Work of the Week - Karl Amadeus Hartmann: 4th Symphony

The world famous Salzburg Camerata will be performing on home turf at the Salzburger Festspiele this month with a programme featuring Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s 4^th Symphony on 12th August. Conducted by Kent Nagano, the orchestra will also present further performances on the 13th August at the Festival International de Musique in Sion Valais, Switzerland and the 14th August at the Festival de Musique in Menton, France.

During the time of Nazi rule in Germany, composers such as Hartmann were banned from practicing their profession and their work declared "degenerate art". After the Second World War, Hartmann returned to these works to revive them and so, the 4^th Symphony finally received its world premiere in 1948.

The work was based on a symphony originally composed in 1938 for strings and soprano. Hartmann’s changes included replacing the vocal movement "Epitaph auf einen Krieger", with newly composed instrumental music to make a three movement symphony of two slow movements framing an central allegro movement.

With music ranging from expressive mournfulness and intense passion to aggressive rhythmic sections, Hartman’s symphony is a journey of emotions through structured serial techniques to a new modern expressiveness.

A further performance of Hartmann's 4^th Symphony can be heard in Stuttgart on 14th October with Christoph Poppen conducting the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.

• Karl Amadeus Hartmann - Profile
• Camerata Salzburg