the symphony's "motto" theme) brighter, and those arching string phrases infinitely more yearning and passionate. The same holds true for the Scherzo: Ossance is light and tripping, Sanderling's rougher accents and trenchant rhythms move the music into the orbit of Roussel and other French masters yet to come.

The heart of the symphony is its slow movement, one of the very greatest in the literature and a masterpiece of superbly sustained symphonic tension. Sanderling takes a little more time than Ossance, and it's all to the good, really letting the music breathe and building each paragraph inexorably to the recurring, climactic statements of the "motto" theme. But it's the finale that really sets the seal on this magnificent performance. Nowhere is Magnard's formal control so tight and so perfectly matched in expressive intensity. Ossance's swift, light approach sectionalizes the music, offering superficial excitement but little cumulative power. Sanderling's slower tempo actually sounds faster because he maintains a firm rhythmic basis over which he builds the music in large arcs of sound. Just listen to the way the strings phrase the central fugue, and notice the perfect clarity of its development! Ossance minces through the contrapuntal thicket as if he might break something, while Sanderling proves that Magnard's music is made of much sturdier stuff.

At the triumphant return of the symphony's "motto" theme in the movement's recapitulation, Sanderling and his band create a climax of unsurpassed radiance, the kind of thing found in such other transcendental works as Vaughan Williams' Fifth Symphony, or the finale of Mahler's Ninth. Magnard's music, we now discover to our delight, is in the same class. And once the music has ebbed away, the final appearance of the "motto" simply perfect in its quiet poetry, we realize that Sanderling, his world class Malmö players, and BIS' extraordinary team of sound engineers have achieved that all too rare phenomenon: a genuine classic recording. At two discs for the price of one, with the early, appealing, and by no means negligible Second Symphony tossed in as well (in a performance every bit as fine as that of the Fourth), this set belongs in the collection of, well, everyone.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More info:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2000/apr00/magnard.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2000/june00/magnard.htm
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/b/bis00928a.php

http://www.amazon.com/Magnard-Symphonies-No-Sanderling-Malmo/dp/B00004OCF1

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Albéric Magnard (9 June 1865 – 3 September 1914) was a French composer. Magnard studied with Théodore Dubois, Jules Massenet and Vincent d'Indy at the Paris Conservatoire. Magnard's musical style is typical of contemporary French composers, although certain passages foreshadow the music of Gustav Mahler. His use of cyclic form and occasional incorporation of chorale earned him the nickname of "French Bruckner", although Magnard's handling of cyclical form is closer to César Franck. Magnard became a national hero in 1914 when he refused to surrender his property to German invaders and died defending it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alb%C3%A9ric_Magnard

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Thomas Sanderling (born October 2, 1942, in Novosibirsk) is a German conductor, the eldest son of Kurt Sanderling. He studied at the Leningrad Conservatory and the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin. Sanderling went on to study with Hans Swarowsky, and worked as assistant to Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein. During his career he conducted all important orchestras as well as at many international opera houses. Sanderling led the German premieres of Shostakovich's Thirteenth and Fourteenth symphonies, and is one of the most important conductors of Russian repertoire nowadays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sanderling

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/thomas-sanderling-mn0002269321/biography

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