Richard Stöhr (1874-1967)

[kyjo]

I thought this long-lived and prolific Austrian composer deserves a thread of his own. He lived an interesting and eventful life, eventually spending his final years in Montpelier, Vermont of all places! His Wikipedia article is generously detailed if you're interested in knowing more about him. Toccata Classics has been doing a series devoted to his music and it's uncovered some gems of real quality. What I've heard so far is relatively conservative in style, but also manages to not really sound like anyone else. The first work I encountered by him was his substantial (46-minute) Concert im alten Stil for strings, piano, and percussion, which occupies a delicious stylistic territory between late-romanticism and neo-baroque/classicism. It's contained on Volume 1 of Toccata's series of his orchestral music.

Recently, I listened to Volume 2 of the Toccata series which was a great pleasure from beginning to end:



The Suite No. 1 in C major for string orchestra is delightfully neo-baroque in a similar manner to Grieg's Holberg Suite, with two bustling, energetic outer movements framing a melancholy, probing slow movement. The Symphony No. 1 in A minor should be heard by anyone who enjoys exploring the byways of late-romantic symphonism. As long as you don't require your symphonies to plumb the depths of every human emotion like Mahler's, you will find much to love in Stöhr's more modest yet never dull musical world. The first movement is dramatic and eventful and even becomes genuinely tragic in the powerful coda. The scherzo is jolly and rustic in a manner not dissimilar to some of the symphonic scherzi of Erkki Melartin. Marked Andante religioso, the slow movement doesn't quite aspire to Brucknerian transcendence, but contains some touching moments of radiant beauty. We're back down to earth for the vivacious finale, which boasts a truly catchy main theme with a slight "exotic" coloring. Unlike some other late-romantic composers (I won't name any names!), Stöhr knows how to write a succinct, unhackneyed, and successful coda. Wonderful stuff all around!