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To judge by his keyboard fugues, Reicha had a spark of genius, no doubt. Who else in 1800 Paris or Vienna had written an entire piece in 5/8 meter? And on the existential side, who else at that time would would even have thought of writing (much less pulling off) a fugue where the subject has two fingers alternating rapidly on a single note? Or on the reception history side, who else would have written an entirely new fugue based on Scarlatti's old Cat's Fugue subject? (Yes, Czerny wrote a very nice Scarlatti-style sonata, but that was 40-odd years later.)

Nice to see that Acte Preable has scores for rent as well as recordings for sale. For Koczalski they list

– Piano concerto no. 1 in B minor op. 79
– Piano concerto no. 2 in G major op. 83
– Piano concerto no. 3 in G major op. 125 (in preparation)
– Violin concerto in A major op. 84
– Symphony op. 78 (in preparation)
– Symphony op. 93 (in preparation)

... presumably a clue as to future recordings as well.

Thanks, Eric! I spent a half hour or more on the NEC website, finding little more than recordings and a few scores.

It's not out of the question that Chadwick made a four-hand or two-piano reduction of his first symphony. Just saying. (Any such MS would serve as a secondary source in producing an Urtext.) But that, of course, is completely different from cannibalizing one's first symphony to produce some other work. Given Chadwick's rich vein of invention, such an action, though not impossible, seems implausible -- as well as undocumented.

Like you I have and enjoy the d'Avalos recordings (including the two opus 18 symphonies), published by ASV. I have not heard the versions of the numbered symphonies performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Claudio Scimone on Erato or by the Rome Symphony Orchestra under Francesco La Vecchia on Naxos.

Since Clementi left no definitive versions of the numbered symphonies, for me a big question would be whether Bolton, like d'Avalos, uses the Spada edition. I see no mention of that edition in PR or reviews; also, hbdirect.com lists the first symphony as being completed by Casella. Unless I'm mistaken, Casella's edition precedes that of Spada, and thus this suggests that Bolton is not using the same scores as d'Avalos -- at least in the first symphony. (Unless, of course, hbdirect has it wrong.)

You can hear excerpts of the Bolton performance at https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/sinfonien/hnum/8610032.

Yes, thanks for the heads up. A must buy for me.

Thanks, Eric. You're right, I was trusting the Marco Polo.

And as long as we're getting details right, let me add that the first quartet has a bit more arching drama in it than the tuneful Serenade in F, even if the quartet is still hewing to an overall idyllic (Fibich-inflected?) line. Novak has moved part of the way toward "In the Tatras."

[(TODAY! - A.Howe)]

Nowhere near as unsung as the Gounod Concerto, but just a reminder that on Friday, Oct. 27 (TODAY! - A.Howe) the BBC Symphony Orchestra, under Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, will be performing Schmitt's Symphony 2 at the Barbican Centre -- something that doesn't show up live every day. I'm presuming it will be broadcast at some point, too, since it's BBC.

Novak's String Quartet No.1 was recorded by the Novak Quartet on  Supraphon LP SUA 105.

In the U.S., that recording was licensed by CBS and released on Crossroads 22 16 0047 (mono) and 22 16 0048 (stereo). The 1899 G-major quartet has perhaps more in common with the earlier Serenade in F major, op. 9, than it does with the music Novak wrote in the following decade.

Could someone please provide a link to the excerpt. I can't find a link on the Acte prealable site.

Hopefully Mr. Closter created his score in Finale or Sibelius. If he did we should be able to hear a synthesized version of the symphony at least as listenable as many symphonic movie soundtracks.

The detail on Symphony 6 is appreciated. I had always assumed (wrongly) that "Symphony 6" was a typo where Sympnony 3 was meant, simply because composing two symphonies in F$ minor among six such works  is not all that common. Yet another proof that deductive thinking is not necessarily helpful in ascertaining actual historic events.

Thanks for the link. Mr. Hartman has provided some nice detail; pity he didn't include Bristow's Symphony 5 in his discussion.

I would add one American composer to the introductory survey part of the essay. Charles Hommann (1803-72, sometimes spelled Homman). His chamber music from 1830s, 40s and 50s Philadelphia and New York is comparable in craftsmanship to, say, Onslow, in my opinion. The music is not folk-artsy like Heinrich, but serious stuff by someone who clearly loved the Rasumovsky quartets.

Nothing yet on U2b, thank goodness (the two symphonies are there, though). Snippets can be heard on the CD Baby website. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/paulparay5

Based on the snippet, Paray in 1909 sounds more influenced by Schola cantorum composers than by Debussy. Nothing wrong with that. They could boast quite the line-up: Dukas, d'Indy, Magnard, Roussel, etc.

I'd buy that box of Brun as soon as it was known to be available.

Hough makes a strong case for Concerto 3 especially, but my desert-island Saint-Saëns concertos box features Anna Malikova with Thomas Sanderling conducting the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln on Audite. Malikova is nothing short of magnificent in these, with effortless playing that is both scintillating and profound -- the old Russian piano school at its best -- and excellent sound to boot.