Messages

I am not sure whether there will be concert performances linked to the recordings. It's a distinct possibility, I would have thought, though.

What I find when I come back to Rufinatscha - in particular to Symphonies 5 and 6 - is the largeness of his vision and the uniqueness of his music. There is simply nothing like him and I take this fact to be the mark of a truly great composer. Of course, he is part of the great symphonic tradition of the nineteenth century, indeed his music is one of its peaks, but the extraordinary thing is that he has only been re-discovered in the past decade or so - and this through the efforts of modern-day compatriots who have had the confidence to edit, perform, record and promote the music completely single-handedly.

I am therefore glad to report (although I cannot give any details at this moment) that a major independent label is currently planning to record at least the 6th Symphony, and maybe more, here in the UK. This may be the start of gaining for Rufinatscha something of the justice denied to him in life - e.g. when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Dessoff refused to play the 6th. Let us hope that his time has now come...

Yes - I doubt whether I'd be interested in a CD of piano bits and pieces by Mosonyi either. Does anyone know any of his choral music?

Grove online has this entry for Hiller' symphonies:

Es muss doch Frühling werden, e, op.67 (Mainz, ?1860);
Im Freien;
2 syms., 1829–34

It appears, then, that there are also two very early symphonies...

Moscheles' Symphony in C may not have been an important work in its day (Schumann found it old-fashioned), but, looking back from our perspective today, it is an impressive  piece in its own right. Well known writer and critic Malcolm MacDonald, writing in IRR (May 2009), describes it as a 'fine work'. I agree.

Gounod's two symphonies both date from after 1850 - the third quarter of the 19th century.

I have just one CD of music by Mosonyi - the PC and 1st Symphony on Marco Polo. Listening to the symphony today I found it to be thoroughly Beethovenian in style, but with a superbly dramatic slow movement that looked as much forwards as backwards. Does anyone else know this work - or, for that matter, anything else by Mosonyi?

Glad you warned me, Mark! Ouch!

Thanks, friends, for your kind, nay poetic comments.

I think my hesitation over rapture (singular) was the context - i.e. you send someone into 'raptures', not 'rapture' - it was a usage that my Chambers confirmed.

I've always found the process of writing somewhat obsessional - when you start writing, when do you stop...?

(Don't worry: I've thrown in this particular towel for good!)

It's becoming an obsession...

Rachmaninov, Rimsky, Rodrigo,
That PC, those Tales, oh amigo!
Much better by far -
A new threefold R:
Raff, Reinecke, Rub' - off we go!!

This makes more sense - I think...

The trouble with Aunty's 'Three B's':
They're Baching up all the wrong trees,
Old Ludwig's plain boring,
Johannes? I'm snoring!
Brüll, Berwald and Benda? - yes, please!

As for 'boom, boom!' - well you have to have watched the Basil Brush Show to get that one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kQLe6BSb34

Or....

The trouble with Aunty's 'Three B's':
They're Baching up all the wrong trees,
Old Ludwig's plain boring,
Johannes? I'm snoring!
So roll on Raff, Rubi and Ries!!

Boom, boom!! And goodnight - have you seen what time it is...?

But then, Jim, it wouldn't scan, you see....

And an outrageous rhyme is part of the fun, isn't it?

Yes - according to my Chambers Dictionary the expression involves the plural. However, poetic licence and all that...

The 's', unfortunately and dagnabit, is necessary, Jim. Otherwise it doesn't make sense. However, I agree in a way: I need a last line which ends 'rapture' (sing).

True unsung, Johann Rufinatscha,
Wrote music which words barely capture,
His 6th Symphony -
The great one in D -
Would send a Proms crowd into raptures!

I am old, John and Mark. I admit it....