# The Manfred Symphony



## Guest (May 9, 2011)

I spent the evening listening to Tchaikovsk’s Manfred Symphony in E flat which as most will know is a programmatic and conjectural work left unfinished and premiered on March 23, 1886 in Moscow, conducted by Max von Erdmannsdoerfer. 
My question is : is the version we hear today as it was written or did someone finish it?


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

The Manfred Symphony was completed by Tchaikovsky. And it is billed as being in the key of B minor, not E flat.
Tchaikovsky began an E flat symphony after he completed his 5th symphony, but later abandoned it, although he later used some of the material in his 3rd Piano Concerto.


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## Guest (May 9, 2011)

Jeez I don't know why I put E flat, am I loosing it? Thanks ST when did he finish it?


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

It was started and completed in 1885 according to Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Symphony


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## Guest (May 9, 2011)

Well I do not know where I got my info from, thanks ST


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Andante said:


> Well I do not know where I got my info from, thanks ST


I think you have simply mixed-up the very-much-completed Manfred Symphony (B minor, Op 58) and the unfinished (but NOT 'conjectural') Symphony in E flat that would have been 'No 6' had he not abandoned it and started work on what would become the _Pathétique_. There was a completion of the E-flat Symphony made by Semyon Bogatyryov. There are three recordings I know about - one by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra from the 1960s, one by Neeme Järavi and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conveniently coupled with the 3rd Piano Concertos modelled on the first movement of the Symphony and a Russian one I can't now find a record of.


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## Guest (May 9, 2011)

Thanks DM, I accept your explanation I must admit I had myself worried, seem to have everything mixed up :tiphat:


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

After some of the highly-touteds like Jansons and Muti did little for me, I was determined to find a recording of this work that would keep my interest. Finally...


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

Any more recent thoughts on this piece? I'm about to give it a listen. It seems to have a reputation that goes from one extreme to the other. Toscanini said it was Tchaikovsky's best work and Bernstein called it "trash".


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