Brüll Symphony in E Minor, Op. 31

[JimL]

Several months after getting a download of Ignaz Brull's only extant symphony I finally had a chance to burn it to CD and familiarize myself with it (in my car, of course).  What an attractive work it is!  Unfortunately, the sound quality of the recording is quite poor (I believe it was from a radio dub).  I'm wondering if there is any buzz about recording this extraordinarily fine (if slight for its period) work?  Also, if anyone has access to the movement titles could you post them here so I can put them in my (expanding) mp3 library?

[eschiss1]

I believe there already is a recording, on Cameo Classics.

From

http://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony,_Op.31_(Brüll,_Ignaz)

:
I. Molto moderato - poco piu mosso - poco piu animato
II. Allegretto molto moderato (G major)
III. Scherzo: Allegro assai (E major) - Trio: Meno mosso. Moderato (das Viertel so schnell wie vorher die halbe Note) (these alternate a few times)
IV. Molto moderato (E minor) - poco animato - Allegro assai
Eric

[JimL]

Thanks, Eric.  Just as I thought.  There is no real slow movement, just an intermezzo-like Allegretto.  Lovely movement, BTW.  The trio reappears twice in the scherzo movement (which is in a duple, rather than triple meter).  It really is a great piece, even if it is kind of short for a symphony composed around 1880.  But nobody can complain that it outstays its welcome, either.  And the finale is quite effective.  Brull can't be accused of not knowing how to end a work.

[Hofrat]

The Brull symphony is available from Cameo Classics, together with his Serenade in F.  It is great listening.

[Alan Howe]

Actually, I find the Brüll Symphony rather unsatisfying - for me there's just not much to it. And the available performance is really pretty rough-and-ready, grateful though one is for having it at all. The piece needs a conductor with finesse and an orchestra with greater subtlety and sonority to do it true justice. However, I can't see us getting another...

[JimL]

I don't find it unsatisfying, just rather modest.  It's idiom strongly resembles, say, Max Bruch's 2nd Symphony, but Bruch packs more grandeur into 3 movements than Brull does into 4.  My performance clocks in at under half an hour.  That said, it is a thoroughly enjoyable listen, chock full of high quality tunes and colorful orchestration.

[Marcus]

I love the Brull symphony Jim, and most of Brull's music, particularly the Piano Sonata & the Serenade.
As you have enjoyed this symphony, I suggest you try the Jadassohn 1st, also on Cameo (CC9026CD).
Also included on this disc is the beautiful 2nd movement of Brull's Violin Concerto in A minor. I hope the complete works appears on disc sometime soon.
Marcus.

[Alan Howe]

That CD is indeed very interesting in content, but seriously flawed in both execution and engineering. It is, therefore, good news that cpo will be bringing out Jadassohn's symphonies, probably conducted by Israel Yinon.

[Hofrat]

Re:  Cameo (CC9026CD)

While the CD contains Jadassohn's piano concerto and 1st symphony in their entirety, it only has contains 2 out of the 10 movements of Brull's Serenade and only 1 movement of Brull's violin concerto.  That seems to be a rip-off to me.

[Alan Howe]

Listened to the Brüll Symphony again and agree that it is a nice piece - thoroughly worthy of revival. BUT: the orchestra is just awful on the CC recording. How many strings were there, I wonder? (Very few, by the sound of it.) And the whole thing is ruined by elephantine brass and an overall lack of subtlety. This is a stop-gap only.

[eschiss1]

Re:  Cameo (CC9026CD)

While the CD contains Jadassohn's piano concerto and 1st symphony in their entirety, it only has contains 2 out of the 10 movements of Brull's Serenade and only 1 movement of Brull's violin concerto.  That seems to be a rip-off to me.

Gareth Vaughan mentioned http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,59.msg459.html#msg459 that he was still proofreading a performing edition of the rest of Brull's concerto as of May 31 2009 - no idea the status of that project now almost a year later, but I think that was after the CC recording was released. So I'm guessing the first movement was all that was available to be recorded. I may be confused and mistaken.

Eric

[JimL]

IIRC it is the slow, 2nd movement that CC recorded.  Apparently the MS of that movement was in good enough condition, or was easy enough to convert to a performing edition that David Kent Watson was able to get a take.  I'm wondering how Gareth is doing on a performance edition of the whole score myself.  But back to the symphony, the more I listen to the concentration of musical materials the more I realize that Brull was aiming for a classical conciseness in his symphony, which was somewhat atavistic for a period in which composers were striving to inflate, rather than concentrate their symphonies.  I'm leery of calling it a masterwork, but I'm leery of calling anything a masterpiece nowadays anyway.  But it is certainly worthy of a lot more attention.  Chandos, maybe?

[John 514tga]

Gentlemen,

My copy of the Cameo recording of the Brull Symphony and Serenade arrived yesterday.  There are two problems with my copy:

1. In the first movement of the serenade (track 5), there is a loud electronic crackle-pop at timing mark 5:08.  Does this occur in anyone else's copy?

2. The first two pages of the booklet are blurred to the point of being unreadable.  Again, anyone else?

[giles.enders]

Are you surprised, in my experience this is Cameo Classics usual standard!!!

[John 514tga]

You're right, Giles.  I just played sample their disc of the Raff piano music.  The first second or so of the finale to the Op. 14 sonata is missing.  Yuck.  Luckily I have the Cahoots original.  I was buying this for a friend.  Now it's fit only for the microwave.

So ends my experience with Cameo.