Symphony no. 1 in C minor op. 4

Magnard composed his Symphony No. 1 in 1889-90, while studying with d’Indy (the work’s dedicatee). The first two movements were premiered at a Société Nationale concert, on 18 April 1891, almost two years before the premiere of the whole work, on 12 March 1893 in Angers. After the Paris concert, Le Ménestrel had listed the twenty-five-year-old composer’s strengths and weaknesses: “The symphony by Monsieur Magnard, although being somewhat dense and of a form that is not very easily perceptible at first glance, displays brilliant orchestral colour and shows genuine technical qualities.” In fact, the effect is possibly a little heavy-handed, both in the abundance of ideas as in the use of a huge orchestra (two harps, triple or quadruple winds, including four trumpets and four bassoons). The work bears Franck’s stamp in its use of cyclic form, since the imposing conclusion of the last movement combines the initial theme of the Strepitoso with the chorale of the Religioso. In all likelihood, Wagner’s influence underpins certain woodwind combinations, as well as Magnard’s attempt to move seamlessly from one emotional state to another (even though this shift still lacks fluidity in this work). However, Magnard was already cultivating a style of counterpoint that was dense, although not compact (particularly in the first and last movements), personal colours (the combination of reed instruments—like three saxophones—at the beginning of the Religioso, stylising the sound of an organ), while the Presto scherzo is at times reminiscent of Mahler, about whom Magnard could not have known anything. Proof that certain ideas were very much in the air at that time.