About this edition
Composed in 1893 and premiered in 1894, Glazunov's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major marks a pivotal moment in his symphonic output: a single-movement-in-spirit work of concentrated lyricism and structural ingenuity, compressing the traditional four-movement symphony into a continuous, tautly argued span. Written when Glazunov was only twenty-eight, it reveals the full maturity of his orchestral voice — rich, glowing textures inherited from Rimsky-Korsakov's tutelage, fused with a personal gift for sustained melodic arches and seamless transitions between contrasting moods. It remains a compelling document of Russian late-Romantic symphonism at its most refined.
This edition reproduces the first edition full score, published in Leipzig by M.P. Belaieff in 1894 (plate number 976). Belaieff's edition house, founded by the timber magnate and passionate patron Mitrofan Belyayev, was the primary vehicle through which Glazunov's generation of Russian composers — Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin's circle, Glazunov himself — reached European audiences, engraved to exacting standards and distributed internationally from Leipzig. As the original engraving authorized by the composer's own publishing patron at the time of the symphony's premiere, this Belaieff first edition is the foundational source for the work's orchestral text, the edition from which subsequent study and performance materials descend.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score (study/conductor format)
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
Like all of our editions, this score reproduces a historical print now in the public domain, letting us bring a beautifully engraved piece of the Belaieff catalogue back into circulation for today's conductors, players, students, and scholars.
