MUSICONversations I: Prof. Julian Horton: ‘How to compose a nineteenth-century symphony’

Julian Horton writes: "Imagine you are a composer who wants to write a symphony, and you discover you can time-travel from 2026 to 1856: what would you take from the symphonies you encounter back then, what decisions would you make when composing your symphony in that time, and what would the resulting symphony sound like? 

"For more than a decade, I have been working on a history of the symphony for Cambridge University Press, research for which has included the analysis of thousands of symphonies composed across more than 250 years. One offshoot of this work has been a project seeking to answer precisely these questions, by using the research’s findings as the basis for composing symphonies in a historically appropriate style. The fruits of these labours are two symphonies – both in a mid-nineteenth century style – grounded in the research for my book. This evening you will hear a virtual performance of the second of them, the Symphony No. 2 in B flat major. I will briefly introduce the work and, after the performance, invite an open discussion."