Moszkowski: Symphony in D minor

[Theodore S.]

J.B. Priestley took great delight in Moszkowski's music, as he made clear in an ess

"If I pass him by, who will praise Moritz Moszkowski? The musical scholars and critics are eternally busy - and quite right too - with their Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and Brahms. Little Moritz has no place among the great. No music of his will ever disturb or challenge the soul. Neither I nor anybody else has ever come away from a composition of his, reeling and enraptured. His symphony, his opera, his concerto and concert studies are forgotten, and, although stranger things have happened, it is unlikely that any of them will be rediscovered and reviewed. In his day he had his triumphs, but now every garland has been dust these many years. Yet here and now, ignoring the giants who are always willing to take another bow, I crook my finger and, to the astonishment of the company, cry "Maestro Moszkowski, forward!" For has he not given me delight, hours and hours of it, glittering like the Carnival at Nice and yet as innocent as a baby's birthday? And all those who, like me, have pounded away at his "From Foreign Parts" and his Spanish Dance duets, should join me in this place, clapping the hands that still seem to ache from his "Bolero", and shouting "Bravo, Moritz Moszkowski, Bravo!"

- J. B. Priestley, chapter seventy-nine from "Delight".

I have much to be thankful for in both Moszkowski and Priestley, two brilliant artists in their crafts, both of whom one would wish they could listen to and read more of, though in their own times both were heralded as among the modern greats. Priestley, for his wondrous spiritual writings of time, the soul, and social justice; and Moszkowski, for his tuneful and colorful works for the orchestra, piano, and chamber ensembles. I am very happy to see that Moszkowski's Symphony will finally receive a proper recording, and for just this once, I believe we can happily prove the great Priestley wrong!

By the way, I'll also be keeping an eye out for a recording of his Piano Quintet - that piece seems like it should be very interesting...

[Alan Howe]

It's great to have the Priestly quote verbatim - and I agree with most of it. But a Symphony in D minor following hot on the heels of Schumann 4, Volkmann 1, Dietrich and Grimm? I'm not so sure he had it in him. But we'll see...

[tpaloj]

This symphony was an early work for Moszkowski. That Moszkowski was a fast learned in his musical studies is evident if one looks at the scores of his earlier incomplete Piano quintet and the Overture in D, for example. The leaps of ambition and progress he took on with the Piano Concerto op. 3 and this symphony is a marvellous thing to witness.

Though the manuscript seems neat and well written on the surface, there were numerous technical inconsistencies and other issues stemming from his lack of experience in writing symphonic works at that point in time. When I wrote the typeset score and parts for Mr. Hobson several years ago, I still regret how difficult producing the notation turned out to be. On the positive side many, many issues were ironed out and fixed since after the preliminary Noteperformer audio that vesteel had posted on youtube. That video doesn't really represent what the symphony is about or how it should sound at its best. My best to Mr. Hobson and others working on this project: they've done some astounding work already with Moszkowski's music, and personally this has been my most awaited release in the series yet!

EDIT: Corrected reference to the piano quintet.

[Alan Howe]

That's very helpful - and encouraging, thanks. We greatly look forward to this release.

[Martin Eastick]

Moszkowski's piano quintet probably predates anything else that we know of, and is incomplete - lacking a last movement. This in itself should not be a problem, though, if one considers the number of works that survive in varying stages of incompleteness| It is hoped that the quintet will feature in a chamber music CD at some stage in Toccata's Moszkowski edition. Although the original works for violin and piano have all now appeared on CD at least once ( a very early Stücke for violin and piano is indicated as lost), there are also the three pieces for cello and piano Op29, which have never been recorded!