Carl Hillmann

Symphony No 1 E Major Op. 5

Glazunov began to compose this work at the age of fifteen. His diary records: 'I composed and orchestrated the slow movement of Symphony no. 1 ('Andante') in the summer of 1881 . . . The score of the symphony was completed by the autumn.' It was first performed in St Petersburg on 29 March 1882. Although the composer was still a schoolboy, his symphony was the work of 'fully-fledged musician with great technical expertise.' (César Cui). Mily Balakirev once said to Tchaikovsky: 'Apart from Mendelssohn, no one got off to such a good start as Glazunov.' In 1932, when the composer looked at his symphony fifty years after the first performance, he remarked: 'Not a single note needs to be changed.'