I. Adagio - Allegro
II. Allegro Moderato
III. Presto
Louis Spohr - Symphony No. 7 Op. 121
Conducted by Alfred Walter with the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra.
"The deep mind of the master now opens itself in the whole of its rich fulness, and speaks to us in the noblest sounds. In an expressive horn solo the composer depicts the laughing rose-time of childhood i the most unaffected manner as if it came accompanied with godly blessings, full of gay, innocent games, so harmless, so cheerful and undisturbed: all is full of variegated dreams as is a happy life of childhood, and mixed with this are the earnest but mild and affectionate smiles of the great master who, by a magical image, has depicted with a joyous melancholy his own childhood - there is indeed in this movement so much heartiness, so much purity of emotion, it wells up with such force from the soul's depths that through it the creator must become dear and valuable to us . . . The second movement . . . is full of unrest and thoughtfulness, it sounds so troubled , so enticing, so treacherous and yet so full of longing desire - one feels that man has lost himself, that wild passions rage through him and that he eagerly hunts after idle desires which do not satisfy, cannot content him . . . The last movement . . . depicts mankind still imprisoned in the path of error: the better voice becomes louder and more pressing, till the inward warning sounds again triumphantly, and idle endeavor and struggle find an end in sweet and holy peace. An intention develops itself in music as in poetry: in these compositions of Spohr it dictates itself in the noblest and most emphatic way: therefore honour to the great German master"
Robert Schumann on Spohr's 7th Symphony.
