Just now as I write I'm listening again to Symphony No.9, - 33' in and the work is just about over. A "farewell Symphony" you say, - "autumnul", "melancholic", and "retrospective". I should be in my element here.
But it's not really happening so. I can relate your words somewhat to the passing sounds at times, and the overall mood I feel some resonance with. However the themes I just don't find compelling, - not "memorable" as I say,
nor does the piece as whole hang together for me, - it is just a "succession" but not a "coherence". There are fragments that engage me momentarily, even a few sustained passages I hear some "call" from. But overall, - and the piece has now finished - I'm rather indifferent to it. It's a miss. I can't say any more.
Whether one is caught by a given piece cannot (and certainly should not) be commanded. I confess having some difficulty to be fully convinced by the final part of the 9th, much as I would like to. In contrast, the slow movement is, to me, fully convincing and something to wallow in. It could be kitsch, and so it is to an extent. It reminds me of atmospheric film music, which is normally not an unmitigated positive comment for me, when it comes to symphonies. Yet, I find it moving and satisfactory. Right now, it reminds me of Atterberg's Fifth. Totally different music, I know, but in both cases, the craftsman's skills recede out of sight, the strings (no pun intended) are set loose and the music stands perfectly on its own right.
As for the Fifth, it does have many dark sides, but I have always perceived it as quite hedonistic at the same time, more so, indeed, than most other Skulte symphonies. Light-hearted it is not, but rather sensuous.
