not a symphony

[calimac]

Now I really have to decide how many symphonies I have recordings of, because this month's BBC Magazine recording is of two Organ Symphonies by the French composers Charles-Marie Widor and Louis Vierne. Rather liked the Widor, not so hot on the Vierne. I don't think I'll count them. Although I'm generally of the view that, at least after 1800, a symphony is whatever a composer chooses to call one, and not required to meet certain internal characteristics, I do think that, for my purposes at least, it has to be a work for an instrumental ensemble. And one organist, with two assistants pulling the stops, doesn't count. You are free to organize your collections differently.