Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916) Symphony no. 3 in C minor (Miriam) Op. 54 (1887) During his lifetime, and for about twenty years thereafter, Friedrich Gernsheim was a composer of some reputation, widely performed and personally well-liked, the subject of academic research and an admiring biography. His subsequent eclipse raises interesting questions about the ways in which artistic canons are formed. During the 1930s, as part of their iniquitously grandiose experiment in social and cultural engineering, the Nazis not only expelled and murdered the living, but attempted to expunge the memory o ..read more

Théodore Dubois (1837-1924) - Symphony No. 1 (Symphonie Française) (1908) Clément François Théodore Dubois was one of the great also-rans of French music. Read the biography of just about any notable French composer of the late Nineteenth Century - Franck, Massanet, Fauré, Debussy - and his name is likely to pop up, though probably not in a flattering context. A rather hilarious photograph - (licensing restrictions prevent me from reproducing it here) - shows him, in top hat and frock coat, escorting a bowler-hatted Saint-Saens from his train, the pair of them looking the very picture of migh ..read more

Mily Balakirev (1837-1910) Symphony no. 2 in D minor (1908) In his personally guarded but often shrewdly observant memoir, My Musical Life, Rimsky-Korsakov paints an unedifying portrait of the ageing Balakirev. ..[a] medley of Christian meekness, backbiting, fondness for beasts, misanthropy, artistic interests, and triviality.. It is a description that contrasts starkly with that Rimsky gives earlier of the dynamic figure who from 1862 until 1870 presided with indefatigable, if sometimes overbearing, enthusiasm and a forceful sense of purpose over the St. Petersberg gatherings of a group of y ..read more

Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) Symphony in A major (c.1850) & Symphony no. 1 in Eb major (1853) I do know those who profess to find Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony an overblown bore. I'm afraid I cannot agree with them. After having sat through so many dull or unexceptional symphonies of its period, it seems to me to stand out all the more as a work of towering originality and sparkling execution, sounding completely unlike anything else. "I gave it everything I had to give", the composer said of it, and what he had to give was not only technical brilliance and extraordinary aural imaginatio ..read more

Felix Draeseke (1835-1913) Symphony no. 4 in G major ("Sinfonia Comica") (1912) If Robert Radecke, the composer of last week's symphony, was modest, Felix Draeseke was nothing if not ambitious. In his early thirties, after what had seemed a rather unpromising apprenticeship, he impressed Liszt with a C# minor piano sonata in which he laid explicit claim to the mantel of Beethoven and thereafter proceeded to make weighty contributions to just about every musical genre of the time. His output includes sundry orchestral overtures and tone poems, three string quartets, several quintets, sonatas fo ..read more

Robert Radecke (1839-1911) Symphony in F Major, Op.50 (1877) What little I have been able to glean about the life of the German/Silesian composer Robert Radecke suggests he was a modest man. There is a rather appealing portrait of him in relative youth, with thick dark hair, carefully shaped moustache and striking pale blue eyes. The photographs taken of him in old age show a figure recognizably the same but with the air of Romantic ardour long since departed, standing upright and dignified in a conservative-looking suit, his eyes now deep-sunk and gazing out thoughtfully from over a mighty w ..read more

Karoly (Karl) Goldmark (1830 - 1915) Symphony no.1 ("Rustic Wedding") Op. 26 (1875) This week, something wonderful. Of all the non-canonical symphonies I have listened to over the last couple of years, this is the only one that I would say was self-evidently deserving of a place in the standard repertoire. Indeed, not so very long ago, it was part of the standard repertoire, as indicated by a recorded catalogue that includes versions by Beecham, Bernstein, Previn, Lopez-Cobos, Abravanel and others. Now, however, it has almost sunk from sight. I wonder how many classical music enthusiasts unde ..read more

First, some news, Typee Valley has been listed by https://blog.feedspot.com/classical_music_blogs as one of the top blogs for writing on classical music. I am suitably honoured and wish to respond with an appropriate increase in productivity that might reflect the fact that my music posts appear to have provoked the most appreciative response from readers. (Though I hope to continue posting on other arts areas as well.) So, welcome to the Symphony Project. During those - for me, not un-blissful - days of lockdown, one of my diversions became the systematic investigation of the history of the s ..read more

A few weeks ago I returned to work after almost five months of not un-enjoyable furlough and I must confess that, since then, I have struggled to make space for blogging. It was taking me a quite absurd length of time to articulate my thoughts on H.P. Lovecraft in a post I have now decided to divide into two parts. The second will follow soon after a few shorter pieces bringing you up to date with some of my other recent cultural activities. The slightly crazy weather of the last couple of months has prevented me from doing much walking, though I will shortly be posting about my favourite loca ..read more

On Friday, April 9th at 7.30pm, I will be giving an online talk with the above title for the Ely Astronomy Club. It will be literary and cultural rather than heavily scientific in nature, around 40 minutes in length and completely free, so do join if at all inclined via the zoom link on the Club's site https://sites.google.com/site/elyastroclub/home. In response to several requests for a reading list I am happy to provide the following. I doubt I will refer to all of this directly in the talk and have therefore appropriately starred the most important items. Fiction Peter Ackroyd - First Ligh ..read more