Tht GRAMOPHO,VE

November 1938

must say i t WaS something of a shock to find 69 votes from readers g:oing to movements of the Pathetique Symphony and no more than 22 for Tchaikovsky's Fifth. Dvorak's New World Symphony, chiefly owing to the strong support for i ts second movement, received as a whole only two votes less than the Pathetique. The highest number of votes was received by Beethoven's Fifth, for one, movement or another of which almost every competitor voted. Two votes behind came Beethoven's Seventh, followed by the Eroica and the Choral. Then came Tchaikovsky's Pathetique and Dvorak's New World, then Brahms' First and Fourth, then Mozart's Jupiter and E fiat, then Brahms' Second and Mozart's G minor. The two movements of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony received 'as many votes as all the movements of T chaikovsky's Pathetique and they beat comfortably the first two movements of any other symphony.

An examination of The Gramophone Shop Encylopedia suggests that the popularity of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony has been insufficiently realized by the recording companies. Only three versions of i t have been catalogued against ten of the Fifth Symphony, seven of the Pastoral, and six of the Eroica. I recognize that in a vote for symphonies as a whole the Pastoral would probably occupy a much higher place than i t does by voting for i t in parts, but I doubt if i t would equal the Third, Fifth or Seventh in popularity.

Many readers will be surprised by the lack of support for Sibelius, but here again I think that i t is much more difficult ,to disentangle the parts from the whole, and that the voting for Sibelius by movements does not offer an accurate estimate of his popularity.

And now let us look for a minute at the three composite symphonies that our voting produced.

The first is made up as follows:

1. Beethoven's C minor (No.5). 2. Beethoven's A major (No.7). 3. Beethoven's A major. 4. Brahms' C minor (No. r). Not a bad result. I t might be considered a bit of a wrench to pass from C minor to A minor, the key in which the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh is written, but the third movement is in F major and to pass from that to the C major key in which the last movement of Brahms' First Symphony begins is not extravagant. Yes, as a whoIe I think this is a good symphony.

The second composite symphony is much less successful :

r. Schubert's Unfinished Symphony in B minor. 2. Dvorak's New World Symphony in E minor. 3. Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony in B minor. 4, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony in C major. From any point of view this is an ill-designed mosaic. Period, temperament, nationality, mood, and even keys join in producing a monster.

The third composite symphony, however, is as good as the first:

I . Beethoven's Eroica in E flat (No.3 ) . 2. Beethoven's Eroic~ in E flat (No . 3). 3. Mozart's Symphony in E flat (No. 39). 4· Beethoven's C minor (No.5 ) · That last movement begins in C major, which is not too remote a key and I think that as a whole this third composile symphony will challenge the first.

One of our winners, Mr. Heelas, sent a most interesting letter which I print in full because i t must express so many of the problems that confronted competitors!

I have been a regular reader of THE GRA.\lOPHONE for the past three years, and I am ashamed to say that this is the first of your editorial competitions for which I have entered.

On previous occasions I have been daunted by my own technical insuffiCiency and lack of years-I am still a minor . During the past four years, however, music had played an increasingly important part in my life, until now i t is a very dominating influence. I ~ave entered this competition with but few misgivings, therefore, and have consoled m yself by reflecting that a matter of personal preference should be easy to decide upon-a piece of self-deception for which I have since paid in full.

I decided to set about my task by employing the method of elimination which is so dear to the hearts of crime novelists. I had to determine the degree of opportunity with which I might approach each work, and my motives for l iking it. What I did not at ·first realise was th e essential difference between a group of favourite symphonic movements, and a single, though unapprehend ed, criminal.

' -"II

,Before proceeding further, I had to confront myself with, as i t were, an "identity parade" of great symphonies. In this necessarily enormous list, I incIuded the Salomon set of Haydn's symphonies, the last six symphonies of Mozart, the last two symphonies of Schubert, the fourth and fifth symphonies of Dvorak, the fourth, fifth and sixth symphonies of Tchaikovsky, the "Fantastique" and "Harold in Italy" symphonies of Berlioz, the Scotch and Italian (very potent, this!) symphonies of Mendelssohn, the vast fourth and seventh sYJIlphonies of Bruckner, and all the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and Sibelius.

I had to eliminate some 17/18ths of this very comprehensive list, so I began by excepting the life-work of certain composers. Regretfully I struck Haydn'S name off the l ist: I steeled myself to forget the many happy hours I had spent with him, and only allowed myself to remember that his symphonies . had never affected me so deeply as those of some other composers.

Next to disappear from my list was poor Robert Schumann. I had always found his orchestration a l i t t le heavy, and I had never heard any of his four symphonies often enough to form a real affection for them, although I had l iked the first of them well enough.

The two Berlioz symphonies have appealed to me very strongly at times, but l couldn't honestly include either of them amongst my prime favourites, so we parted. The two Mendelssohnian symphonies suffered the same fate, although the "Scotch" (Scottish . . . ?) has many claims on my affections. Next I bade • farewell to Bruckner, with a regretful leave-taking of the slow movement from the Seventh Symphony.

Sibelius was my most difficult problem so far. I had heard all his symphonies at one t ime or another, and recently I had acquired his second, third, fourth and seventh symphonies on records. All had left a deep impression on me, and the fourth and seventh had impressed me with a very real sense of awe. I nave a leeling that .both these works are going to increase their fascination for me, but at the moment I consider myself justified in eliminating Sibelius.