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Product Description ------------------- George Frederick Bristow (1825-1898), a pillar of the New York musical community for most of the nineteenth century, was a composer, performer, conductor, educator, and a strong advocate for American music. His musical training took place entirely in New York, where he studied with his her and several prominent members of the Philharmonic Society, now the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Bristow's Symphony No. 2, "Jullien," was commissioned by its namesake, the French conductor Louis Antoine Jullien, in 1853. A substantial work in D minor, it is in four movements and is scored for a standard early nineteenth-century orchestra: strings, pairs of winds, brasses, and timpani. The only significant difference is the addition of two horns (for a total of four) and three troms. All four horns are used in the first and last movements, and all three troms only in the finale, but there are prominent trom solos in the first and third movements. The work is clearly "Europeanist" in orientation, for Bristow used as his models several symphonic works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn that had been a regular ste of the Philharmonic Society concerts during its first ten years. Stylistically, the symphony is solidly aligned with the more "conservative" Romantic-period composers rather than with "radical" (i.e., programmatic) symphonists such as Berlioz or Liszt, whose orchestral music was still mostly unknown in America at mid-century. This is the world-premiere of the recently published Critical Edition of Symphony No. 2 by musicologist Katherine Preston, who has also contributed a richly informative essay in the accompanying booklet. Premiere s of the Overture to Rip Van Winkle (1855) and the Winter's Tale Overture (1856) round out the program. Review ------ "Rebecca Miller inspires the Royal Norther Sinfonia to play with captivating spontaneity, heartfelt phrasing and immaculate internal balancing, enhanced by impactful sonics from Simon Fox-Gál. A winner." --BBC Music "Maestro Miller holds everything together with sensitive dynamics and good orchestral balances. The playing of the Royal Northern Sinfonia is excellent and the ... is clear and well articulated." Fanfare Magazine --Fanfare Magazine " The Royal Northern Sinfonia featured here is billed as a chamber orchestra, but under American conductor Rebecca Miller they deliver superb, big-d performances of these pieces. She gives us very energetic readings, which show off these colorful scores to great effect." --Classical Lost and Found