Wetz: Symphony No. 3 [CD]

Richard Wetz doesn't appear to have been a particularly prolific composer and his cycle of three symphonies forms the backbone of his oeuvre; the other focus of his compositional activity was choral music - as with this disc, CPO have included some of his shorter vocal pieces as fillers to his major orchestral works - although, of his large scale Requiem and his Christmas Oratorio only the former has so far been recorded. Some sources I have read cite those two works as his masterpieces.

I recently reviewed his very impressive second symphony - see here: Richard Wetz: Symphony No. 2; Kleist Overture - which had been set down for CPO by the same forces here and this final work in his cycle, dating from 1922, is no less striking. In marked contrast to its predecessor, it is a dark-hued work and there is more of a feeling of conflict and struggle as the symphony proceeds; that much is immediately apparent from the brooding `langsam' introduction and from the angular first subject that launches the main body of the opening movement. For a while, I wondered whether Wetz was to avoid the expansive lyrical lines of the second symphony but the second subject and other subsidiary motifs prove that this is not to be the case. This is a longish movement, at 17+ minutes, but at no point did I feel that the composer's inspiration was flagging - and the coda is quite shattering in its dramatic effect; this must truly be a climax to savour if heard live.

A similar tone pervades the slow movement, which makes pronounced use of contrapuntal textures during its course; only towards the end of the movement do some of the clouds clear and the lyricism that had marked his second symphony finally comes to the fore. A sprightly, rather ironic scherzo intervenes before the extended finale; the latter is a movement that is remarkable for the skill with which Wetz recalls and combines themes from earlier in the work. There is a sense by the closing bars that emotionally this is a hard-won victory - if, indeed, you can even consider there to be a sense of victory at all. That will depend on the individual listener but there is no doubt in my mind that this is a convincing and skilfully wrought finale, Wetz's handling of his material bearing witness to a mastery that so often deserted many lesser Late Romantic composers (and great composers too) when they attempted a cyclical finale.

Throughout the work, Wetz's handling of his orchestral forces is assured and despite the large complement of musicians at his disposal the textures rarely sound cluttered, even in the sometimes emphatic climaxes. There is much that is quite ravishingly beautiful here too and the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under Werner Andreas Albert plays the work as though it is a repertory staple. No less commendable is the sound quality provided by CPO.

All in all, this is a fascinating disc of fine music by a neglected composer with a distinctive personal voice; if you don't know Wetz's music and are wondering where to start investigating his works, I would suggest that this disc and that containing his second symphony make the best introductions to his style rather than start as I did chronologically with his first symphony - that work displays many of the stylistic fingerprints of the succeeding works but it is less individual, I feel, and the influences on his music are not as well assimilated; recorded with different forces to the second and third symphonies, the performances are not as assured as they are here either.

The fill up on this disc is a short choral piece; it is attractive but not very compelling - the major find here is the symphony and it is that work that makes this such a highly recommendable issue.