Schubert on 3

[french frank]

I see from the new King's Place magazine that there's to be a 'week-long celebration of Schubert' on Radio 3 next year, starting with a concert by Imogen Cooper on Friday 23 March (from KP).

Not clear whether this is total immersion or more of the themed programmes like The Symphony.

[JFLL]

Looking forward to this, especially if we have every song he wrote. Has anyone any more news?. Googling 'radio 3 celebration schubert' (without quotes) doesn't turn anything up other than the previous post, so it is hardly being trailed with great fanfares, in fact there seems an extreme reticence. Wasn't there a big hoo-ha a few years back when there was very little Schubert (or perhaps none at all) at the Proms, giving rise to dark suspicions that Schubert wouldn't be in line for a mega-celebration on R3? But after all, Roger Wright did change his mind about Mozart .......

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've just seen this on Ceefax. 200 hours of Schubert. Sounds like another Mozartfest.

I remember the Stravinsky/Tchaikovsky week, which was rather good - greater contrast, with some interesting programmes.

[mercia]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16990281

[doversoul1]

Apparently, there is to be Schubert Salon on In Tune, and I presume all Schubert menu on Breakfast …. Will there be a competition for who can write the best tunes to finish his unfinished works? Or who heard Schubert in the most ‘unusual’ situation? Your call please…

[ed.] just covered up my ignorance (re: the Unfinished)

[Pabmusic]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16990281

The article says the Unfinished will be played, "completed by scholar Brian Newbould. The world premiere from Salford will be one of 24 live performances featured." Is this to be a different completion by Brian Newbould from the one recorded by the ASMF and Marriner in 1984? Or has this been written by someone who thinks that a completion of the Unfinished is something nobody's done before?

[amateur51]

I wonder if they'll be taking the opportunity to delve into the Radio 3/Third Programme archives to dig out some 'live' performances from the past - that would certainly make this venture fascinating.

[Roehre]

I remember the Stravinsky/Tchaikovsky week, which was rather good - greater contrast, with some interesting programmes.

This week exactly five years ago.

Schubert's output can be very interestingly scheduled.
Is interesting what they are going to do with his operatic output, and his output of dance music in combination with Lieder and music for social gatherings can be organised very imaginatively.
As far as Unfinished works are concerned:
Newbould has not altered one note of his early 1980s completion of the scherzo;
the Quartetsatz D.703 might be followed by the 50 or so bars of its 2nd mvt;
some of the songs and piano piees and sonatas can be played as they stand;
interesting whether they will have made the effort to record the Symphony-fragment D.2, the only one which Newbould left untouched.

[Pabmusic]

This week exactly five years ago.

Schubert's output can be very interestingly scheduled.
Is interesting what they are going to do with his operatic output, and his output of dance music in combination with Lieder and music for social gatherings can be organised very imaginatively.
As far as Unfinished works are concerned:
Newbould has not altered one note of his early 1980s completion of the scherzo;
the Quartetsatz D.703 might be followed by the 50 or so bars of its 2nd mvt;
some of the songs and piano piees and sonatas can be played as they stand;
interesting whether they will have made the effort to record the Symphony-fragment D.2, the only one which Newbould left untouched.

Thanks

[JFLL]

As far as Unfinished [Schubert] works are concerned:
.

There is also an interesting disc of arrangements/completions of fragments entitled Schubert: Symphonic Fragments, issued by Berlin Classics a few years ago (http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...lbum_id=202813) with:

1. Symphony no 7 in E major, D 729 (arr. F. Weingartner from 1821 sketches) (Heinz Rögner, Berlin RSO)
2. Symphony in D major (sketch), D. 615: ((Introduction and Allegro: arr. P. Gulke from piano sketches) (Peter Gülke, Dresden Staatskapelle)
3. Symphony in D major (1820/1), D. 708a (arr. P. Gulke from piano sketches) (Peter Gülke, Dresden Staatskapelle)
4. Symphony no 10 in D major, D 936a (arr. P. Gulke from piano sketches) (Peter Gülke, Dresden Staatskapelle)

I have a soft spot for the 'Tenth'. There was a R3 broadcast in 2002 of Simon Rattle conducting it with the OAE, which I don't think Rattle has ever recorded? If not, a pity, because the OAE sound seemed to me to give it an edge over the more mellow Marriner version, acceptable though that is.

[Roehre]

There is also an interesting disc of arrangements/completions of fragments entitled Schubert: Symphonic Fragments, issued by Berlin Classics a few years ago (http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...lbum_id=202813) with:

1. Symphony no 7 in E major, D 729 (arr. F. Weingartner from 1821 sketches) (Heinz Rögner, Berlin RSO)
2. Symphony in D major (sketch), D. 615: ((Introduction and Allegro: arr. P. Gulke from piano sketches) (Peter Gülke, Dresden Staatskapelle)
3. Symphony in D major (1820/1), D. 708a (arr. P. Gulke from piano sketches) (Peter Gülke, Dresden Staatskapelle)
4. Symphony no 10 in D major, D 936a (arr. P. Gulke from piano sketches) (Peter Gülke, Dresden Staatskapelle)

The interesting thing here is, that alle these arrangements were made in the 1970s just before Newbould's, the 7th's even as far back as 1927/'28-1934.

[Pabmusic]

The interesting thing here is, that alle these arrangements were made in the 1970s just before Newbould's, the 7th's even as far back as 1927/'28-1934.

As far as the Unfinished is concerned, Sir George Grove gave the first British performance (in 1867) with the Rosamunde B minor entr'acte as a last movement (but he didn't include a scherzo). There have been ay least 7 reconstructions of the scherzo to my knowledge (which isn't comprehensive), most of which predate Newbould.

[JFLL]

Newbould Schubert discography here:

http://web.wandd.net/briannewbould/discography.html

and other information on him at the same site:

http://web.wandd.net/briannewbould/

[aeolium]

If the NT or the RSC were to put on 24/7 continuous performances of all of Shakespeare's works, or dramatised readings from all Dickens' novels, they would probably be considered bizarre Guinness Book of Records or charity marathon stunts rather than meaningful cultural events. Yet the continuous transmission of all of a composer's works on R3 for 9 days is thought by its controller to be 'distinctive and engaging broadcasting'

[Old Grumpy]

Schubert marathon planned for Radio 3
Franz Schubert Schubert left a vast body of work when he died in Vienna in 1828

The 215th anniversary of Schubert's birth will be marked by Radio 3 in March with 200 hours of continuous broadcasting devoted to the composer.

The BBC station has pledged to play nothing but work by the prolific Austrian during its Spirit of Schubert season, which runs from 23 to 31 March.

It will include a performance of his unfinished Symphony D, D.708a, to be completed by scholar Brian Newbould.

The world premiere from Salford will be one of 24 live performances featured.

"I am delighted that BBC Radio 3 is uniquely able to dedicate our whole schedule to the celebration of a single composer," said controller Roger Wright.





Well, he may be but I, for one, am not! Sounds like a another week of forced abstinence from Radio 3 - you never know may have to listen to (whisper it) CFM