Upcoming cpo Reicha release with a promising name?

[eschiss1]

Ok, I know Reicha is at the limit of our remit here (though on the whole his music isn't boring!... ) but an upcoming CD from cpo promises his complete symphonies, volume 1. I may be wrong- or -have- all his symphonies been recorded, yet? but this seems good news.

(We're still waiting on all his string quartets, too- as it is that series seems to have stalled after a very few volumes.)

[UnsungMasterpieces]

That looks promising! I have been streaming some of Reicha's piano works on Toccata lately, so that is a nice coincidence. I gather the numbering of Reicha's catalogue is quite complicated (according to Wikipedia, the opus numbers are in 'disarray' and some pieces were published multiple times), so I'm not sure if everything has been recorded already.

[eschiss1]

Of the 11 symphonies (plus one lost) listed by Wikipedia, several don't have keys listed (one is in C minor, though), and of the others, only one is in D major (the key of the symphony on this album). There is a symphony in D on a disc conducted by Petr Altrichtr but in 3 movements, not 4. The first movement sound sample begins the same way as on the new disc, the last movement doesn't. Someone remarked in notes to one of Altricht[e]r's recordings of the work that its minuet is incomplete- maybe cpo includes a version of it and an alternate finale, or something. We may know in a few months...

[TerraEpon]

The Reicha symphony situation is extremely confusing. There are multiple sort....small sets of them, there's 1 and 2, as well as "Symphony a Grand Orchestre" 1 and 2, and Symphony a Petit Orchestre No. 1 though not sure that even GOT No. 2. And to make it more confusing there's also Grande Symphonie 1 and 2. And some that just have keys.

Hopefully this series will set the record straight as to what is what here, because my research has come up short.

Incidently I've never heard of this 'AJR' catalog, don't see anything about it online.....would love to though.

 

[eschiss1]

according to a recording of it, the symphony for small orchestra is in C minor.

Then there's the two salon symphonies, one in D major (but not the one on this recording) and one in E minor...

[terry martyn]

Let me nail my colours to the mast.

Reicha (a bit like Danzi ,Weyse and,perhaps,Witt) acts as a bridge into Romanticism. Far more so than,say, the Wranitzkys, to my ears. I think his music falls within our remit.

And  Eric is spot-on. Reicha is never boring. I personally believe he surpasses the masters mentioned above, from the knowledge of the three symphonies of his already in my possession. The brief excerpts of this symphony are very attractive and this is a CD and series that I will be buying.

[Mark Thomas]

Reicha's output doesn't seem to have been comprehensively catalogued and so, on the face of it, it's difficult to know precisely which works are presented here. As Eric has noted above, the D major Symphony here has four movements, only the first of which is the same as that previously available from the Dvořák Chamber Orchestra under Petr Altrichter on a 1992 Panton CD. The booklet does make it plain that Riecha's manuscripts were in a chaotic state; this symphony's movements were split between three different boxes, and were only reunited in 2021. So, I guess this is the definitive work, and the earlier recording used two unconnected movements from other works to complete a three-movement version. The Overture in D turns out to be the "Overture in Quintuple Time" recorded previously (most recently by MDG, with Peter Gülke conducting Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra), all of which omit the extensive five minute slow introduction which this new recording boasts. The C major Overture is one of several Riecha is recorded as having written, and not the same one as the Overture in C major Op.24 (on YouTube here). As TerraEpon noted, all three works have an AJR number, which I can't trace either but I see is used by some publishers too, which implies that someone might have compiled a much-needed comprehensive catalogue catalogue.

Reicha, although on the outer, early fringes of our time period, was an inventive composer, and his music often surprises with its anticipation of latter developments. Each of these works is lively, entertaining and, although both overtures are quite long, never outstays their welcome. They receive cracking performances. Heartily recommended.

[TerraEpon]

There IS a themeatic catalog (I believe it's this, https://archive.org/details/antoninrejchabio0000soto from 1990) that I went through a while back. But it didn't have any numbers at all IIRC.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks. Olga Šotolová's biography and thematic catalogue dates from 1990 (but that's possibly only the English translation, the Czech original being published in 1977), but doesn't pretend to be completely comprehensive and, again, the author makes clear the fragmented and disorganised state of Reicha's manuscripts at the time. She lists nine symphonies, of which four are for full orchestra and fully extant, one is partially so, one is for chamber orchestra, and one for marching band, the other two are only fragments:

C major, before 1799 (I. Allegro, II. Andante). MS fragment in full score.

D major, before 1799 (I. -,  II. Andante, III. Menuetto, IV. Allegro assai). MS fragment in full score.

E flat major Op.41, 1799 (I. Largo -Allegro spirituoso,  II. Andante un poco adagio, III. Menuetto, IV. Poco vivo]. Published.

E flat major Op.42, 1799 (I. Allegro assai, II. Adagio, III. Menuetto, IV. Allegro scherzando). Published.

C minor for small orchestra, before 1808 (I. Andante maestoso - Allegro, II. Andante, III. Menuetto, IV. Allegro assai). MS.

C major Celebration for wind band & timpani, before 1808 (I. Adagio - Allegro un poco presto, II. Adagio, III. Marche funèbre, IV. Un poco presto). MS.

F minor, before 1808 (I. Lento - Allegro spirituoso, II. Adagio, II. Menuetto, IV. Allegro assai). MS.

G major, 1808 (I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Menuetto). MS, beginning of III, and IV. missing.

F major No.3, 1808 (I. Lento poco andante - Allegro, II. Adagio, III. Menuetto, IV. Allegro vivace). MS.

There are also a  couple of Grand Symphonies de Salon for nine instruments.

In terms of recordings of the full scale symphonies, the D major, listed by Šotolová as in fragments, has now been completed, and that's the new recording. Then there are five issued in a Czech Radio album of 2012, played by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under Ondřej Kukal: the E flat major Op.41, F major, F minor & C minor Symphonies (this, in full orchestration), together with the G major Symphony with completed (or substituted) final two movements. There's also the earlier Petr Altrichter recordings which have the F major, C minor (again, fully orchestrated) and the three-movement version of the D major, the last two movements of which don't seem to have been taken from any of the other recorded symphonies. So, barring new discoveries in the 36 years since Šotolová's work was published, it looks like there are six complete symphonies for full orchestra, all of which have now been recorded. It'll be interesting to see, as the cpo series continues, whether more are added to Reicha's clutch of proto-romantic symphonies.

The situation with overtures is even less clear: there are eleven of them listed, most in either C major or D major.

C major, before 1799 (Lento). MS fragment.
C major, before 1799 (Allegro assai - Molto largo - Presto). MS.
E flat major, before 1799 (Allegro assai). MS.
C major Op.24, before 1799 (Adagio - Allegro assai). Published.
D major, before 1799 (Allegro un poco vivo). MS, related to the 1823 version.
D major, before 1799 (Allegro assai). MS
C major, before 1816 (Lento e grazioso - Allegro - Lento - Allegro). MS.
D major, after 1820 (Allegro moderato e maestoso). MS.
E minor, after 1820 (Lento e maestoso - Allegro moderato). MS, intended for an opera.
D major, 1823 (Lento maestoso - Allegro scherzando). MS.
F minor Op.34? (Adagio - Allegro assai).

This new recording has the D major Overture of 1823 (with the extended slow introduction). It's not clear which of the C major ones is also on the new CD, except that it isn't Op.24. Possibly the second one, as Šotolová records that as ending Presto, which is also mentioned in the CD booklet.

[eschiss1]

Was going to check RISM but it lists only two of the overtures- but it does list one of the ones in manuscript, with two incipits* not present in Šotolová (ŠotR - Reicha works in RISM are given as e.g. "Overtures, ŠotR p. 162 in D major" by their location in her thematic catalog as translated by Viney ("Translation into English of the revised Czech edition of 1977.").) (Edit: the overture in D in 5/4 time at IMSLP - the "Allegro un poco vivo" (before 1799) which should be "Adagio - Allegro un poco vivo" - is the same as that link but without the adagio; the source is a manuscript at the French National Library that presumably is incomplete, unlike the (possibly autograph though probably 19th century) version at Brussels.)

Does the version of her catalog available at archive.org give any incipits for the C major overtures by which to distinguish them by themes?

*Correction: RISM says the Adagio incipit, not the whole overture, is not present in the thematic catalog, which absence hence implies (whether or not correctly) that the overture is just an Allegro without introduction.

[terry martyn]

This is a wonderful start to what should be a very interesting voyage of discovery, and I echo Mark's hearty recommendation. The opening movement is brooding and introspective and inventive - I personally can't recall anything else of its period quite like it. It cries out to be listened to, and put on repeat.