Richard Flury was a Swiss conductor and composer being born in Biberist in 1896 and dying in 1967. His first symphony was composed in 1923, and in the recording on Youtube which I listened to it was played by The Bieler Symphonie conducted by his son, Urs Joseph Flury.
It is a Post Romantic composition in the standard 4 movements lasting just over 35 minutes. Despite being composed in the 1920s the music does not feel very contemporary of that era, and chooses not to embrace many if not all of the styles and fashions of classical composition at that time. There is certainly a hint of Impressionism in the composing, but that was already somewhat passe. The music is deeply 'Romantic' in essence, and is very programmatic / cinematic in feel. It is densely orchestrated, and has some effective use of the brass. Maybe, being Swiss, Flury was more influenced by the countryside around him, than looking at more forward-thinking countries such as France, Germany, The UK and USA. Certainly much of the symphony is evocative of such a countryside, especially the first movement; although there are moments of utter genius where he breaks with tradition which surprise, such as the final few bars of the first movement.
Sadly, the second movement is rather uninspiring, and nothing special. The third is short but a little more contemporary in the melody, despite the orchetsration still being some 50 years behind. It really didn't feel like a 'scherzo', not on this recording did it even seem 'allegro'. The final movement is quite brooding, and is basically just one phrase continually repeated, mutated and developed, bringing the whole work to a classical but not overloud ending.
Not a piece of music that I would add to my playlist, despite being lyrical and harmonic, and it isn't difficult to see why this symphony has been overlooked.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 9/5/20
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