Franz Lachner (1803-90) is best known today as the Munich Kapellmeister whose career was cut short by the arrival of Wagner and the nuttiness of King Ludwig II, but his career as a composer was long and distinguished. His Third Symphony shows promise. It’s full of good ideas, and he’s not afraid of colorful scoring (witness the zippy piccolo part). The opening sounds like a minor-key paraphrase of Beethoven’s Fidelio Overture. There’s just one problem. He had no sense of timing whatsoever.
Consider the scherzo (placed second). It’s a witty essay in contrapuntal textures, ear-catching at first, but twelve minutes later, when it’s still bustling away, you want to kill yourself. It’s actually as long as the first movement. In fact, at forty-seven minutes, the symphony drones on for, oh, let’s say twenty minutes longer than it has any right to. And that, in a nutshell, is going to be the major impediment to enjoyment for most listeners–certainly not this lively and attractive performance by Gernot Schmalfuss and the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra.
The Festouvertüre was composed for a “Fest” whose identity remains unknown. Apparently it wasn’t played in the composer’s lifetime. It begins solemnly, proceeds to a lively allegro punctuated by way too many cymbal crashes, and ends with a “take your choice coda” in which the conductor gets to pick between God Save the King (which was the national anthem of Bavaria at the time) and Haydn’s Emperor’s Hymn (chosen for this recording). To call it a piece of fluff is an insult to fluff. An interesting release for fans of the period, then, but not a notably compelling listen.
