Allegro Moderato from Symphony #8 (Unfinished)

Allegro Moderato from Symphony #8 (“Unfinished”) by Franz Schubert, arranged for Flute Orchestra by Shaul Ben-Meir.

“Schubert is perhaps best known for all his beautiful melodic songs (leider), and there are generations of schoolchildren who may associate the words “This is the symphony that Schubert wrote and never finished” with the lovely second theme of this movement. The sustained beauty of this entire line of music is extraordinary, but even more remarkable is the way Schubert prolonged the spell throughout this movement and into the second. Schubert's sketches show that he originally wanted to end his first movement in B Major, which would have broken the mood, but instead he remained in the darkness of b minor.”

Scored for 5 C flutes, alto flute, bass flute, string bass