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in its traditions, he grew up in Australia, wnere ,,-- , '''''' ~ . ... "'·.... --- I I""' I~ - J - , --I It"'I.-'"I"" ... e ..........""':.._,...•• r (1862) of Bruckner is due to be issued by Calder Requiem aeternam (Grant them eternal rest) his love of this open, developing world became (Day of wrath) & Boyars in autumn 1970. Dies irae Moderato, E flat major reflected in the clarity of approach and execu­ Domine Jesu Christe (Lord Jesus Christ) F major tion that has marked his career as a conductor_ The Requiem in d minor was recorded in Hostias et preces (Sacrifices of praise and prayers to Thee) e minor He stems from the schools of Eugene Holy Trinity, Brompton, London, on 28 May Quam olim Abrahae (As Thou once didst promise to Abraham) March d minor Goossens, Rafael Kubelik and Carlo Zecchi , and and 1 June 1970. Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts) holds the Conductor's Diploma of the Paris The Four Orchestral Pieces were recorded in Benedictus (Blessed is He) Conservatoire, though he himself freely admits Barking Assembly Hall, London, on 1 July 1970. Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) that the greatest influence on his musical Producer: Dr. Robert Simpson Requiem aeternam (Grant them eternal rest) development has been the friendship and Engineer: Brian Snelling Cum sanctis tuis (With Thy saints forever) encouragement which Furtwa'ngler showed him; A DOLBY SOUND SYSTEM !RECORDING Sleeve printed by Richard Davis Ltd . Cover design by Justin Michmann Photograph of Hans-Hubert Schonzeler UNICORN RECORDS 27-29 York Road, Waterloo, London SE1. based on a Bruckner bust by Franz S. Forster. by Anthony Crick may. Although it isa well-known fact that Anton his most ambitious composition, the Requiem to prove the truth of this comment. purely orchestral composition, and the result Br uckner (1824-96) was very late to mature, in d minor, which was to receive its first The Requiem is sc ored for four soloists, are th e Four Orchestral Pieces of 1862. Three and that his first great compositions date from performance at St. Fl orian on the annive rsary chorus, an orchestra consisting of strings, three of these, the pieces in F major, E flat major his 40th year, it is often overlooked that he of his friend's death, in September 1849. trombones and horn (the horn only playing in and e minor, are probably influenced by produced his first little organ pieces whilst As dictated by the order of the Requiem the Benedictus) , and organ continuo. similar pieces which Kitzler used or composed staying with his godfather in Horsching at the Mass, the work fall s into ten clearly defined During the years f ol lowing the composition as little interludes for theatrical performances. age of eleven, and during his years as a village sec ti ons, yet al though it is an ea rl y wor k a sense of the Requiem, Bruckner wrote a number of The fourth is a March in d minor, and schoolteacher at Wind haag (1841-43) and of unity pervades the whole. sma ll choral works as well as two works on a it is interesting to note that this March already Kronstorf (1843-45) he also brough t forth It must not be overlooked that at that larger canvas: a Magnificat (1852) and the Missa contains a passage which re curs much later in a number of sma ll -scale, mainly choral, time Bruckner was still steeped in the music of Solemnis in b flat minor (1854). Strange ly quite a different context, in his Symphony compositions All of these, howeve r, like his the great polyphonic age, of Haydn, Mozart enough these do not quite measure up to the No 8. This March, however, is the on ly one of earlier works from the second St. Florian and Schubert; he had only just di scovered qualities inherent in the ea rlier Requiem. Then the four pieces which has so me slight indication per rod (1845- 55) , are of minor significance Mendelssohn, and Beethove n was still, on the in 1855 he began counterpoint studies with the of the Bruckner to come. I he other three are and of interest to the music hist orian only. whole, unknown territory to him. In view of Viennese professor Simon Sechter, and until cha rming, melodious little movements, sco red But the Requiem in d minor, which he began all these facts it is amazing what he achieved, 1861 was complc lcly abso rbed by these studies. for an orchestra employing only a trombone in 1848 and completed on 14th March 1849, especially if we look at the great double fugue As it was one of Sechter's fundamental in addition to the orches tral complement is a different matter: it is Bruckner's first of the Quam olim Abrahae, w ritten at least principles that his students first had to acquire required for a late Haydn symphony major composition, the first in which he six years before he even commenced his complete theoretical ma stery before being In sty le they are reminiscent of included an orchestra, and the earliest work thorough contrapuntal studies wi th Simon al lowed to engage in free composi tion, it is not Mendel ss() hn and Schumann and bear witness which has a true musical va lidity of its own. Sechter l surprising that Bruckner composed sca rcely any to the type of music on which Kitzler based When Bruckner returned to St. Florian It is true that the Requiem must not be works worth mentioning duri ng that period. his teaching, but their main interest lies in as a schoolteacher after those f or him so vie we d from the standpoint of the later Ha ving concluded hi s studies w ith Sechter the fact that with these four pieces Bruckner unhappy years in Windhaag and Kronstorf, Bruckner - the Bruckner of the three 'great' (and having meanwhile moved to Li nz, where for the first time touched upon that field he rapidly made many friends. Foremost Masses and the nine symphonies - though he now held the Jo int pos t of organi st at t he which he was to make his life's work: pure amongst these was the judicial actuary Franz there are many passages reminiscent of what Old Cathedral and the principal mun icipal and absolute orches tral music. Sailer, who greatly admired Bruckner's talents was even then, in 1848/49, a past age (the very church), Bruckner, ever strivi ng to increase and Whereas in the case of the Requiem and particularly his organ-playing; in Sailer's open ing points irresistibly to Mozart's Requiem consolidate his knowledge, embarke d on a Bruckner's autograph score is still extant home Bruckner was a frequent guest. Sailer in the same key), and th ough the very i ncl usi on further course of study w ith Otto Kitzl er, (namely the score which he gave as a present owned a Bosendorfer grand piano which of a figured bass for organ con tinuo strikes one conductor at the Linz municipal theatre. During to Franz Bayer), the Four Orchestral Pieces Bruckner often played and which was his as backward·looking, th ere are already several these two years with Kitzler, Bruckner delved only exist in a score copied (according to great envy, for on more than one occasi on he flashes of the later, great Bru ckner to come. into matters of f orm and orchestrati on , and it Gollerich and Orel) by th e copyist of the remarked: 'I f only I could afford an in strument It is perhaps symptomatic that in hi s old was also at this la te stage of his development Linz t heatre. This sco re, howe ver, must be like that! '. Then Sailer suddenly died in age, when he went through many of his earlier that ~, e first became acquai nted with til e music considered authentic as Bruckner person,) lly Septe mber 1848 and bequeathed his piano to compositions, he did not reject the Requiem of Richard Wagner. gave it to his friend Cyrill Hynais, together Br uckner, in whose possession it was to remain out of hand but made various emendations and By way of 'studen t exercises' Bruckner with the scores of the Overture in g minor to his dying day and on which he composed in 1895 gave the score to his Steyr friend Franz now ventured into the realm of instrumental and the very early Symphony in f minor, the everyone of his later works. (I t now stands in Bayer as a present with the laconic comment: music, and his first attempt in this direction so-called 'study symphony ', both composed the 'Bruckner Room' in St. Florian.) 'It isn't bad l '. was the String Quartet in c minor of 1862 (a in 1863. It was in memory of his friend Sailer that I t is very much hoped that the present work which was not redi scovered until 1951). Bruckner set to work on what was at that time recording of this rarely heard work wi ll se rve Shortiy af terwards he tried his hand at Hans-Hubert Schonzeler Author's copyright 1970 .

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