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Notes 58.2 (2001) 421-424



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Music Review

Sinfonien Nr. 4-6, and: Sinfonie Nr. 7 in h, and: Sinfonie Nr. 4 in c, D 417, and: Sinfonie Nr. 6 in C, D 589, and: Symphony in D Major (1820/21), D 708A, and: Symphony in D Major (1828), D936A


Franz Schubert. Sinfonien Nr. 4-6. Vorgelegt von Arnold Feil und Douglas Woodfull-Harris. (Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Ser. 5: Orchesterwerke, Bd. 2.) Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1999. [Zur Edition, p. vii- viii; Vorwort, p. ix-xi; facsims., p. xii-xx; score, 275 p.; Quellen und Lesarten, p. 279-305; Notenbeispiele, p. 307-13. Cloth. ISMN M-006-49704-1; BA 5538. DM 400.]

Franz Schubert. Sinfonie Nr. 7 in h. Vorgelegt von Werner Aderhold. (Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Ser. 5: Orchesterwerke, Bd. 3.) Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1997. [Zur Edition, p. vii-viii; Vorwort, p. ix-xvii; facsims., p. xix-xxv; score, 63 p.; Anhang, p. 67-77; Quellen und Lesarten, p. 81-91. Cloth. ISMN M-006-49705-8; BA 5542. DM 175.]

Franz Schubert. Sinfonie Nr. 4 in c, D 417. Herausgegeben von Arnold Feil und Douglas Woodfull-Harris. Urtext der Neuen Schubert-Ausgabe. Kassel: Bärenreiter, c1998. [Editorial note in Ger., Eng., 1 p.; score, 106 p. ISMN M-006-49902-1; BA 5604. DM 59.]

Franz Schubert. Sinfonie Nr. 6 in C, D 589. Herausgegeben von Arnold Feil und Douglas Woodfull-Harris. Urtext der Neuen Schubert-Ausgabe. Kassel: Bärenreiter, c1998. [Editorial note in Ger., Eng., 1 p.; score 119 p. ISMN M-006-49914-4; BA 5646. DM 59.]

Franz Schubert. Symphony in D Major (1820/21), D 708A. Reconstructed and instrumentated [sic] from the short score by Gunter Elsholz. Bad Soden, Germany: Gunter Elsholz (Parkstraße 46a, D-65812 Bad Soden), c2000. [Introd. in Ger., Eng., p. i-ii; divergences from Schubert's short score draft, p. iii-iv; score, p. 1-232; facsim. reprod. of the sketch, p. A-J.]

Franz Schubert. Symphony in D Major (1828), D 936A. Version for string orchestra realised by Gunter Elsholz. Bad Soden, Germany: Gunter Elsholz (Parkstraße 46a, D-65812 Bad Soden), c1994. [Pref. in Ger., Eng., 7 p.; score, p. 1-112; facsim. reprod. of the sketch, p. A-K.]

The slow emergence of the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe suddenly gains impetus with the appearance of Franz Schubert's symphonies nos. 4-6 and the "Unfinished" in B minor. At first, the "Unfinished" may in fact not be recognized as such, since the title is withheld (not being Schubert's) and the identification on the spine announces the work as "Sinfonie Nr. 7." No, this is not the Symphony in E Major, D. 729, widely known as the Seventh. Nor is it the "Great" C-Major Symphony, known to us as the Ninth, but since the early nineteenth century alternatively numbered as the Seventh. The Neue Schubert-Ausgabe has its rationale for numbering the "Unfinished" as the Seventh, since it alone of the fragmentary symphonies includes movements wholly [End Page 421] completed by Schubert, which is not true of the D. 729 work, nor of the other four fragmentary symphonies (D. 2B, D. 615, D. 708A, and D. 936A). On the other hand, some might argue that a structurally complete sketch mapping every bar of all four movements (D. 729) is as much a Schubert symphony as is the B-minor half-symphony. But there are more practical considerations: among them, is the musical world prepared to expunge the memory of the "Great" as no. 9, or its alternative designation as no. 7, and now think of it as no. 8? This is what the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe presumably expects. In the more than quarter of a century that Bärenreiter Verlag has adopted this designation, very few publishers, recording companies, radio stations, or concert promoters have seen fit to follow suit.

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