Schubert's last symphonic fragment - II. Andante in B minor D936a

[gprengel]

One of the greatest miracles in the genre of symphony always has been for me the slow movement of Schubert's last symphony project D936a which he wrote shortly befor his death in piano reduction - but not in the more known orchestration by B.Newbould but by P.Guelke from 1982:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AVN0Qu3FQU

What a depth of expression!!! comparable to no other Adagio. Listen to the incredible flute melody at 4:20 , ...

Gerd

[matesic]

Gerd, I believe you must have a far better musical imagination than I possess!

[Alan Howe]

I have managed to locate a copy of Gülke's recording of his own orchestrations of D615, D708a and D936a...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0000287NJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
...and I completely agree with Gerd on the great beauty of D936a's Andante slow movement. Quite extraordinary.

Gerd, I believe you must have a far better musical imagination than I possess!

The orchestration is by Peter Gülke, of course - not Gerd.

And surely the point here is this: what we are hearing is not Schubert, but Schubert/Gülke - in other words a hybrid. And I couldn't possibly accord any such production, however beautiful, any sort of comparison with the finished work of another composer, or even of Schubert himself. As such, then, Schubert/Gülke's D936a is sui generis - beautiful, fascinating, but essentially in a category of its own.