Alas, this new issue from Telarc is not the harbinger of a third cycle, but a one-off issue of two of Hartmann’s best works. The first six symphonies all have origins in music written during Hitler’s Reich, but only achieved their final forms after its collapse, in a compositional parallel to the reconstruction of Western Germany occurring at the same time.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra cannot have been overfamiliar with Hartmann’s idiom but gives very creditable performances. Botstein clearly loves the music, as is evident from his short note in the booklet and these vivid interpretations. In the First Symphony (1950), this newcomer scores over the pioneering Wergo account in intensity and a vastly superior recording. Van Nes is a more secure soloist than Soffel, although Kallisch is better still. The Sixth Symphony (1953) is one of the orchestral repertoire’s white-knuckle-rides, and Botstein relishes the challenge. The final fugal section is taken at a tremendous pace, with sacrifices in textural cohesion (especially the strings) and rhythmic articulation, but undeniably thrilling. That said, both Kubelik and Metzmacher provide a more rounded picture of the whole with little loss of pace. Overall, the superior EMI sound, and Metzmacher’s emphasis on the lyrical qualities of the music rather than the ‘Hartmann clatter’ makes him the front runner in both symphonies.
The advantage of this still very useful newcomer is the presence of the early symphonic poem Miserae (1933-4), for long considered by Hartmann as his first symphony. Try this disc, then, and move on to EMI’s cycle.'