Ernst Rudorff Symphony No.1

[Rainolf]

Musikproduktion Höflich has announced the score of Rudorffs Symphony No. 1. With this all three symphonies by Rudorff have re-appeared in print.

From the preface:

"As the opus numbers of his orchestral works reveal, Rudorff – like Brahms – approached the genre of the symphony not directly, but first tested his skills as a composer of orchestral works in overtures, serenades and variations. The Ballade op. 15, consisting of an introduction, scherzo and finale, can be described as a concise symphony without a traditional first movement. Rudorff finally completed his First Symphony in B flat major op. 31 at the age of 39 on 22 September 1879 in his permanent holiday resort of Lauenstein near Hamelin. Within a few years, two further contributions to the genre followed: Symphony No. 2 in G minor op. 40 was begun in Lauenstein on 19 August 1882 and completed on 21 September 1883; Symphony No. 3 in B flat minor op. 50 was fully sketched in the summer of 1887, but was not printed until 1910 and premiered in 1911, long after the two previous symphonies.

Rudorff's B flat major Symphony, like his other symphonies, is in four movements. In contrast to the G minor and B minor symphonies, which both end with finales in sonata form, it concludes with a set of variations. The third movement is a Presto in 6/8 time, the only movement of a Rudorff symphony that has the character of a scherzo (the Second Symphony contains a march-like piece instead, the Third a moderately fast intermezzo). The opening movement begins with a short introduction in the main tempo, whose motifs return several times in the further course of the movement. In strong contrast to the partly brusque, partly restrained sounds of the beginning the main theme appears, which in melodic shape and phrasing pays much respect to Robert Schumann (cf. the finale of Schumann's Symphony No. 1, for example). Rudorff's penchant for rhythmic shifts and metrical irregularities can be felt in all movements. Note, for example, the 3/2 bars inserted into the 4/4 metre in the opening theme of the slow movement, or the fourth variation of the finale, which is composed of irregularly alternating 2/4 and 3/4 bars. In the course of the finale, Rudorff also makes deliberate use of the metrical ambiguity of the first bar, which is transformed into a separate introductory bar in several of the variations.

Rudorff's Symphony No. 1 was performed for the first time on 15 December 1881 as part of the 31st performance of the Königliche Hochschule für Musik at the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. The orchestra of the Hochschule was conducted by Joseph Joachim."

[Ilja]

Thank you for that information! I sincerely hope that we will soon have recordings of both the B flat major and G minor symphonies (googling will reveal a runthrough of the latter by an amateur orchestra, but the quality is not great).

[Alan Howe]

I think this is worth a separate thread. Let's hope that someone (cpo?) will record this...

[Rainolf]

Thank you, Alan, for creating the separate thread!

The performance material for Rudorff's Symphonies No. 1 and No. 3 could be rented via Boosey & Hawkes, together with Serenade No. 2:

https://www.boosey.com/cr/catalogue/ps/powersearch_results?composerid=15800

The scores of the two Serenades are now available at Höflich, too.