Fuchs: Orchestral Works (1995)

Look up the word pedant in the musical dictionary and the name Robert Fuchs will be listed as a synonym. Fuchs joined the faculty of the Vienna Conservatory when he was 28, retired as its director when 65, and if he didn't single-handedly transform it into the most reactionary musical organization in a notoriously reactionary town, he more than made up for it by his pedantic and reactionary music. In his Symphony No. 3 from 1906, Fuchs wrote music of jaw-dropping banality. Bruch would have been ashamed to write the theme ... Read More

Look up the word pedant in the musical dictionary and the name Robert Fuchs will be listed as a synonym. Fuchs joined the faculty of the Vienna Conservatory when he was 28, retired as its director when 65, and if he didn't single-handedly transform it into the most reactionary musical organization in a notoriously reactionary town, he more than made up for it by his pedantic and reactionary music. In his Symphony No. 3 from 1906, Fuchs wrote music of jaw-dropping banality. Bruch would have been ashamed to write the theme for the Andante's variations. Brahms would have laughed himself silly if he wrote the theme for the Allegro scherzando then torn it up and gone to the tavern for the rest of the afternoon. Bruckner would have prayed the Rosary if he'd written the brass climax of the Finale and hoped for forgiveness and inspiration. And Wagner would have just died if he'd written anything as pretentious as the Overture to the opera The Waves of Sea and Love. This 1994 recording by Manfred Müssauer and... Read Less