Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D.944 ("The Great") - II. Andante con moto

apparently there is some controversy over what number to call this symphony. the germans call it 7, but sometimes also 8, and then everyone who speaks english call it 9. and then apparently a lot of american orchestras just don't even give it a number and call it the "great" c major. oh well. the story is that it was composed mainly in 1825, scored by 1826, and first played in 1827, but not actually performed publicly until 1829 (schubert died in 1828). it was another ten years before it would see the concert hall again, unearthed by schumann, and performed under the baton of none other than mendelssohn. schumann loved the symphony, even though it took a while to cotton on (it was basically only performed in pieces, even with other lighter music in between movements, to counter what was then considered excessive length and seriousness). but today it's regarded as one of schubert's finest works for orchestra (alongside his unfinished 8th).

this is the second movement of the symphony.

munch and bso

as an andante con moto, this "slow" movement is really not that slow at all but more of a fast almost-march. the instrumentation, rhythm, and mood all remind me of this section of the last movement of mahler 7, about 5 minutes in. the introducing few measures are strings with a firm rhythm, then oboe and clarinet solos singing above that. eventually (around 2 minutes) this softens into some A major tunes.
an F major second theme comes in around 3 minutes in, and finally the strings get to play some warm schubert tunes. ultimately this falls, though, and after a pause, the first, more tragic theme comes back, decorated with little string and wind inserts. the addition of these firm dotted rhythms (which just reinforce the marchlike rhythm) adds an undertone of murky trouble, especially since the horns keep it in the return of the a major section (6:08). it helps a lot to build towards the ultimate climax, the arc of which really begins at 7:58. here we hear almost nonstop diminished chords until the final one, marked FFF, after which there is a huge, loud silence.
the rest of the movement seems to me to be trying to reconcile us with this huge, scary climax. at first we've got a lone cello melody, which grows and flowers into a sort of super decorated reprise of the A major theme. the coda, however, beginning at 10:53, seems to gradually sink back into resignation, tolling brass and pizzicato strings leading us back into the march theme. we venture into some other key areas, but when the singing theme in A comes back, it's in minor, and then we're done.

one of the schubertian techniques on display in this movement is his ability to switch seamlessly between parallel major and minor (e.g. e major/ e minor, a major/ a minor). for the ultimate tour de force in this, check out his posthumous g major string quartet, in which he does this practically every half bar (i actually have a lot of trouble remembering whether this quartet is actually in g major or g minor). in that piece, the victory of major is proven by the end of the last movement, but in this movement, the tragic seems to weigh it down and prevail.