Spotlight on:
Symphonies in Recent Researches Editions

The symphony is represented well in Recent Researches, and the editions published in this series include music from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Among the publications are works by a number of composers associated with the development of the symphony, including Carl Friedrich Abel, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (C15 and C28), and Johann Vanhal. The symphonies by these individuals are important works that influenced other composers as this genre took shape. Another figure, Antonio Brioschi, is a figure whose music has come to light only recently, and the selection of works published in the Recent Researches edition offers a glimpse into the innovations that this composer introduced into the genre. For the most part, these symphonies are in three movements, which have yet to benefit from some of the conventions that would become stylistic traits later in the century. The works are all excellent examples of music from the period when the symphony was nascent and composers were using their ingenuity to develop the form. At the same time, these pieces stand well on their own merits and are excellent choices for concert programming.

A set of symphonies by Pierre van Maldere from later in the eighteenth century is also of interest. Unlike some of the better-known symphonists of the time, Maldere was Flemish, and his work reflects familiarity with the trends of his day. Maldere was respected in his lifetime and contemporary musicians recognized his symphonies for their expressiveness. In fact, the Symphonies a più strumenti, Opus 4, date from the 1760s, and the set was probably the best known of Maldere’s works. These highly accessible symphonies are also worthy of performance.

As to the symphony in Austria, A-R has published a collection of Orchestral Music from Salzburg, 1750–1780, edited by Cliff Eisen, the noted Mozart scholar. Among the music included in this volume are works by contemporaries of Mozart, whose music was known and performed in its day. This is an important volume for understanding the context in which Mozart created his own symphonic works and the tradition in which other composers worked.

Among the recent publications in this genre are the symphonies of John Marsh, whose works date from the late eighteenth century. Marsh’s symphonies include work in three or four movements, and which encompass “a variety of styles and influences,” as Ian Graham-Jones states in his introduction to the edition. The symphonies of Marsh represent the symphonic tradition in England, with music that lends itself well to modern performance.

As to later composers, one of the finer composers in the genre was Etienne-Nicolas Méhul, and his Symphony no. 1 in G minor is available in Recent Researches in the Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. This is a four-movement work that includes a full complement of winds. Méhul was respected in his day as an innovative French composer, and this work is one of his finest works. As a composer active in the first decade of the nineteenth century, Méhul faced the legacy of Haydn and the developments that Beethoven began to introduce into the symphony.

In addition to these orchestral works, A-R Editions has published the complete organ symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor. Although these are works for solo organ, they are nonetheless symphonic in conception. The ten symphonies are available in critical editions, which contain a full editorial apparatus. In addition to these works for solo organ, A-R has recently published the Symphonie pour orgue et orchestre, opus 42[bis] that Widor composed from movements of the second and sixth organ symphonies. (See the feature article in this issue of Embellishments.)