Messages

Writers:
Pacini: Dante Symphony
G.Bantock: Dante and Beatrice
One may also add: William Wallace The Passing of Beatrice
R.Leoncavallo: Chatterton (opera)
Louis Aubert (first performer of Valses Nobles and Sentimentales): Le Tombeau de Chateaubriand (French Naxos Record)
(I would consider sung Liszt Apres une lecture de Dante (surely), Dante Symphony (fairly). Also sung Liszt Three Petrarch's Sonnets in both versions, vocal or merely pianistic).
Most unsung: Angelo Tortone "The blind of Xios" (Homer), symphonic poem.

Speaking of Pacini, I have a recording of Pacini's Dante Symphony (paired with the requiem) on Bongiovanni that is without a doubt the worst performance of a classical piece that I've ever heard - on a commercially available recording. Apart from the exceedingly uninspired (I'm being very kind here) performances, I believe half the musicians must have been suffering from influenza judging from all the coughing, sneezing, and snorting. Now, Pacini's Dante Symphony isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but as a rariety (not a huge number of Italian symphonies written in the 19th century, you know) it certainly deserved better.

1. Jules Levy - A Fair At Sofia suite
2. Spontini - Milton
3. Lemoyne - Electra
4. Gade - Symphony 6
5. Raff - Symphony 5
6. Mark Blatchley - Evening Service For Trebles
7. Pixis - Concerto for Violin, Piano & Strings
8. Sviridov - Snowstorm

I bought it on vinyl (Chandos) back in 1989, loved it ever since.

"There is a great deal about MacDowell that has not been published and that can no longer be recovered"

Ah... may I ask if you're referring to biographical information, or compositions - or both? Either way, it's tragic. It's unbelievable to me that one of America's first important composers has been treated so shabbily over the years. I wonder who has possession of his writings/sketches/unpublished works at this point?

Thanks for replying,

DM

[three movements of the latter being among his unfinished manuscripts.]

I've always loved the music of Edward Macdowell, and have over the years sought out any biographical information on the composer that I could lay my hands on. Unfortunately, I feel that the extant biographies do neither the man, nor his compositions justice.

That being said, I recently came across an interesting passage in John Fielder Porte's 1922 biographical sketch:

"He felt, too, that he was growing away from pianoforte work and had he lived there would have been further and more representative symphonic poems and at least one symphony from his pen, three movements of the latter being among his unfinished manuscripts."

Now, I may have led a sheltered life, but I'd not heard about the existence of these symphonic movements (whatever their degree of completion). And they are apparently not related to the other aborted Macdowell symphony (Two Fragments After The Song Of Roland Op.90)

You'd think in a novelty-hungry world that some enterprising Newbould or Cooke would have
jumped on these. If they do indeed exist, I hope they will eventually see the light of day.

Jaromír Weinberger - though he's becoming rather unsung. The "Polka & Fugue" used to be a concert staple, but I've never heard the entire Schwanda opera from which it's taken. And, he wrote a huge amount of music in various genres apart from his one "big" hit.

Gaspare Spontini - La Vestale is performed a bit more often than Halley's Comet makes it's appearance, but it's still primarily his "hit". I'd love to hear Nurmahal, or Alcidor for a change.

Sibelius' Kullervo. Though I must say in recent years it has begun to garner the degree of respect that it deserves.

The Newbould  assertions regarding the authenticity of the orchestration of the opening bars of mvmt 3 of the eighth (what a sentence!) are pretty much put forward as fact in Schauffler's Schubert biography (The Ariel Of Music, 1949). In fact I've not seen a serious biographical study that suggests otherwise. Then there's the theory that the original 4th mvmt of the 8th ended up as the Entr'acte Music No. 1 from Rosamunde.... but I won't even get into that

Anyway, thanks for all the responses. Hopefully at some point that recording will be reissued...

Bolcom's piano rags usually work for me. And there's an air by Arne - "Sweetest bard That Ever Sung" - that also does the trick.

It's always been my understanding that the extant "orchestrated bars" of the third movement were in Schubert's hand. I've not (in 30 years) heard any argument that would suggest that they are not, or that that was in any way a contentious point.

I have a recording in LP format apparently corresponding to post 1.
But it dates back to 1967.
CBS 54008. Max Goberman conducted a "New Wien Symphonic Orchestra" in Overture Rosamunde (actually "Zauberharfe"), Magnificat in C major (with soloists and chorus) and  Unfinished Symphony. The Unfinished, after the two completed movements, consists in sketches of a third: allegedly orchestrated by the composerr for nine bars, continuing on the piano played by one Kurt Rapf (the total timing is 2'.48").

Alberto, that may very well be it. Mr. Hoehn did indeed source vinyl for his broadcasts up until about 1994. Many thanks the information.

As per the notion that Schubert is not among the immortals of any century... well, if we're going down that questionable route perhaps we should also be open to the possibilities that fire is not hot, water is not wet, and that Johann Gottfried Bernhard was the greatest of J.S. Bach's sons...

Oh, certainly not his last thoughts as a composer. I was referring to his "last thoughts"  in relation to the 8th. I guess fragments (and lost works) hold a certain fascination for me. One can speculate endlessly over Schumann's Corsair, and Chopin's lost Veni Creator...

Thanks for your reply. I believe he hosted the programme between 1987 - 2002, after which he retired...

Hi all. I have a question that has bugged me for some time.

Years ago, on Art Hoehn's  "Music Through The Night" program Mr. Hoehn played a version of Schubert's 8th that I'd not heard before, or since. What made this particular recording unique was the fact that it was not the usual two movements, nor one of the many "completed" versions; but rather the first two movements,  the few orchestrated bars of the third... and then what remained of the movement on piano.

It was actually quite moving to hear the work in this form, and to experience Schubert's (apparently) lasts thoughts - in regards to this piece - ebbing away single-notedly on the piano...

Anyway, if anyone happens to know of this recording, and it's availability, I'd be most grateful.

Danny

Just a word of thanks for the music. The suite by Edward German (The Seasons) was an especially lovely discovery...

Hadley's 2nd; Gade's 6th...