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After a first-movement fragment of a symphony in D major from 1811, Schubert completed six symphonies from 1813 to 1818. Of these, the Fifth in B flat is a masterpiece of Mozartian grace, and the others are fine works that show the young composer working within the confines of the Haydnesque model – though clearly the shadow of Beethoven’s first two symphonies is cast over these early works. After the Rossinian No.6, something strange happened. Of six symphonic works he attempted from 1819, only one was completed: the Ninth Symphony in C major ‘The Great’. Schubert’s painstaking attempts to become a major symphonic voice can be experienced in the sketches realised with great skill and affection by the Schubert expert Dr. Brian Newbould.

Listening to the complete Scherzo from the fragmentary four-movement Symphony in D, D708, you can hear a trial run for the scherzo of the Ninth. The E major Seventh Symphony of 1821 is so very nearly the mature work Schubert was striving to perfect. Using the largest orchestra he ever composed for, it is an imposing piece with a haunting slow movement. The famous ‘Unfinished’ Eighth was probably completed in 1822. All that is lost to us is the trio of the scherzo – here Dr Newbould employed a contemporary Lied and the finale.

In 1828, after completing the Ninth, Schubert embarked on another D major work, D936a, his Tenth symphony. This three-movement work contains a slow movement of great beauty, inhabiting the bleak world of Winterreise, and foreshadowing Mahler. Newbould’s realisations provides a tantalising view of the symphonic landscape Schubert would have created had he not died at the age of 31.

‘These nicely packaged discs combine familiar Schubert in superb performances with the unfamiliar newly minted by Brian Newbould. The best of the unfamiliar items is what is here called No.10. This is fascinating, one of the great Might-Have-Beens – if only he’d lived another month or two’. - Gramophone, March 1985

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