Hans Graf on Paul von Klenau's Symphony No. 8

Chief conductor Hans Graf about finding the new in the old scores of Danish-born composer Paul von Klenau.

Born Danish, for most of his life Paul von Klenau worked in Germany and Austria. After nearly four decades, Klenau returned to Copenhagen in 1940 and remained there until his death in 1946, aged 63. In his lifetime, he never achieved recognition as a composer from his native Denmark, and his music was largely forgotten after his passing.

Although musicologists often speak of Klenau’s advocacy for Schoenberg and his twelve-tone technique, his music has also been described as influenced by the likes of Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss. It was music for the stage that interested Klenau the most, writing seven operas
from 1913 to 1940. Of his surviving nine symphonies, the first three come from his early years in Germany from 1903-1910, and the remaining six in his final years from 1938 to 1945.

Klenau’s Eighth Symphony was written in 1942. Compared to his final, Ninth Symphony – a huge affair for orchestra, chorus and soloists, clearly a Beethovenian gesture from the aging composer – his Eighth is short and much simpler. Titled "Im alten Stil" ("In Olden Style") it is music styled in the traditions of the Baroque and Classical period, with nods to sonata form, the minuet and the rondo. The score survives only in Klenau’s own autograph, and was published in 2020 for performance.

A recording of the symphony will be released on the album Concertos · Symphony No. 8, which also includes Klenau's Piano Concerto and Violin Concerto on 12 May.

Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Hans Graf, conductor