Schumann "Rhenish" Symphony, 4th mvmt

[dwlindeman]

NB: And Kurt Masur, with an 's', of course

[dwlindeman]

NB: Robert Schumann's 3rd Symphony, that is; mea culpa (re: previous post by DWLindeman). That he obviously invokes chorale, and the fugue, albeit the latter not entirely, is part of his retrospective and forward-looking strategy, integrative and revolutionary simultaniously. Mazur has not fallen into the trap of taking Schumann's retrospective references literally, and thereby, he fulfills the real intentions of his (Schumann's) endeavor here, revealing the revolutionary dynamic he intended.

[iseefurtherthanyou]

@dwlindeman haha, calm down there, it's a youtube video.

[dwlindeman]

This is a profound, and very important interpretation of this movement of Schumann's 4th Symphony. Mazur has chosen to juxtapose Schuman's Romantic melodic line, with the internal harmonic, and, melodic structures, which support it.  There is a dynamic play between an obviously melodic motif, and sub-motifs that themselves function melodically. This is a major contributionto the interpretation of this part of Schumann's oeuvre, that reveals him as the avant-garde composer he truly is

[kingsott]

I read somewhere that Schumann (who was then living in Dusseldorf) was present at the enthronement of Johannes von Geissel as Cardinal-Archbishop of Koln, in 1850. This event undoubtedly gave a strong impetus to the completion of the cathedral to the original scheme of the mid-13c ( which had been preserved on scribed board). Schumann, I feel, was harking back to pre-Reformation days, notwithstanding the actual scoring.

[fogofwar2]

for me, I believe this movement impacts because it invokes human's interplay between sadness and triumph

[RaiderTrombone17]

What alto is Alessi playing on in the beginning??? I'm looking for an alto, and I'm deciding between an Edwards, Rath, Yamaha, and Courtois. Anybody know what he's on?

[konrad4343]

The most difficult part in the beggining have horns and camerman shows trombones :(

[tromdude]

@konrad4343 that was trombones playing that part, not horns

[TheOtakuAmp]

@tromdude It's both horns and trombones.

[tromdude]

@TheOtakuAmp yeah you're right sorry. it's also bassoons too, but it still is a famous trombone excerpt

[TheOtakuAmp]

@tromdude No sweat man, I'm a bass trombone player and, of course, love this piece. They had to show Joe. :-)

[tromdude]

@TheOtakuAmp im a bone player as well, and yes Joe is the bomb!

[tromdude]

all hail alessi

[freakybellaaa]

i love it!

[yngwiethebest]

tutto ciò è commovente

[eriopolis1]

go joe!

[westminster860]

Love the shots of Phil Meyers and then the whole horn section emptying their horns in unison. I feel like I do that more than play. LOL Classic performance. Thanks for posting.

[lenzorg]

kurt frisur am Dirigierstab und Wolfgang Thierse am Horn!

[beanzaronii]

how is this baroque? Schumann was a romantic 19th century composer.

[king3bsgx]

@beanzaronii: i think the person above was simply referring to the thick, Bachian (18th century) counterpoint. that occurs throughout the movement. that's the only thing i can think of.

[dfreak10]

I cant tell you how many times I've listened to the first 40 seconds of this symphony. I am a trombone player and this just motivates me even more! Joseph Alessi is my Idol!

[cieslikdavinci]

Well Schumann wrote for an Eb alto so why not play it on alto? lol well, i mean if your stuck with a tenor its manageable, but not what the composer intended

[qlqmqk]

Schumann, è gioia, tristezza, è delirio di sentimenti, è l'espressione più completa di amore e bellezza!

Un musicista incredibilmente unico!!

[lizpan1]

The chord progressions are just amazing.  Thanks to Schumann, we have Brahms. Thanks to Brahms, we have Dvorak........

[ClassBrass1]

Lovely alto playing at the beginning. That high Eb is so beautiful :D And not impossible with an alto

[anthonya13]

damn the chords at 4:54 and 5:00 are fucking awesome. and as a trumpet player, i must say i am impressed with the high notes in the low brass here

[ScubbaBvk]

Yep. This piece is murder on amateur trombonists...like me.

[Canjola]

alla faccia degli imbecilli che dicevano che Schumann era un compositore esclusivamente pianistico

[bsfl90]

amazing!!!! wonderfoul trombone section!!

[LLJtbone]

Playing the solo on the alto trombone seems to be the smart thing to do. Joe Alessi is the man.

[mikeejm]

dammit alessi

[povepupe]

Che meraviglia!!!!! E' come essere dentro le canne di un organo o ammirare le volte del duomo di Colonia!!!!!

Schumanntica

[gordon2kam]

that dude looks like a druggy

[eliseannville]

Phil Myers (1st horn) is a god on this piece! If someone made me choose (like torture or something) I might say this was my all-time fave. Schumann created over 5 long minutes of exquisite soulful tension in this movement.

[jfhaight2]

It also invokes the first four notes of the c# minor fugue from BooK I of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. Schumann said that the WTC shold be the musician's daily bread.

[jfhaight2]

As far as this Chorale,being a tribute to the Baroque, it is specifically a trubute to Bach. The theme is almost, not quite, Bach's name, Bb, a c, b. Schumann wrote six organ pices based on that theme.

[norathorr]

The German representation of B natural is H, so in essence it does say BACH.

[RWT683]

That's correct "Bb" is "B" in the German system.

[Jjhornman72]

you can also tell because alessi cuts off the phrase while Myers holds through.

[JMR6916]

to get enough power for the Eb eight note + half-whole. The high Eb drained alot of his air so he needed to breathe there, though it's a little too distinctive of a breathing.

[Jjhornman72]

get a fucking haircut you hippy!

[SCHUMANNasaSACRAMENT]

I AWARD THIS 5 CLARAS...,as it's PSYCHOLOGIC-ALLY GRIPPING AND MOVING.So Simple on the sur

-face yet below is a labyrinthian maze of con-sciousness.

[SCHUMANNasaSACRAMENT]

IT'S GREAT SCHUMANN WHEN I WANT TO SIT,as I WANT TO RUN,as I WANT TO SCREAM,as I WANT TO CRY,as CONSCIOUSNESS IS SO...

[methemusicmonster]

Don't forget that the horn is doubling alessi on alto.

[JMR6916]

sure of that? I was told by my trombone teacher that this excerpt is played exclusively by the three trombones. And yes... the tenor part is boring, alto's good... but the bass is better!

[medpiano]

It's doubled by the 1st horn.

[JMR6916]

sorry... you are actually right! :)

[sirtom23]

@JMR6916 I find the tenor part quite nice actually.

[methemusicmonster]

Listen to the high Eb. You can hear how the horn and alto are a tiny bit (emphasis on tiny) out of tune. You can hear a very slow intonation wave. Watch his slide and you can see him adjusting.

[kfeyzi]

Brilliant. Alessi makes the high Eb look so easy.

[JMR6916]

Dispite the slur up to the Eb, it's a perfect alto part... though tenor is good too, but the bass is better:) (I'm a bass trombonist)

[medpiano]

The opening brass chorale, the moving counterpoint--are you kidding me? Of course the apoggiaturas are harmonically thicker than that of baroque chorales, but there are echoes of Bach's St. Matthew's Passion here, others.

[Trombone0817]

A very well-played Chorale at that. That first trombone part is tough.

[passionplayearthling]

How is this a homage to the baroque?