Deryck Cooke

Deryck Victor Cooke ( born September 14, 1919 in Leicester, † October 26, 1976 in Thornton Heath ) was an English musicologist who became internationally known through the completion of the unfinished 10th Symphony of Gustav Mahler.

Life and work

Deryck Cooke was a graduate of Cambridge University. From 1947 to 1959 and from 1965 to 1976 he worked in the music department of the BBC.

Cooke began in 1959 to supplement the existing short score draft of the unfinished 10th Symphony of Gustav Mahler. He was supported by the composer and conductor Berthold Goldschmidt, who brought the result in 1960 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London at the BBC for performance. However, this version still had gaps in the two scherzo movements of the symphony. Based created him later by the Mahler family publicly accessible further sketches Cooke in the following years, a first complete version. This was premiered by Goldschmidt at the Proms on August 13, 1964, again with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. In 1965 a first gramophone recording of this version ( the label CBS with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy ). Another shot followed in 1966 under Jean Martinon.

By 1972, Cooke finally drew a second, revised version with David Matthews and Colin Matthews, which was premiered on 15 October 1972 with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wyn Morris in London, and in 1976 appeared in print. More recordings followed, for example, under Simon Rattle or Eliahu Inbal. From 1972 to 1975 Cooke took again before revisions as amended. This again revised version was published in 1989 posthumously in pressure.

The performance version of Cooke's Mahler Symphony No. 10 in its various versions, although not without controversy, to this day - despite further attempts at reconstruction of other musicians - the most played version, if Mahler's Symphony No. 10 is all included in the program. Cooke, who clearly differentiated in his edition between Mahler's sketches and your own parts, never presented a claim to authenticity, but always spoke only of a " performing version " (ie play or performance version ) that are not claimed to represent Mahler's alleged final version of the work.