Adolphe Samuel (1824-1898): Symphony no. 6 and Jongen: Three Symphonic Movements

[Mark Thomas]

Welcome Manangy, and thank you.

[sdtom]

I'm also interested in this CD but Amazon is out of stock right now.
Tom

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I understand, Tom, that the Samuel disc is not released in the UK until 8 October. Be patient!

[Alan Howe]

I'm waiting for the CD release too...

[DennisS]

Have just this morning received my copy of this CD from jpc.de. In view of the positive comments on this CD, I am looking forward to listening to it later today.

[Alan Howe]

I have just dug this CD out again after three years. I suppose the interest of the Samuel symphony lies in its Lisztian/Wagnerian idiom - very 'New German' indeed - rather than any particular melodic distinction. Still, it's a fascinating piece from a composer of Raff's generation (although he obviously lived longer). Oh, and its given a very well prepared and exciting performance by Brabbins and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. Can Brabbins do anything wrong these days?

[UnsungMasterpieces]

I've just listened to Samuel's 6th symphony as well. It sounds Wagnerian indeed, take for example the part around the 1:45 mark in the first movement.
I've also done some "sleuthing" and found this:

https://www.svm.be/content/samuel-adolphe

It's a biography of Adolphe Samuel, but it's in Dutch.
It also gives an insightful description of Samuel's 7th symphony, which is composed in five movements and would last around 90 minutes.
A performance in Cologne was conducted by Franz Wüllner, and one of the people present was Eugène Ysaÿe.
He would conduct it two months later in Brussels.
I haven't found a recording yet, does anyone know of one?

[eschiss1]

Fairly sure that there's practically nothing else by him on recording, but I could be wrong. The 7th symphony "Mystique- Christus" (composed 1894, manuscript (copy? "schetsen" - sketches) @ Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool according to Worldcat) does seem intriguing though. (Wouldn't expect a recording soon of course.)

The score of the 6th symphony is commercially available from MPH but I expect much of his music may be hard to find anywhere at present outside of the Belgian KBR library. Worldcat lists the MPH score of the 6th (also someone seems to have the original Schott 1884 score...), and some songs and choruses as published, and the Mass in D minor (for men's or women's, e.g. equal, voices, and organ) op.53 (@ Brigham Young University, published by Muraille of Liège) (holdings of the songs & choruses at the French National Library and, again, in the library of Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool in Antwerp). (Worldcat also lists some manuscript works, eg the 7th symphony as mentioned,...).

He also seems to have edited an edition of Grétry's music, I see. Interesting.