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Today I discovered 2 symphonies by Carl Loewe from the early 1830s. Of course I love his songs but didn't realize that he also wrote symphonies:

I. symphony no. 1, d-minor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WExua_qEWKY

Here I love the great ending of the 1st movement, starting at 6:00. Also the Scherzo theme is nice, but repeated a bit too much, I think.
A special treasure is the most tender Adagio espressivo in the beginning of the Finale - actually the whole Finale I like very much!

II. symphony no. 2, e-minor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQ_Onp4XZk

Also a remarkable 1st movement with a beautiful Allegro main theme (1:20) and a wonderful Coda ( 8:10 ff.)
Furthermore I like the Finale also very much...

I just finished a wonderful new project. Around 1803 Beethoven sketched 5 marches with the complete melodic line. 4 of them were realised recently by Italian musicologist G. Demini as marches for piano and I orchestrated now all 5 marches - I love them and I hope you will too!

https://youtu.be/IGyKwAdim9Y

Gerd

Alan asked me to share my own symphony. Well here it is:

I. Andante/Allegro appassionato   

II. Andante cantabile   

III. Scherzo Presto (theme based on a Beethoven sketch)   

alternative: Scherzo on an original theme   
 
IV. Andante / Allegro con spirito    

Oh! this was lots of fun to listen to. I second Alan. Please write an original Symphony "in the style of Beethoven" if you must. What did you use to realize your orchestration?

I did write a whole symphony: here is the Finale with a choral intro and an Allegro con spirito http://gerdprengel.de/symph4.mp3 :-)

I use Finale with the sounds of Noteperformer

In spite of the reluctance some of you expressed here regarding my project, I want to present the result to those who yet are interested in it . So again: I just was wondering what Beethoven may have had in mind when he was considering to write the 9th finale based on sketches he later used for the finale of quartet op. 132 and also based on a sketch for a lovely second theme.  About 50% is based on the op. 132 quartet  and 50% is from me - details see in the description here:

But of course I am more than glad that Beethoven decided to write the Finale the way he did with the Chorus Finale ...

It is always a beautiful experience to discover a new musical treasure - which I also had today: I always enjoyed Bizet's  youth symphony in C-major, but I never knew that he also wrote a second symphony which I think is really marvelous, especially in the 1st and 3rd movement! I listen to these 2 movements over and over... I can't see that this one has ever been covered in this forum before, so I hope you will enjoy it:

https://youtu.be/ASd1agTESF4

Alan, the attitude you show here is really disrespectful- never mind, I won't bother you anymore with my project and will continue working on it just for my own pleasure. I thought this forum is a place where we can share our (even a bit crazy) ideas freely and where we meet each other with respect and an open mind - I miss this in the way you encounter me here ...

Im the summer of 1823 Beethoven began concepting the final movement of his 9th symphony and he was struggling whether it should be a choral or an instrumental movement. There are 3 sketches from July and even from autumn with a theme which later in 1825 he would use (in a changed and more elaborated form) for the main theme of the Finale of the a-minor string quartet op. 132 and also for a 2nd theme. In the recent days one question arose in my heart: How might Beethoven have written the alternative instrumental Finale of the 9th? So I began brooding over the sketches and orchestrated the 5th movement of op. 132 and began now to write a symphonic Finale. In this I use certain orchestrated passages from the expostion/recapitulation and the Coda of the quartet movement. But the opening and the development will be completely new. I hope to present to you the outcome in a few weeks ... both a crazy and fascinating task :-).

By now I have presented the whole symphony project with all 4 movements and full score in YouTube. I have marked here all parts wich are written or sketched by Mendelssohn in yellow colour (besides the first 2 minutes which are compeletly by him): https://youtu.be/U0dFe2nBn_s (see the description there)

Regards
Gerd

Yesterday I was enjoying again the 2 amazing piano concertos by Mozart's son, Xaver Mozart. If I would listen to them for the first time I would bet that they were written by his father! How moving especially the slow movements!

https://youtu.be/U6FQ1GJenS4
https://youtu.be/J4luxg_4abw

( I know only one other example, where a son follows his father in an amazing way of whom I am a huge fan: Jakob Dylan ;-) )

Recently I found this most fascinating early Beethoven Menutto orchestrated  by someone based on a piano sketch - I find this version so beautiful that I am somewhat even reminded of Brahms: 

See the third audio file on the page of: https://www.lvbeethoven.it/oop05minuettoreminore/

I myself just orchestrated these delightful Beethoven dances Woo 10 which so far were only available as piano transcriptions:

https://www.lvbeethoven.it/woo010/?fbclid=IwAR0RP1tlns86lDKcFyr4lqDBXkLZ_mqv2KGVUyAOwU4_0E5c622NLBqpGc4   (see at the end of the page)

Today her 2nd symphony was presented here with the beautiful score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLxEmW9RFEU
It's the first time I heard something by her. Whereas the first 3 movements don't convince me very much I really enjoyed the Finale !!!
I will try to get to know now also her other symphonies ...

I must admit that I didn't really know all these composers's  symphonies which Alan mentioned and I listend now to quite a few of them - what really impressed me was the Adagio from Elgar's 1st symphony - wow, a real new and wonderful discovery for me! But the rest with the other mentioned composers did not really impress me so far. I have problems with those bombastic orchestras from that period of the early 20th century...
Well, I had forgotten to mention Sibelius great 2nd symphony which is the only one of him which I really love, in particular because of the fantastic finale.

Wow, in contrast to Alan, I am more than convinced of this discovery!! The fast movements are just great! In the first movement I see quite a bit of Tchaikowsky and Brahms - great the slow passionate introduction, at 2:54 begins the beautiful Allegro and especially at 9:03 my favourite part, the recapitulation - wonderful themes, counterpoint and passion. Very delightful also the melodios movement 3 - 4. Only the slow movement does not speak to me.
Thank you, Wheesht! After Mahler and Shostakowich's 7th for me the best symphony of the 20th century I got know...

Single movements of my project 'Mendelssohn 6th symphony' I have presented here before. Here now the whole symphony with score in youtube. After the first 2 minutes which are to 99% by Mendelssohn I marked Mendelssohn's sketches in my score with colour yellow, also in movement 2. See further informations in the description of the video :-)

https://youtu.be/U0dFe2nBn_s

Gerd