Danubia Symphony Orchestra (Óbudai Danubia Zenekar), Thomas Ludwig, conductor & composer.
Thomas LUDWIG: Symphony No. 3
Ludwig (self-released)
Formats: CD, digital
Release Date: March 20, 2024
Total Duration: 56:50
Giorgio Koukl | 12 JUL 2024
This new recording of the American composer Thomas Ludwig presents us with his long and mighty Third Symphony. This nearly one-hour work for a large orchestra certainly can be compared with great symphonic works from the past in terms of its long developments, orchestration, or structure, but not precisely when examining its quality of thematic material or originality. On the other hand, a composer who has in his catalog of works five big symphonies, various other works for orchestra, and numerous chamber works surely deserves our attention.
CD covert art (click to enlarge)
Now, the lucky encounter with the Hungarian orchestra called Danubia Symphony Orchestra (Óbudai Danubia Zenekar), born in 1993 out of a group of young students gathered together by conductor Domonkos Hèja and now widely established in Hungary as a fresh and lively reality, certainly contributes much to the success of this installment. Maestro Ludwig is himself conducting his four-movement work in a precise manner, even if not with very imaginative interpretation. The single orchestral groups and the solo instruments are heavily microphoned and helped artificially with the post-production mix, adding the much-needed crescendi and balance between the groups. While this can be a valid technical means to obtain a superior musical landscape and is, in fact, used by all major orchestral productions, sometimes overdoing it is a question of a tiny whiff. In this case, and constantly present in all four movements, the artificial crescendi and diminuendi after an initial wow effect become more of a nuisance; one can only question how the music would have been without these unnecessary interventions.
Certainly, there are places like in the first movement (“Adagio/Moderato”), where some solo woodwind instruments would never emerge under the fury of a well-nurtured brass section. In this case, a sound engineer and his precious work are urgently needed. But there are other places, like the second and the third movements (“Adagietto” and “Rondo/Scherzando”), where the music flows quite naturally; even without bizarre interventions, these artifacts could have been omitted entirely.
The orchestration recalls, to a great extent, the nineteenth-century masters. The booklet justly names Bruckner and Mahler, who, in fact, could have written similar music.
The last movement, maybe the best of all this work (“Largo – Finale agitato”), lasts nearly half an hour. It is definitely too long to maintain the attention of today’s listeners, and despite its undoubtedly interesting development, it loses most of its charm after a while.
Despite the aforementioned technical issues, the orchestra plays well and is precise and organized. We can only imagine the difficulty of recording such an enormous work in only two days. This fact alone would be enough to give it a serious position among the East European orchestras. Nonetheless, they completely lack a sense of detail. The small rubati and the colorful playing of the single instruments are nearly imperceptible. Probably due to a cruel lack of rehearsing time, all this was sacrificed to a quasi-military precision of being together.
Now, what can be said about the work itself?
It is always difficult to express a valid opinion on music that appears to ignore entirely the last hundred years of music development, where names like Bartok, Debussy, or Schoenberg seemingly have left no traces.
It is very well written. The composer knows his skills perfectly and is able to handle a big post-romantic orchestra. Per se, this skill is already rare among today’s composers and must be lauded.
There are hints of possible ways to develop the central themes into new and exciting possibilities; unfortunately, these developments mostly go nowhere.
Caravaggio formulated a new and revolutionary way of painting, as Mahler and Bruckner have done in their fields.
But after Caravaggio, the “scuola caravaggesca” (the painters who copied his way of conceiving art for nearly a century,) appeared, but mostly never brought anything as genius-loaded as the maestro himself. This doesn’t mean they do not deserve our attention, as definitely Mr. Thomas Ludwig deserves the attention of listeners who wish to dwell in nicely written post-romantic music. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Thomas Ludwig: beethovenchamberorchestra.org/about-us
- Danubia Symphony Orchestra (Óbudai Danubia Zenekar): utazenehez.hu/en
Read more by Giorgio Koukl.
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