Parry Symphony 4 - original version

[Alan Howe]

According to the lengthy article on Parry in the June issue of Gramophone magazine, Chandos will be releasing a recording of the original 5-movement version of his 4th Symphony in October. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is conducted by Rumon Gamba.

[FBerwald]

I'm sorry, I don't know how I missed this... Parry's 4th symphony was originally in 5 movements? and a new recording..... This is really exciting news

[Alan Howe]

Yes: Parry originally included an Intermezzo between the first and second movements. He also completely recast the first movement and replaced the Scherzo. So, the 1910 revision is essentially a new work based on the material in the original.

[FBerwald]

Also, didn't they discover new manuscripts in 2015 in the family archives - was this from that lot?

[semloh]

How exciting! Thanks for reporting this, Alan. That'll be a 'must have' CD for many of us.

[raffite33]

From a skimpy listing in the Naxos USA preorders section, it looks like the filler will be "Suite Moderne."  Catalog number is CHAN 10994, so that's a regular CD, not a SACD.

[Alan Howe]

This would appear to be the link:
http://naxosdirect.com/items/symphony-no.-4-suite-moderne-467053
Release date: 5th October.

[JeremyMHolmes]

And just announced on MDT today:

https://www.mdt.co.uk/parry-symphony-no4-bbc-orchestra-of-wales-gamba-chandos.html

[Double-A]

I wonder what Parry would think about this.

The writer Gottfried Keller rewrote his novel "Der Grüne Heinrich" (which appeared when he was still quite young) later in life and strongly objected to comparing the versions or even still reading the old one.  Maybe Parry wanted the first version forgotten?

[Alan Howe]

Well, Brahms (for example) did a good job of destroying music he didn't want to be heard; evidently Parry didn't, so...

As for Keller, it's rather tricky to stop people reading the first version of a published novel! Keller may not have liked this, but it affords us a fascinating insight into his development as a writer and as a man. I suspect the same will be true of Parry's 4th which in places sounds very Elgarian - until one realises that it was revised in 1910, 21 years after its premiere!

I for one am drooling at the prospect of hearing Parry's first thoughts!

[Ilja]

I shall be looking out for this one. I find that first versions are generally more interesting (not always objectively "better" maybe, but more interesting) than later ones. This is particularly clear in works like Sibelius Fifth, where the first iteration is incomparably more daring that the "final" product (still great, don't get me wrong).


But I do think this practice of endless tinkering with already-performed and sometimes already-published works has historically been one of the worst aspects of classical music.

[Alan Howe]

I don't think this is a case of 'tinkering', though. Parry's 4th (Original Version) is a quite different work and it's from the composer's own hand...

[Alan Howe]

Excerpts are now available here:
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010994
Pdf of the sleevenote here:
https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/CH10994.pdf

[britishcomposer]

Thanks, Alan.
I've been wondering why the Suite Moderne took so long to be recorded. Now I am slightly disappointed to find that they decided to omit the first movement. The booklet doesn't give a clue why this was done. Does any of our members know the reason?

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'm more than a little disappointed, given that the Suite was written almost as a 4 movement symphony, as I see the notes make clear. Why then omit the 1st movt? It doesn't make any sense. I would very much like to hear the rationale for what strokes me as a bizarre idea.