Search - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Gunther Herbig, Herbert Kegel :: Hartmann: Symphony No. 5 "Concertante"; Symphony No. 6; Symphony No. 8

Overwhelming power as if Brahms had lived through Hitler

04/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I never understood why Hartmann's "Symphonies" never took root in the United States. The Chicago Symphony ( a very German sounding, German conceived, German nurtured ensemble) I know has never programmed anything by Hartmann. When we speak of the real weight and focused profound content in Hartmann we really only mean Sixth,Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. Those previous were stepping stones even dabbling in Neo-Classic gesturing to no real creative end. Hartmann's musical language is freely tonal,never ascribing to an atonality. His melodies,which ususally begin his work or a movement are dark. Violas and Bassoons are the antagonists that lay the linear framework if a fugue emerges. Hartmann has a proclivity for traditional handling of materials, very predictable which is why the post-war generation, as Stockhausen,Berio or Boulez never saw any sustenance in his massive Symphonies. Hartmann is however a master orchestrator utilizing the full range and register of the full modern orchestra, with full batteries of percussion sections. These Symphonies only go and grow in one direction ,upwards in registral range and louder in decibles. They do have a one-dimensional posture but then that is the price(as Adorno said) a creator pays for what they do. Screeching strings, and snarling brass, all doubled to add power to their arguments."