The BBC
Midland Orchestra
Leader, Alfred Cave
Conducted by Leslie Heward
The Italian' Symphony
It is a curious fact that Mendelssohn complained that the ' Italian ' Symphony, completed in 1831, cost him some of the bitterest moments in his life, and in consequence it was not published until after his death, in 1847. Yet it is one of his finest works, perfect in workmanship and full of melodic charm and vital energy. We may ' safely conclude ', says Sir Donald Tovey , ' that Mendelssohn's own dissatisfaction with the " Italian " Symphony is rather an objection to the laws of human growth than the recognition of defects that self-criticism and revision can remedy. Certainly in the first three movements every bar and every note is in the right place, except for one tiny oversight in the slow movement which only a mistaken piety would leave uncorrected. As to the finale, no defect is discoverable ; but we can imagine that Mendelssohn could have wished to broaden its design towards the end.' Despite the excellence of this last movement, Mendelssohn had intended to revise it.
Liszt's ' Les Préludes'
Liszt's symphonic poem ' Les Preludes' is based on Lamartine's Méditations poétiques: 'What is life but a series of preludes to that unknown song whose initial solemn note is tolled by Death? The enchanted dawn of every life is love ; but where is the destiny on whose first delicious joys some storm does not break?-a storm whose deadly blast disperses youth's illusions, whose fatal bolt consumes its altar. And what soul, thus cruelly bruised when the tempest rolls away, seeks not to rest its memories in the calm. of rural life? Yet man allows himself not long to taste quietness that first attracted him to Nature's lap ; but when the trumpet gives the signal he hastens to danger's post, whatever be the fight which draws him to its lists, that in the strife he may once more regain full knowledge of himself and all his strength.'