#schubert symphony

Berio - Rendering (1989)

When Franz Schubert passed away in 1828, he left behind a plethora of unfinished fragments of works. His “unfinished Symphony” (numbered 8) always gets the most attention because there are at least two completed movements, but it isn’t the only one. There is also an unfinished “tenth” symphony, of which we only have piano sketches of an almost complete first movement, slow movement, and a bizarre “scherzo” movement. As with other “completions” of famous unfinished works, different composers and enthusiasts have orchestrated and “completed” Schubert’s rough drafts. But composer Luciano Berio had a different idea. He “completed” the work by filling in the gaps with music of his own. While ‘completionists’ would hope the listener wouldn’t notice where Schubert ends and the ghostwriter begins, Berio offers no pretense. The connective tissue between “Schubert’s original” sketches is made up of the motifs Schubert wrote but filtered through contemporary orchestral writing that the old master would never have thought of. The result is a bizarre but unique dreamlike work, where we move between Schubert’s world, the “symphony that could have been”, and then a kind of sonic haze of orchestral colors. The inclusion of the celesta helps to give off this hazy daydream-like mood with its soft chiming bells. At first listen, these shifts feel a bit jarring, but the longer you stick with it, the more you notice that they are, in a way, like the kinds of stark contrasts and sudden shifts in mood and modulation that you would hear in any orthodox Schubert piece.  The first movement opens with a conventional fanfare to push the symphony off, with a kind of “alpine vacation” optimism. Soon, though, the music melts away and transitions into a daydream episode. Fluttering winds, lyrical violin passages, and celesta chimes overlap and carry us into murky cluster chords. We flip the switch back to the symphony as if nothing happened. The slow movement has the beautiful melodies carrying over convention into non-convention and back again. And the final movement, the ‘scherzo’, is a strange mix of fun folk dancing and counterpoint exercise, again being connected through rhapsodic Berio orchestra colors. 

Movements:

1. Allegro

2. Andante