Not infrequently, when browsing for music to listen to, the search criteria I enter is “complete symphonies” – and then I see what pops up. There are a wondrous number of albums available for streaming that go on for hours with the complete symphonies (and more) of great composers. Needless to say, Beethoven comes up frequently – and I have yet to hit play on any of those. Having overloaded on Beethoven as a conservatory student, I am saturated.
Yesterday’s find was the Saint-Saens Complete Symphonies recorded by the Orchestre National de France conducted by Cristian Macelaru. I was intrigued, as I was only familiar with his famous organ symphony. As I listened, I found myself thinking about musical prodigies – and wondering whether having a phenomenal natural facility is actually a benefit when it comes to composing. Saint-Saens was born with extraordinary talent and music poured out of him effortlessly. As I listened to the symphonies, I wondered if, for him, that was a disadvantage. Other than the organ symphony, with which I am very familiar and still enjoy hearing now and then, the others, while having their moments, never rang true, lacking a unique voice that could only be his. At various moments, I thought this could be Mendelssohn, or Schumann, or any Romantic period French composer of ballet music. Everything was carefully constructed – but, in the end, rather trite. So many familiar gestures, which he could no doubt write without second thought. None of this is to say that there aren’t pieces by Saint-Saens that I think of as masterpieces, but other than the 3rd symphony, the others struck me as uninspired. As for his organ symphony, he seems to have acknowledged that he had nothing more to say in that genre afterwards, having created something he couldn’t match again.
But back to the subject at hand. Does being a musical prodigy help or hinder the creation of great music? I can think of a number of extraordinary musicians whose facility proved to be a bane. Liszt was a phenomenal talent, who wrote altogether too much banal drivel, with the occasional genuine masterpiece thrown in. Korngold, who perhaps would have achieved more than was demonstrated by his initial promise had his musical life not been interrupted by his family having to flee the Nazis, also wrote several extraordinary masterpieces. His enormous natural facility allowed him to transform Hollywood film music and dominate the sound of movies for decades – yet little of that music was a match for some of his earlier works. Then, of course, there is Mozart, but even in his case, his musical output is rather uneven. Amidst his many masterpieces are so many pieces that seem to be toss-offs. Personally, his collection of piano sonatas sit in my score library untouched. On the several occasions I have taken them out to read through, they went right back. Boring. Felix Mendelssohn is another composer whose innate musical ability was prodigious yet whose compositions only occasionally rise to the first rank.
