PART 2 of 2
From a live performance on July 10th 2021
Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra
Alexander Shelley, Music Director
Venue: Southam Hall, National Arts Centre, Ottawa
An aura of mystery has long surrounded the history of Franz Schubert’s B Minor Symphony. In 1822, he finished the first two movements, after which it remains unclear whether he considered the work complete as is, or abandoned a plan for a four-movement work (existing sketches for a Scherzo third movement suggest the latter). The two movements were eventually premiered in Vienna in 1865, 37 years after the composer’s death, and has endured since, in this “unfinished” form, as one of Schubert’s orchestral masterpieces.
In the first movement, Schubert juxtaposes, to extreme contrast, two emotional “realms”: the anguished B minor one of the murky first theme and its anxious continuation, and the sunny G major one with a soaring cello theme. In the middle, a climax of unprecedented pathos is reached. The second movement begins with an ethereal E major section featuring an exquisitely tender theme. It alternates with a haunting clarinet and oboe melody accompanied by gently pulsating violins and violas. This delicate atmosphere is later broken by powerful full-orchestra eruptions, which subside before returning to the opening mood.
13 авг 2021
