A new Schubert completion?

Next week BBC Radio 3 will broadcast 200 hours and more than a thousand performances of Schubert over eight and a half days. Entitled ‘The Spirit of Schubert’ this will involve the broadcast of all of Schubert’s completed works as well as what has been described by the BBC as specially commissioned completions of his music.

This is interesting in itself, but also causes some confusion. According to the Radio Times, on Thursday 29^th March 2012 at 8.35pm there is a performance of a Symphony in D major D708a completed by Brian Newbould. This is billed as a ‘first performance.’

This is odd because, as mentioned in my blog of 11^th February 2012, Neville Marriner has already recorded performances of Brian Newbould’s realisations of two symphonic fragments with the Academy of St Martins in the Fields. One of these symphonic fragments is catalogued as D.708a. What then are we to expect of Thursday night’s ‘first performance’ played by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena?

One thing is certain, the concert that night is a must for all Schubert lovers, as will be much of next week’s output on BBC Radio 3.

See also: A new Schubert completion update - http://theclassicalreviewer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/new-schubert-completion-update.html