Symphony No.3 - Alfred Schnittke

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski

I - Moderato: 0:00
II - Allegro: 11:21
III - Allegretto pesante: 24:39
IV - Adagio: 32:55

Schnittke's Symphony No.3 was finished in 1981, as a commission from Kurt Masur, conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. It was triumphally premièred in Leipzig on November 5th of the same year. It was the first European performance of a Schnittke symphony in the presence of the composer. Unlike previous works in the genre, it is divided in a more traiditional form of four movements.

The music contains only stylistic allusions, and no direct quotations. In the score one finds the monograms of dozens of German composers, from Bach, Handel and Mozart to Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Weill, Eisler, Kagel, Stockhausen, Dessau, Henze and Bernd Alois Zimmermann. The character of the music changes, modulating from Classical through Romantic to more contemporary textures. Schnittke was not merely writing a "German" symphony for a German orchestra but was, at the same time, reflecting upon the history of the origins, development, triumph, hypertrophy and bankruptcy of the idea of the Classical symphony as a model of a clear and rational perception of the world.

The first movement consists of a series of long crescendos. Begins with cannonical entries, evolving in a dense texture. Yet under this madding crowd, full of the musical monograms of 30 German composers, lay the spirit of J.S. Bach. The music rises in a great climax, a Bachian chorale that resurrects the music. Richard Wagner is allotted a special position. His name de él, represented by the notes a-g-e, blends into motifs from the Rheingold; but above all, the Symphony No.3 commences with the opening theme from this opera. The music rises in a new powerful climax, followed by a slow cannonic crescendo culminating in a massive climax. The movement in a diminuendo that seems to sink into the abyss.

The second movement is written in sonata form. It opens with a classically lyrical main theme, while the second is considerably darker and turbulent. Throughout the score there are the monograms, letters converted into notes, of numerous German composers, including Bach, Händel, Mozart, Schönberg, Berg, Webern, Weill, Kagel, Stockhausen, Henze, Dessau, Zimmermann, etc. constituting a great tribute to German music of all eras. A representation, in an abstract style, of the triumph of Germanic music.

The third movement is based on a series of eight notes, with the monogram Das Böse (the evil). The notes are D, A, E flat, A flat, B flat, E, E flat, E, which, written in German notation, form the words Das Böse. From this atonal series he does a series of variations using the most varied styles, from fauxbourdon to foxtrot. A few sustained notes link seamlessly with the next movement. The meaning of this catastrophic and brutal movement is that of the end of the German apogee, sunk by wars.

The last movement consists of an extensive slow movement in the style of Bruckner and Mahler. The monogram Bach reappears, Bb, A, C, B (H in german notation), uniting the meaning of the words, which in German means stream, with that of the great German musician. The tranquility of the stream leads us to the final reflection, resignation or farewell. A symphony dedicated to the history of Germanic music. From its origins, its triumph and its decline, all related to the history of the symphony itself, described with the use of references to the past and atonal music.

Picture: "The Dawn of Cayenne" (1926) by the Belgian painter René Magritte.

Sources: https://bit.ly/3nbLa94, https://bit.ly/3nf27zA and https://bit.ly/3afIiob

Видео Symphony No.3 - Alfred Schnittke канала Sergio Cánovas