Bristow Symphony No.4 & Fry Niagara Symphony

[Alan Howe]

Chadwick comes across as a properly schooled composer, which is exactly what he was. Bristow, by comparison, is very hit-and-miss, as befits an adventurous pioneer. I must go back to his other symphonies as No.4 is a bore of almost Rubinstein proportions (apologies in advance to fans of the latter's symphonies to which I am probably unusually allergic).

[Mark Thomas]

even if the 2nd leans a bit too much toward Stanford for my taste

This is a bad thing, Ilja?

[Ilja]

I'd rather have original Stanford and Chadwick than the latter taking perhaps a bit too much inspiration from the former, that's all.

[Alan Howe]

I don't think that Chadwick owes much to Stanford (directly, that is). It's more a question of shared musical education in Leipzig under Reinecke (Chadwick went in 1877, Stanford for the first time in 1874).

[Ilja]

That could certainly be a factor, even if I don't hear a lot of Reinecke in either composer. But education is an often underappreciated factor, so that's a very good point.

[Alan Howe]

It's more a question of the sort of musical conservatism (anti-Wagner, even anti-Brahms) in general that both composers imbibed at Leipzig than any direct influence of Reinecke's style.

Stanford said of Reinecke, "Of all the dry musicians I have ever known he was the most desiccated. He had not a good word for any contemporary composer... He loathed Wagner ... sneered at Brahms and had no enthusiasm of any sort."
(Source quoted here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Villiers_Stanford)

This may, of course, explain the sense that Chadwick was composing 'to a plan', whereas Bristow (at his best) was trying to strike out on his own. As far as I can tell, the latter never ventured outside America.

[eschiss1]

According to Katherine Preston's Bristow biography, Bristow did- as a pre-teen, joining his parents to the family home of Kent, England in 1832 briefly; "this would be the composer's only known travel outside the United States". So you're essentially right

[Alan Howe]

Thanks - but no evidence of travel to Europe for study purposes, evidently.

[eschiss1]

The next person who finds evidence that he visited Europe after age 6 or so may be the first, apparently.

[Sharkkb8]

...it has been very difficult to purchase. I had it on order from Presto for a long while, until they informed me that the label (Bridge) had stopped manufacturing CDs of this performance.  But amazon.com notifies me today that my copy has shipped, and it seems that the CD is still available on their website.....

The Bristow/Fry album is also available from Apple Music.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/bristow-fry-classics-of-american-romanticism/1641135428