Asger Hamerik - Symphonies Nos.1 and 2

Asger HAMERIK (1843-1923)

Symphony No. 1 in F major, Op. 29 Symphonie poétique (1879-80) 

Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 32 Symphonie tragique (1882-83) 

Helsingborg National Symphony

Thomas Dausgaard.

The Danish composer Asger Hamerik moved to the USA in 1871 following the death of his mentor Hector Berlioz. In the USA he was director of Baltimore’s Peabody Institute. The Peabody had an eighty-strong orchestra and a vibrant musical tradition. He stayed with the Peabody for 27 years with summer vacations spent on the seaboard at Chester, Nova Scotia. That was the backdrop for the writing of the symphonies. In America he married, at the age of 51, the 26 year old Margaret Williams. They returned to Denmark in 1898 when the Peabody Institute ceased their orchestral concert series. That same year the couple’s son, the composer Ebbe Hamerik was born. After living the gypsy life they settled in Copenhagen in 1900 where Asger died in 1923 at the age of 80. His oeuvre includes four operas, seven symphonies and a series of Nordic Suites.

All six of the orchestra-only symphonies are in four movements. The First (Poétique) is sturdy, emphatic and cross-cut with powerful currents from Schumann and Beethoven. While the third movement certainly finds a radiant poetry the gruff energy of Beethoven Seven and Schumann Four shake the rafters in the remaining movements. The whirling string writing may remind you on occasion of Tchaikovsky (Hamlet) and Berlioz (Le Corsair). The Second Symphony is the longest of the symphonies. It is dedicated to Wagner’s patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It has a graver and more imperious mien than its predecessor relieved somewhat by the heavily skipping Allegro marcato (III). The finale has a blood-drained exhaustion about it reminiscent of the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique blended with a grand Berliozian anger.