Philippe Gaubert - Symphony in F (Score Video)

00:05 I. Lent, calme - Allegretto
12:55 II. Adagio
22:01 III. Scherzo: tres vif et leger
26:37 IV. Final

Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg conducted by Marc Soustrot

Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941) was a French flutist, conductor, and composer. One of the most renowned French musicians of the interwar period, he began studying the flute at age 13 with Paul Taffanel, professor of flute at the Paris Conservatoire, whose apartment his mother occasionally cleaned.

Gaubert's first important career position was as flutist in the Paris Opéra; by 1919, he had risen to the forefront of French musical life as principal conductor of the opera, flute professor at the Conservatoire, and principal conductor of the Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire, the predecessor of the Orchestre de Paris. Among other things, Gaubert taught the renowned flutist Marcel Moyse, played in the premiere of Ravel's well-known virtuoso harp work "Introduction and Allegro", and conducted a notable recording of César Franck's Symphony in D minor.

While best known as a composer for his numerous flute pieces, Gaubert wrote for a variety of forces, including art songs, several small chamber works, two pieces for violin and orchestra, a concerto for orchestra, and this Symphony in F. Completed in 1936 when the composer was in his late fifties, and five years before he passed away, it is what I would describe as post-Romantic; a broadly tonal harmonic language but with clear orchestrational influences from Gaubert's compositional predecessors, imbued with some surprising dissonances and extended harmonies.

Just like the symphonic works of Charles Tournemire, another composer mainly known today for his career as an instrumentalist, this symphony is little performed and only has one commercial recording. I hope this score video and my impending IMSLP upload will help to change the status quo!