Suffolkcoastal's Symphonic Journey

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1962

Brian: Symphony No 20 in C sharp minor
Cowell: Symphony No 16 ‘Icelandic’
Fine: Symphony 1962
Frankel: Symphony No 2
Harris: Symphony No 8 ‘San Francisco’
Harris: Symphony No 9
K A Hartmann: Symphony No 8
Henze: Symphony No 5
Hoddinott: Symphony No 2
Hovhaness: Symphony No 15 ‘Silver Pilgrimage’
Joubert: Sinfonietta
Malipiero: Sinfonia per Antigenida
Pettersson: Symphony No 5
Q Porter: Symphony No 2
Rautavaara: Symphony No 4 ‘Arabescata’
Schuman: Symphony No 8
Searle: Symphony No 4
Shebalin: Symphony No 5
Shostakovich: Symphony No 13 in B flat minor ‘Babi Yar’
R Simpson: Symphony No 3
Skulte: Symphony No 3
Vainberg/Weinberg: Symphony No 5
Williamson: Symphony for Voices

Havergal Brian’s 20th Symphony is a three movement work of about 26 minutes duration and is IMO, one of the finest of Brian’s later symphonies. The first movement is restless and exploratory with a fairly muscular 1st subject and a more lyrical 2nd subject. The central movement is very expressive and haunting and among Brian’s best with real emotional depth. The finale is basically a Rondo in which an exuberant coda ends the symphony is a mood of triumph. An absorbing and rewarding symphony.

Cowell’s 16th Symphony is a five movement work of around 25b minutes duration. The language is fairly simple and quite straightforward. The 1st movement is peaceful and flowing , the 2nd has a dance like quality, the 3rd movement is gently lyrical and hymn like. The 4th movement is a rather folksy dance and the finale is again hymn like with the 1st phrase virtually identical to the well known hymn tune ‘Duke Street’ (Fight the good fight). This symphony is similar in soundworld to his 4th and 5th symphonies. A slight but pleasant work.

Irving Fine completed his only symphony shortly before is death at the age of 47 from a heart attack. The symphony is in 3 movements and is of about 23 minutes duration. The movements are entitled; Intrada, Capriccio & Ode and seems to herald a further development of Fine’s style, which was sadly to be prevented by his untimely death. The 1st movement is intense and serious in tone. The central movement is a powerful and exciting scherzo full of energy. Fine’s music is at times rather heavily under the influence of Stravinsky, and this is particularly apparent in the 3rd and final movement, which at times could be mistaken for the work of that Master. Fine’s language has a certain neo-classicism and there are signs of a toughening of language in this work.

Benjamin Frankel’s 2nd Symphony is a three movement work of about 35 minutes duration. The 1st movement is rich in atmosphere with a hazy daydream feel to it but with a strange underlying unease. This unease comes to the fore in the strange enigmatic central movement with its restless undercurrent and grotesque march like centre. The finale is again slow and atmospheric though in this case distinctly nocturnal in feel. Frankel uses a distinct language which is described as tonal serialism. A strange and rather hypnotic score that could perhaps have done with greater contrast.

Roy Harris complete two symphonies in 1962. The 8th Symphony plays continuously for about 15 minutes and is in five parts. Commissioned for the 50th Anniversary of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra is takes the life of St Francis as its inspiration. Harris had only recently complete an ecstatic setting of St Francis’s Canticle of the Sun for coloratura soprano & chamber orchestra (an astonishing work still awaiting a commercial recording). Harris uses some material from this work in the symphony. The symphony is one of Harris’s lightest and swiftest scores with a concertante part for solo amplified piano in the 4th & 5th parts and there is some imaginative and very individual writing in what is among the more successful of Harris’s later scores.

Harris’s 9th Symphony is in 3 movements and lasts about 30 minutes. Superficially it follows the model of his 5th Symphony with a short 1st movement, a chorale and a triple fugue finale. The 1st movement is very flexible with a swift pulse and rapid changes of texture but is basically in sonata form. The 2nd movement is among Harris’s finest movements. Unlike the optimistic chorale of the 5th Symphony this movement is heavy with sadness, beginning and a rather plaintive manner and finally reaching and anguished almost neurotic climax before coming to a shuddering conclusion. The finale takes the three subjects of the finale of his Symphony for Voices as the basis for the three subjects of the fugue. As usual with Harris the fugue isn’t strict more a mixture of fugue and variation. Harris does rather overdo things towards the end and the overblown coda is perhaps unnecessary as the symphony could have ended more successfully a few bars earlier.

Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s 8th & final symphony is a two movement work of about 25 minutes duration. The two movements flow in to one another. The first ‘cantilene’ is generally slow in tempo but with an impassioned central section. The 2nd movement is generally swifter with a dance-like pulse and is dramatic, driven on by distinctive percussion writing. Hartmann’s language is fairly tough but the symphony is very absorbing and the orchestration very effective and flexible, making plentiful use of chamber like textures. A very fine and fascinating symphony.

Henze’s 5th Symphony is a three movement work of about 20 minutes duration. Henze’s opera ‘Elegy for Young Lovers’ provides some of the material in this work. The 1st movement contrasts an edgy urban tension with a more lyrical one (from the opera). The central movement is really a series of short cadenzas for alto flute, viola & cor anglais against a hushed background. The finale is swift moving and dramatic at times that rounds off a powerful and very individual work.

The 2nd Symphony of Alun Hoddinott is a four movement work of about 27 minutes duration. It is a powerful and commanding score. The tense first movement is slow and in arch form with a sense of fruitless searching and striving. The 2nd movement is aggressive with fluid rhythms and is quite exciting. The 3rd movement is a dreamlike nocturne with a certain misty indistinctiveness but which reaches a grim dissonant climax. The finale is basically a scherzo & trio surrounded by an introduction and coda and creates a powerful and satisfactory conclusion. Hoddinott’s personal language is already present and the symphony is a challenging but rewarding work.

Alan Hovhaness’s 15th Symphony is a four movement work of about 20 minutes duration. It is a typical work from this composer’s pen, meditative, ritualistic, hypnotic and at times radiant. There are the usual exotic touches. Nothing special, but enjoyable and relaxing if you respond to this composer’s music.

John Joubert’s Sinfonietta is scored for classical forces of two oboes, horns, bassoons and strings. It plays continuously but is in three distinct sections. The outer movements are fairly light and quite appealing in a neo-classical manner. The central section is rather heavy going and frankly rather dull.

Malpeiro’s Sinfonia per Antigenida is in four movements and lasts about 18 minutes. It has a prominent piccolo part, which represents Antigenida, a Theban player of the ancient piffero. It is a serious and rather sombre score in which a sense of frustration can be felt. The counterpoint is often quite acerbic and the harmonies have a bite to them. It isn’t the easiest of the composer’s works to appreciate and it isn’t particularly memorable, but still worth a listen.

Pettersson’s 5th Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about 40 minutes. It is a typical work from this composer; dark, brooding and very intense. The symphony does reach an animated and powerful climax of anguish, but for the most part stays stuck in the same oppressive brooding atmosphere. The ear craves contrasts which never really come.

The 2nd Symphony of Quincy Porter is a four movement work of about 27 minutes duration. It was composed some 28 years after its predecessor. The sombre 1st movement is quite effective and has a powerful dissonant climax. The short scherzo is quite entertaining and witty. The 3rd movement has plenty of grave dignity without being particularly memorable. The finale contrasts a livelier idea with a sombre, sparse one, but isn’t particularly successful. Porter’s language is quite approachable, though I feel this symphony is less interesting that its predecessor.

Rautavaara’s current 4th Symphony only became part of his symphonic canon when the original 4th Symphony was withdrawn in 1986. The present work is in four movements and lasts about 16 minutes and is a serial work. It is the toughest of Rautavaara’s symphonies. Total serialism is used in the 1st and 3rd movements and this is an uncompromising score. Still the orchestration is very effective and helps to create a certain atmosphere.


Continued in the posting below.....

[Suffolkcoastal]

1962 continued from the above posting.....


William Schuman’s 8th Symphony is a three movement work of about 30 minutes duration. It is among the composer’s toughest and demanding scores. The use harps, piano, glockenspiel, vibraphone and tubular bells, to create a chiming sound is a feature of the orchestration of this work. Both the 2nd & 3rd movements use materials from Schuman’s 4th String Quartet. The 1st movement unfolds in a glacially slow tempo, grinding its way forward in powerful defiant strides, a quicker tempo is briefly reached before the slow opening tempo returns. The 2nd movement follows without a break, again the tempo is slow, though the chorale like main idea offers some forlorn hope of escape. The finale is pugnacious, muscular and defiant, driving the symphony to a powerful conclusion. In many ways this symphony reflects the tension of the world of 1962 and is a powerful and individual statement.

Searle’s 4th Symphony is in four movements and lasts about 17 minutes. It is one of Searle’s most uncompromising works. The 1st movement is basically in variation form, the 2nd movement is totally desolate, wisps of thematic fragments float around but never coalesce. The 3rd movement is gritty and instant and surprisingly introduces a cimbalom, which is also used in the finale. The finale begins with the percussion and cimbalom and an atmosphere of distinct menace is maintained before a climatic aleatoric section is reached and the symphony ends bluntly. This is a very demanding work but still a fine example of British serialism.

Shebalin’s 5th Symphony was among the composer’s final works. It is in four movements and lasts about 30 minutes. It is generally a lyrical if slightly melancholic score. The 1st movement has a slow introduction and is a finely composed if rather conventional movement. The 2nd movement is lyrical and very appealing. The scherzo is short and leads to a rather conventional but attractive finale which concludes with a peaceful and haunting coda. This is a very approachable work, though conventional it is among the more attractive Soviet scores of the period.

Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony will be familiar to many MB’s. For me it is the most distinctly Russian of his symphonies, setting the vivid powerful poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko. The scoring is dark with the solo bass and men’s chorus, who sing almost exclusively in unison throughout. The textures and ideas are deeply personal and it is among my favourite Shostakovich and amongst the most moving of all his works. Are there any more wistfully haunting conclusions to a symphony than that which closes this work?

Robert Simpson’s 3rd Symphony is a two movement work of about 30 minutes duration. The movements are of fairly equal length. Simply this symphony is a stunning work and IMO the finest of the earlier Simpson symphonies. The conflict between the tonal areas of B flat and C is the crux of the symphony. The 1st movement has an amazing power, momentum and symphonic logic and is totally gripping. The 2nd movement is very original and is basically a gradual accelerando that starts in the uneasy peace of the adagio opening, through eventually to a scherzo like section with subtle humour, to a Presto conclusion that climaxes on a simple but astonishing dominant 7th chord, before the symphony ends mysteriously and quietly on a low C.

The 3rd Symphony of the Latvian composer Adolfs Skulte is a three movement work of about 30 minutes duration. The 1st movement is fairly cinematic with a broad opening and a central section of more lively character using a ‘cakewalk’ rhythm. The 2nd movement has an air of nostalgia and is slow and quite appealing. The finale has two main ideas, a rather optimistic, cinematic and banal one, and a slower more reflective. The language is straightforward and typical of many Soviet composers of the time.

Vainberg/Weinberg’s 5th Symphony is a four movement work of about 45 minutes duration. The influence of Shostakovich can be heard, particularly in the outer movements of what is generally a strong and moving score. There is a natural inevitability in the broad 1st movement and the slow 2nd movement is full of poignant, lonely nostalgia. The scherzo is very understated with an underlying sarcasm. The finale is no typical Soviet barnstorming one. It is instead a slowish and rather hesitant one, full of a strange numbing chill and baring an occasional similarity to Shostakovich’s 4th which had been finally unveiled earlier that year.

Finally Malcolm Williamson’s Symphony for Voices. This is in five movements and scored for voices alone. The symphony set’s the poetry of Williamson’s compatriot James McAuley and opens with an Incantation for solo alto. The other movements set the texts in an imaginative and haunting manner. Perhaps Britten’s influence can be felt at times, but this is a fine and moving work from an absurdly neglected composer.

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1963

Bernstein: Symphony No 3 ‘Kaddish’ (rev version)
Brian: Symphony No 21 in E flat
Frankel: Symphony No 3
Goehr: Little Symphony
Ivanovs: Symphony No 10
Lajtha: Symphony No 9
Mennin: Symphony No 7 ‘Variation Symphony’
R Orr: Symphony in One Movement
Panufnik: Symphony No 3 ‘Sinfonia Sacra’
Salmenhaara: Symphony No 1 ‘Crescendi’
Salmenhaara: Symphony No 2 (rev 1966 version)
Schwarz-Schilling: Symphony in C
Tikotsky: Symphony No 6
Toch: Symphony No 5 (Symphonic Poem ‘Jeptha’
Vainberg/Weinberg: Symphony No 6
Valek: Symphony No 3

Scored for Speaker, Soprano, Chorus and Boys Voices, and Bernstein’s 3rd Symphony is in a continuous movement and lasts about 40 minutes. It is a somewhat controversial work, not least because of the Speaker’s text which Bernstein wrote himself, which does have moments of embarrassment. The work is very eclectic, ranging from aleatoric and serial sections to pure simple diatonic ones. But Bernstein wields this all into a language which is recognisably his own. The tension and anxiety of the time is certainly a contributing factor in the work’s inspiration. Though the work is flawed one is moved by Bernstein simple optimism and belief in his fellow man.

With his 21st Symphony, Brian returned to a four movement format and the symphony is of about 25 minutes duration. The 1st movement is fairly energised and brightly optimistic. The slow movement appears on the surface to be fairly relaxed, but there is an underlying unease which never quite allows the music to completely settle. The 3rd movement is a short and engaging scherzo. The finale is full of often abrubt contrast as well as much exuberance, and just about comes off.

Benjamin Frankel’s 3rd Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about 17 minutes. It is a rather understated score that unfolds is a moderately slow manner with a feeling of strange, haunted worldweariness. Some of the writing is very beautiful and atmospheric, there are some more dramatic outburst but these take on the character of a recalling a distant memory. Perhaps not an easy work to grasp, but the language is quite individual and approachable enough.

Alexander Goehr’s Little Symphony isn’t particularly ‘little’ in duration, lasting about 27 minutes. This is a key work in Goehr’s compositional journey, being basically serial, but incorporating modality in a very individual manner, creating a style that was to dominate Goehr’s music for the next 15 years or so. The writing is highly expressive and very absorbing and keeps the listener interested and certainly worth investigating for those for whom serialisim is often a ‘no go’ area. The Symphony was written in memory of the composer’s father Walter Goehr.

Janis Ivanovs 10th Symphony is in four movements and lasts about 30 minutes. This is one of Ivanovs more compelling works. The expressive first movement has real symphonic breadth as well as a sense of urgency and this is followed by a tense and energetic scherzo. The slow 3rd movement reminds one stylistically of American composers of the period in places, with spans of real expansive breadth surrounding a central section of more tension. The finale is full of hard driven energy. Ivanovs language is tonal, but as I’ve mentioned before, this composer does have a very distinct language of his own, and a sense of purpose that lifts it above many other symphonies by composers within the Soviet Union at that time.

Laszlo Lajtha completed his 9th Symphony shortly before his death and with it concludes a very fine symphonic cycle. The Symphony is in three movements and lasts about 25 minutes and is a work of some stature and sounds like no other composer. The first movements ranges from moments of anguished lamentation (again a saxophone is used at times, which seems almost to be the composer’s own voice), to angry violent outbursts. The central movement is more exotic in colouring with also some Magyar folk influences in the mix, creating a very hypnotic movement of great haunting beauty. The finale has a scherzo like propulsion that finally drives the music to a powerfully defiant conclusion. What a superbly individual symphonist Lajtha is, why don’t we hear more of his music?

Peter Mennin’s 7th Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about 26 minutes, though it can be loosely divided into 5 sections. The Symphony is not a traditional continual set of variations, more various aspects of variation technique are brought to the grim and gritty opening idea. This is a typical dark and sombre work from Mennin, with aggressive driving outbursts and sections of intense brooding. The familiar canonic and imitative devices, as well as punctuating brass writing are present, but the harmonic language is somewhat tougher than in his earlier symphonies. The Symphony is very impressive and unfolds in the commanding and absorbing manner of a true master.

Robin Orr’s Symphony in One Movement lasts about 18 minutes and is a concise and absorbing work. The outline of the traditional four movements can still be detected within the one movement structure. A certain nervous energy is present throughout as well as a note of poignant lament in the ‘Siciliana’ idea. The language is approachable enough and the symphony holds together very well.

Panufnik’s 3rd Symphony was written in anticipation of Poland’s 1000th anniversary which was due in 1966 and is his best known symphony. Structually it consists of three movements called Visions followed by a Hymn. The 1st Vision is scored for four trumpets, the 2nd is very slow and scored for strings and the final Vision begins on percussion before the full orchestra enters in a swift agitated movement. The Hymn is the longest movement that gradually builds from eerie string harmonics through to a glorious, sonorous conclusion in which the horns and trumpets bring back the opening trumpet calls from Vision I. A very striking and original symphony.

The Finnish composer Erkki Salmenhaara completed two symphonies in 1963. His 1st Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about 18 minutes. The work is dominated by the percussion. There are plenty of apt crescendi and outbursts and stabbing interjections, but the symphony doesn’t have a natural flow and the tough dense textures and lack of real movement create a sense of claustrophobia. Personally I don’t find this work very appealing, though others may get more out of it.

Salmenhaara’s 2nd Symphony I find to be of more interest and is in three movements and lasts about 20 minutes. The first movement gradually builds in texture and power to a dense and dissonant climax before fading away. The second movement is short and aggressive with plenty of punch. The 3rd movement is more anguished and searching trying to escape forlornly from its confines, and finally fades away. The language again is fairly tough and the textures are sometimes rather cluttered, but the symphony is more convincing and manages to hold the listeners attention.

Schwarz-Schilling’s Symphony in C is a three movement work of about 27 minutes duration. It is a fairly diatonic and rather romantic work. The 1st movement is basically in sonata form contrasting a broad theme with a more nervous one. The 2nd movement is broad and expansive with much expression. The finale has plenty of nervous energy and makes a successful conclusion. The language is quite approachable, and the symphony is well crafted, though not particularly memorable. Still some listeners may find the Symphony rather appealing.

The 6th Symphony of the Soviet symphonist Yevgeny Tikotsky (1893-1970) is a three movement work that lasts a little over 30 minutes. It is a fairly conventional and unremarkable Soviet Symphony. The central movement does have moments of genuine poetry, but the finale is rather dull and forced.

Toch’s 5th Symphony, is also called ‘Symphonic Poem Jeptha’ and the latter title is probably more apt. Toch wanted to write and opera on subject but never got round to it. The work plays continuously and lasts about 25 minutes. It is well written and quite approachable and has genuinely lyrical and memorable writing and is certainly worth a listen.

Vainberg/Weinberg’s 6th Symphony is scored for boy’s voices and orchestra and is five movements and lasts a little over 45 minutes. The boys are used in the 2nd, 4th & 5th movements. This is an approachable, effective and moving score, though apart from the swifter and dramatic 3rd movement, most of the tempi are on the slow side and there perhaps isn’t enough contrast of tempi. The opening movement is very impressive and though occasionally slightly reminiscent of Shostakovich, almost matches him in its melancholic poignancy and underlying power and unease. The writing for the boys is effective, in the 2nd movement it is brightly optimistic, but by the 5th movement there is a sense of bitterness creeping in.

Finally Jiri Valek’s 3rd Symphony, it is in four movements and lasts about 45 minutes. The symphony has a prominent role for Soprano and Tenor Saxophones, which help to impart a certain pleading almost vocal element to the score. Ultimately however, the score isn’t that memorable and Valek struggles to hold the listeners attention.

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1964

Badings: Symphony No 11 ‘Sinfonia Giocosa’
Badings: Symphony No 12 ‘Sound Patterns’
Britten: Cello Symphony (composed 1963)
A Butterworth: Symphony No 2
I Dan: Symphony No 4
Diamond: Symphony No 5
Jolivet: Symphony No 3
D Jones: Symphony No 6
Karetnikov: Symphony No 4
Leighton: Symphony No 1
Malipiero: Symphony No 8 ‘Sinfonia Brevis’
Part: Symphony No 1
Rawsthorne: Symphony No 3
Salmenhaara: Symphony No 3
Searle: Symphony No 5
Sessions: Symphony No 5
Sulek: Symphony No 5
Vainberg/Weinberg: Symphony No 7 in C major
Vainberg/Weinberg: Symphony No 8 ‘Polish Flowers’
Wiren: Symphony No 5

The 11th Symphony of Henk Badings is only a little over 7 minutes in duration. It begins with a rather ominous crescendo before suddenly reverting to a mood more akin to the work’s subtitle. It is quite approachable.
Henk Badings’ 12th Symphony plays continuously and lasts a little over 20 minutes. The title ‘sound pictures’ is very apt as the Symphony presents a kaleidoscope of imaginative orchestral colourand texture that fairly propels the listener along. The language is not problematical and this would make an ideal showpiece for an orchestra from the more standard repertoire pieces.

Britten’s Cello Symphony should have come under 1963 as it was completed in May of that year. It one of Britten’s more demanding works but marked a welcome return to pure orchestral writing. The title is apt as the work combines aspects of both Symphonic and Concerto from. The gritty and rather sparse 1st movement has sonata elements and this is followed by a wispy, eerie and very subdued scherzo. The slow 3rd movement tries to break out in to a richer and fuller expression but never quite does, a cadenza leads to a Passacaglia finale, a favourite form of Britten’s in instrumental music and also concludes in D major a key also favoured by Britten in some of his larger works.

The 2nd Symphony of Arthur Butterworth is in three movements and lasts a little under 30 minutes, it is a dramatic and approachable. The 1st movement is restless and rather stormy and the storm only really subsides in the final bars. The 2nd movement begins as a rather haunted pastoral landscape, lonely and rather desolate and become more brooding and powerful before ending eerily with bells. The finale contains a kind of Sibelian nature music and maintains a powerful windswept momentum until a powerful and firm conclusion.

The 4th Symphony of the Japanese composer Ikura Dan is in four movements and lasts about 30 minutes. The 1st movement has an odd rather quirky insistence about it, the 2nd a certain tense striving. The 3rd movement is moderately pace with a certain confident swagger about it. The finale is quite short and dominated by an instant nagging idea that propels the work to an edgy rather urban conclusion.

David Diamond laboured on his 5th Symphony off an on for 17 years and was completed four years after his 8th. Stylistically it sums up Diamond’s style from the 1940’s and 50’s. The symphony is in two movements and lasts about 20 minutes. The 1st movement begins slowly before a propulsive Allegro takes over in what is basically a 3 subject sonata movement with typical Diamond contrapuntal energy. The 2nd movement begins expressively before a fugue erupts which finally reaches a climax with the entry of the organ before a long cello solo with string accompaniment, pulls the symphony’s various ideas in a peaceful concluding melody.

Jolivet’s 3rd Symphony is a three movement work of about 25 minutes duration. The language of this work is very tough, dense and demanding, with percussion frequently to the fore. The 1st movement is particularly tough with powerful blocks being thrust against each other. The central movement is more subdued but still tense, whilst the 3rd movement has a savage ritualistic element to it. Not an easy listen this, but some listeners may be taken but the power of the work.

Daniel Jones 6th Symphony lasts about 30 minutes and consists of three pairs of connected movements. The first pair consists of a powerful and sombre introduction followed by an energetic sonata movement. The 2nd pair form a sombre but expressive slow movement followed by a slightly sly scherzo. The final pair, are a set of variations and a propulsive finale. The symphony holds together very well and holds the listener’s attention by the interest of the invention and inevitability of the structure.

The 4th Symphony of Nicolai Karetnikov was among the first serial Soviet symphonies of the 1960’s. The work plays continually and lasts about 25 minutes. It is a rather uncompromising piece, rather heavily orchestrated and full of dramatic gestures, which don’t in the end seem to add up to a convincing whole.

Kenneth Leighton’s 1st Symphony is a three movement work of about 35 minutes duration. The first movement is fairly slow and begins in a mood of hesitant lament before become more assertive, even defiant. The central movement is fast and propulsive with an almost frenetic energy at times that sweeps all before it. The 3rd movement is deeply elegiac and rather resigned in tone and ends in mood of still desolation. The symphony is very impressive and has real inevitability and shows the hand of a fine symphonist at work and IMO is one of the finest British symphonies of the decade.

Malipiero’s 8th Symphony is entitled ‘Sinfonia Brevis’ and lasts about 22 minutes, but is by no means the shortest of the composer’s symphonies. The symphony is in three movements with the 3rd more than twice the length of its combined predecessors. It isn’t among the composer’s most inspired works and rather lacks focus and interesting ideas.

The 1st Symphony of Arvo Part is divided into two sections, Canons and Prelude & Fugue and lasts around 16 minutes. The language is more challenging than with Part’s later scores with some powerfully dramatic statements and an edginess and austerity to the writing generally. Its relative brevity is to its advantage.

Alan Rawsthorne’s 3rd Symphony is a four movement work of around 32 minutes duration. This finely crafted score begins with a movement that contrasts two groups of ideas along sonata principles. The 2nd movement is a sarabande with a strange pleading insistency of considerable emotional depth. The 3rd movement is a swift ghostly scherzo whilst the finale is a kind of Rondo that unfolds with real purpose. Rawsthorne’s highly individual manner is on display throughout and this is a compelling score that needs to be heard more often.

Salmenhaara’s 3rd Symphony is a three movement score of around 35 minutes duration. It is a tough and rather gritty score dominated by generally rather slow textures. There is a certain lack of contrast inherent in the work and it often gets rather ‘bogged down’ in heavy rather desolately despairing textures. The 3rd movement comes of best and has a hint of the world of Sibelius’s 4th Symphony seen through the tense world of the 1960’s.

[Nick Armstrong]

1964 continued

Searle’s 5th Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about 17 minutes. It is basically in five sections which create a sort of arch structure. It is an expressive and inventive score that continually keeps the listener enthralled. The language is quite tough but the variety of textures and expression makes the work well worth seeking out, with moments of rapt stillness, expressive outbursts and even jazzier passages. The symphony is dedicated to the memory of Searle’s teacher Webern.

The 5th Symphony of Roger Sessions is in three continuous movements and lasts about 18 minutes. It is composed in Sessions very individual but demanding complex atonal manner. The language as usual with Sessions is expressive with fluid melodic movement and textures that keeps the momentum going throughout. Like many of Sessions works, this symphony needs to be heard a number of times to fully appreciate the wealth of material.

The Croatian composer Stepjan Sulek’s 5th Symphony is in three movements and lasts about 40 minutes. Two larger movements surround a shorter central one. The language is a mix of romantic and impressionistic elements with some more contemporary elements. The ideas are quite expressive and there are some poetic moments, but overall the symphony is rather diffuse and unmemorable.

Vainberg/Weinberg completed two symphonies in 1964. The 7th was written for Rudolf Barshai and his enterprising Moscow Chamber Orchestra and is scored for harpsichord and strings. The symphony is in one continuous movement alternating slow and fast sections and lasts about 30 minutes. It is quite an inventive score with some distinctly individual touches that leads to an often haunting and almost protesting score with a slightly neoclassical feeling to it. The figure of Shostakovich isn’t entirely banished however.

With the 8th Symphony Vainberg turned to the dramatic poetry of his native compatriot, Julian Tuwim’s ‘Polish Flowers’. The symphony is scored for chorus and orchestra and plays for around 55 minutes and it is at times and effective and moving work. A lot of the choral writing is declamatory in nature allowing Tuwim’s texts to come through with maximum impact. Very occasionally one is reminded of Stravinsky’s Les Noces and the choral works of Martinu, but the soundworld is quite personal and here the composer seems to shake off the shadow of Shostakovich more successfully. Perhaps a certain sameness of texture creeps in at times. The coda though is quite haunting.

Finally Dag Wiren’s 5th Symphony. This work is in four movements and lasts around 22 minutes. The symphony is derived from a play for which Wiren composed the music back in 1951. A number of motifs are used which generate larger ideas. The music is concentrated and often rather austere in expression with a distinctly Nordic touch, but successfully holds the listener’s attention through to make a strongly compelling score.

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1965

R Rodney Bennett: Symphony No 1
Brian: Symphony No 22 ‘Sinfonia Brevis’
Brian: Symphony No 23
Brian: Symphony No 24
J N David: Symphony No 8
Giannini: Symphony No 5
Gipps: Symphony No 3
Harris: Symphony No 10 ‘Abraham Lincoln’
Imbrie: Symphony No 1
Ivanovs: Symphony No 11
G Lloyd: Symphony No 8
McCabe: Symphony No 1 ‘Elegy’
Mathias: Symphony No 1
Piston: Symphony No 8
Shchedrin: Symphony No 2 ’25 Preludes for Orchestra’
Silvestrov: Symphony No 2
Vermeulen: Symphony No 7 ‘Dithyrambes pour le temps a venir’
Wellesz: Symphony No 6
Williamson: Sinfonietta

The 1st Symphony of Richard Rodney Bennett is a three movement work of about 22 minutes duration and is one of his more demanding scores with its intense chromatic language. The 1st movement is athletic and punchy, the 2nd movement is strange, haunting nocturnal like movement, with an atmosphere of ghostly desolation, but which is in its way strangely beautiful. The finale fairly successfully contrasts the more assertive manner of the 1st movement which the manner of the 2nd.

Havergal Brian completed three symphonies in 1965 all of which are fairly short. The 22nd Symphony is in two movements and lasts only a little over 9 minutes. Both movements are similar in tempo and the symphony’s opening idea is brought back at the end, the orchestration is somewhat unnecessarily heavy. The 23rd Symphony also has two movements of fairly equal length lasting a total of about 14 minutes. The 1st movement has a more lively momentum, whilst the 2nd is slow. Once again the orchestration is on the heavy side, though the symphony holds together reasonably well even if the ideas aren’t that memorable. The 24th Symphony is in one movement and lasts about 17 minutes and is IMO the best of the three. The first half is dominated by a bright confident swagger with a sense of defiance, whilst the 2nd half is more spacious and luminious, and the symphony comes off quite well.

The 8th and final Symphony of Johann Nepomuk David is a three movement work of about 25 minutes duration. It is a contrapuntal work with linear textures dominating. The 1st movement is bright, athletic and confident keeping the momentum with an almost Bachian contrapuntal dexterity. The 2nd movement is slow and rather dry and austere and less attractive. The finale commences with the urgent chiming of a glockenspiel and drives itself to a powerful climax before dissolving serenely. David’s polyphonic textures have an acerbic edge to them and his language, though quite chromatic, is not unduly difficult.

Vittorio Giannini’s 5th Symphony was one of his last completed works and is in three movements and lasts about 30 minutes. The language is tonal and very approachable in a slightly neo-romantic manner. The 1st movement is quite sombre but determined in expression, with an expansive spaciousness. The 2nd movement is gentle and wistfully lyrical. The finale begins energetically and dramatically and continues that way until the work’s opening idea is brought back in a powerful and sombre coda.

The 3rd Symphony of Ruth Gipps is an approachable and fairly attractive work of about 40 minutes duration. The greater weight seems to be in the outer movements, which have some emotional depth; the central movements have a lighter touch. The invention is agreeable without being of the highest order and the orchestration effective and clear. Perhaps the last element of focus is missing in the work. The influence of Vaughan Williams and Bliss can be felt in places.

Roy Harris’s 10th Symphony is a five movement work of about 35 minutes duration. Written for the centenary of Lincoln’s assassination it is scored for Speaker, High School Chorus, Brass, Percussion and two Amplified Pianos. The symphony was designed for a local High School chorus to sing with musicians in their community. It is not among Harris’s most inspired works, though there is some effective and characteristic writing, especially in the 3rd and 5th movements, which come off best.

The 1st Symphony of the American composer Andrew Imbrie (1921-2007) is a confident four movement work of around 40 minutes duration. Imbrie’s language is freely atonal, but like his teacher Sessions, freely expressive. The 1st movement is strongly articulated and imposing, the 2nd is more atmospheric and melodically expressive, and sounds in places like a ghostly atonal Harris. The 3rd movement has an element of humour along the lines of the 2nd movement of Sessions 2nd Symphony. The finale alternates confidence with a certain hesitancy, before finally becoming more exuberant. This is certainly worth investigating for the more adventurous listener.

Janis Ivanovs 11th Symphony is a four movement work of a little over 30 minutes duration. The 1st movement is brittle and anxious with a nervousness that never entirely settles. The 2nd movement is slow but is in no way relaxing, instead with a turbulent, angry movement along the lines of the 2nd movement of Vaughan Williams 6th Symphony, the troubled state of mind only coming to rest in the final bars. The 3rd movement is short, fiery and swift moving. The finale is again unsettled, trying to reach a state of repose, but instead runs out of energy and shudders to an inconclusive conclusion. Ivanovs language has developed from the more romantic leaning early works, developing a contemporary bite to it. This Symphony is well worth investigating.

The 8th Symphony of George Lloyd is a three movement work of about 45 minutes duration. The long first movement alternates a variety of moods and has some striking moments, but is very diffuse and lacks focus and direction. The 2nd movement is better and is quite poetic and moving at times and has better control and direction. The finale is dominated by a tarantella like rhythm, but like the movement and suffers from the problems of the 1st movement, though it is shorter.

The 1st Symphony of John McCabe is a 20 minute long work. The first section is almost pleading and sadly anxious with an urgent chiming glockenspiel featured. The central section is energetic and dominated by an urgent pounding that seems to want to hammer away the symphony’s opening. The final section begins hesitantly before the rhythmic energy returns. Eventually the symphony’s opening sad anxiety returns and the work fragments away. Though the language is fairly chromatic, it is not unduly difficult and has a certain individuality.

The 1st Symphony of William Mathias is in four movements and lasts about 30 minutes. It is a confident, bright and exuberant work, from a relatively young composer. The 1st movement roughly follows the sonata principle and opens with a bright, lithe, athletic idea and a pulsating energy continues throughout the exposition, the development though is more subdued. The 2nd movement is a scherzo with Waltonian infectious energy. The 3rd movement is slow and is a rather beautiful, nocturnal portrait. The world of Tippett’s Midsummer Marriage, Piano Concerto and 2nd Symphony are brought to mind. The Rondo finale has much of the 1st movement’s exuberance and ends the symphony with the determination and confidence of a young composer.

The 8th Symphony was Walter Piston’s final symphony and is a three movement work of around 23 minutes duration. It is a typical product of Piston’s last 15 years, gritty, tough and very intense. The first two movements are rather slow. The 1st movement is absolute music constructed from small motivic cells, sombre and intense. The 2nd movement is also sombre with twining acerbic and austere chromatic counterpoint, occasionally a more lyrical line surfaces only to be submerged. The finale is fairly swift and short, not the usual buoyant optimistic Piston finale, instead rather urgent and determined.

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1965

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The 2nd Symphony of Rodion Shchedrin is unusually constructed, consisting of 25 Preludes which are divided unevenly into five movements, the symphony is of about 50 minutes duration. The Preludes merge in to one another within the movements to create a seamless structure. The expressive and textural range in this Symphony is quite impressive and the listener’s attention is held throughout by the diversity and colour and his considerable contrapuntal skill, which combined with ever changing kaleidoscopic textures makes for absorbing listening. There is some powerful and dramatic writing that is occasionally reminiscent of Shostakovich, otherwise Shchedrin is very much his own man.

Valentin Silvestrov’s 2nd Symphony is in one movement and is scored for flute, piano, percussion and strings and lasts about 12 minutes. It is a serial work and incorporates a stark austere language employing a variety of effects and is a typical avant-garde work of the time. The work is of some interest but is rather dry and it doesn’t make for particularly appealing listening.

Vermeulen’s 7th Symphony is a one movement work of a little under 15 minutes duration. It is a powerful and rather uncompromising work that maintains a determined forward momentum of an occasionally brutal defiance, throughout its length. It caps the cycle of Vermeulen symphonies, composed over half a century, a very individual and fascinating cycle that really needs to be heard.

Egon Wellesz’s 6th Symphony is a three movement work of around 23 minutes duration, and is a rather dark and despondent work. The 1st movement begins with a grim, dragging 5/4 march, with ever more frantic and leaping melodic lines, that finally become nervously animated before the grim march returns. The 2nd movement is fairly swift moving and full of nervous anxiety, with a brief ‘tranquillo’ central section. The finale is fairly bleak and sparse with the occasional more dramatic outpouring, finally the texture becomes ever more sparse and the symphony ends in lonely desolation. The language is fairly chromatic, but very expressive and is not unduly difficult.

Finally Malcolm Williamson’s Sinfonietta, a three movement work of about 20 minutes duration. This is a fairly engaging work that opens with an atmospheric introduction before launching into an athletic Toccata. The central movement is an elegy with an eerie tortured twisting texture and a despairing solo for double bass. The finale comes as complete a contrast as could be imagined, and is a racy high spirited and rather catchy tarantella.

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More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1966

Badings: Symphony No 13
Braga-Santos: Symphony No 5 ‘virtus lusitaniae’
Brian: Symphony No 25 in A minor
Brian: Symphony No 26
Brian: Symphony No 27 in C minor
R Bunin: Symphony No 6
Frankel: Symphony No 4
Fricker: Symphony No 4
Hovhaness: Symphony No 19 ‘Vishnu’
Malipiero: Symphony No 9 ‘della ahime’
Martinon: Symphony No 4 ‘Altitudes’
Mathias: Sinfonietta
Maw: Sinfonia
Part: Symphony No 2
Pettersson: Symphony No 6
Sessions: Symphony No 6
Tischenko: Symphony No 3
Tubin: Symphony No 8

Badings 13th Symphony is in one movement lasting a mere 10 minutes and scored for wind orchestra and percussion. It starts off with a rather ominous deep roll, and for a considerable portion is rather pensive. It concludes in optimistic and somewhat jazzy fashion.

Braga-Santos 5th Symphony is a four movement work of about 30 minutes duration. Coming some 16 years after its predecessor it is very different from the earlier more romantic symphonies. The language here is much tougher and more chromatic. For the first three movements the symphony is tense but somewhat understated and distant as if the symphony’s action is being viewed from afar.
The 1st movement is somewhat ritualistic, the 2nd a strange hesitant but eerily menacing nocturnal and the 3rd a veiled landscape. The finale breaks out with power and energy before briefly looking backwards towards the earlier movements and finally ending emphatically. I personally find this a far more interesting work than his earlier symphonies.

Three Havergal Brian Symphonies date from 1966. The 25th Symphony is a three movement work of about 25 minutes duration. The 1st movement is a sonata structure setting up a conflict between the standard Brian martial idea and a more subdued ones, one idea is extremely beautiful and it’s a great pity that Brian doesn’t do more with it. The central movement is a fine movement and Brian at his most lyrical and elegiac. The finale is a Rondo with a wittily engaging main idea that successfully rounds off one of Brian’s better symphonies.

Brian’s 26th Symphony is a two movement affair of about 17 minutes duration. Both movements are in more lively tempi, but suffer from rather heavy orchestration. The 1st movement is the darker and more intense of the two, the 2nd is more exuberant. There is however a certain sameness to the writing which makes it for me less recommendable.

With his 27th Symphony Brian returns to a three movement format. It opens promisingly with a flute and lighter textures, but the familiar martial ideas, heavily scored soon intrude, though the opening material returns. The central movement comes off best, and as with the 25th symphony there is genuine lyrical and poetic writing. The finale has a certain earnest striving but is somewhat spoilt by the heavy percussive scoring, which seems unnecessarily thick.

The 6th Symphony of Revol Bunin, is a four movement work of about 25 minutes duration. The 1st movement is short and full of energetic momentum, the 2nd movement is the longest and is rather sparse and austerely bleak, though a little on the dry side and lacking in focus. The scurrying scherzo which comes 3rd is again rather short and understated, and this leads into a slow and rather cold finale.

Frankel’s 4th Symphony is a three movement work of about 25 minutes duration. The tempi throughout are slow or moderately paced. The 1st movement is a searching and expansive movement that reaches two climax’s, the central movement is the shortest and is moderately paced with a rather understated dance like feel to it. The finale seems to portray some vast twighlit landscape and some of the writing is very haunting, majestic and quite beautiful. The language is not unduly difficult and this is quite recommendable, though ones wishes perhaps for greater tempo contrasts.

The 4th Symphony of Peter Racine Fricker is about 35 minutes long and is a bleak and rather desolate score. As with the Frankel, slower tempi predominate and there are some dramatic and very powerful and anguished climaxes. The symphony is confined to this bleak desolate world and makes little attempt to escape. The language is quite chromatic but not excessively so. This is a fine work, but its overwhelming despair and loneliness make it a tough prospect.

Hovhaness’s 19th Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about 30 minutes. As usual with this composer one needs to banish preconceptions of what a symphony should be and normal symphonic structure. The Symphony is however an hypnotic and striking score and one of Hovhaness’s more successful works. It uses some aleatoric elements and is less reliant on simple modality than some of the composer’s other works. There is a strong element of the ritualistic, processional and spirituality and for those who respond to this composer, makes a thoughtfully relaxing experience.

Malipiero’s 9th Symphony is a three movement work of about 15 minutes duration and is among his more successful later symphonies. The spiky and athletic 1st movement maintains a string forward momentum. The 2nd movement is sombre and almost sadly despairing and there is also a certain subdued tension and anger in the finale. The symphony holds together well and the language though fairly acerbic at times is not excessively so.

The 4th Symphony of the conductor and composer Jean Martinon is a four movement work of about 30 minutes duration and takes mountains as its inspiration. It is a solidly written work, nicely orchestrated with expansive sense of aspiration suitable to its inspiration. Some of the writing is quite powerful though the last degree of memorability is rather lacking and perhaps a sharper degree of focus would have helped, as the movements tend to wander somewhat. The language is not particularly difficult and the symphony is worth a listen.

William Mathias’s Sinfonietta is an engaging little three movement work that was written for the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra. The orchestration and ideas are quite attractive and it is a successful piece of writing for young people.

Nicholas Maw’s Sinfonia is a three movement work scored for chamber orchestra and lasts about 35 minutes. It is an engaging and nicely crafted work with thoughtful writing and fairly engaging ideas, creating contrast and interest. There is a nice command of counterpoint and Maw manages to holds the listener’s attention even in the more austere central movement a Threnody. The variations finale is quite inventive and the writing is not overtly complex. Maw shows a certain individuality of style as well as being fairly approachable.

Arvo Part’s 2nd Symphony is in three movements and lasts about 15 minutes and uses children’s toy instruments in the outer movements. It is a tough and very avant-garde score with some dramatic and extremely dissonant writing in the short third movement. The symphony’s theme seems to be loss of innocence and a simple children’s theme dominates the closing stages. It isn’t however a particularly enjoyable listen and I personally find it of little substance.

Allan Pettersson’s 6th Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about an hour. It is at times a striking, powerful, harrowing and brooding work. Pettersson manages to maintain an impressive seamless continuity throughout and the first thirty minutes or so make for the promise of a symphony of some quality. However, after about half way through the symphony seems to lose its focus and gets stuck in a rut of fairly static brooding which doesn’t go anywhere and rather outstays its welcome.

The 6th Symphony of Roger Sessions is a three movement work of around 20 minutes duration. It is a typical atonal but very individual and expressive score by the composer but also has a greater sense of urgency and anxiety than with his earlier symphonies, especially in the 1st movement. The central movement has anxious but subdued austerity and the powerful finale is expressively dynamic. As usual with Sessions the symphony has real inevitability.

Tischenko’s 3rd Symphony is scored for chamber orchestra and the version I have is in two movements and lasts about 30 minutes, however there is a suggestion that this isn’t the complete work that has been recorded. Anyway, as it stands I find it a tiresome work of extreme dullness. The chamber scoring in itself is very sparse and the sometimes chromatic long lines are totally unmemorable and the work seems to lack form and direction. Some listeners though may find something to their taste here.

Finally Eduard Tubin’s 8th Symphony. This is a four movement work of under 30 minutes duration and is a dark and foreboding score but a very impressive one. The 1st movement is slow, dark, brooding and rather ominous. There follows a moderately paced movement with a curious nagging instance that has a certain menace to it. The 3rd movement is swift but quite powerfully dramatic with the foreboding verging on defiant anger. The finale returns to a slow tempo and the sense of tension and dark menace is every present and finally reaches a powerful and dissonant climax before fading away inconclusively. This is certainly a striking and absorbing work and Tubin’s very individual style is well displayed.

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1967

S Adler: Symphony No 4
Arnold: Symphony No 6
Brian: Symphony No 28 in C minor
Brian: Symphony No 29 in E flat
Brian: Symphony No 30 in B flat minor
A Cooke: Symphony No 3 in D
Frankel: Symphony No 5
Gerhard: Symphony No 4 ‘New York’
Hanson: Symphony No 6
Harris: Symphony No 11
Ivanovs: Symphony No 12
Kokkonen: Symphony No 3
Le Flem: Symphony No 3
Lutoslawski: Symphony No 2
Malipiero: Symphony No 10 ‘Atropos’
Persichetti: Symphony No 8
Sessions: Symphony No 7
Wellesz: Symphony No 7

Samuel Adler’s 4th Symphony is a four movement work of about 20 minutes duration. It is a fairly uncompromising work with dark undercurrents. The music swings between more conventional tonality and acerbic chromaticism and there is a nervous energy and a sense of bitterness in the score. The 3rd contains an element of rather black humour.

Malcolm Arnold’s 6th Symphony is in three movements and lasts about 25 minutes. The 1st movement is typical Arnold in its unsettling crossing between themes and moods, which creates great tension, there is an element of jazz in the off beat plucked bass line of the first subject and the held harmonies, but it creates tension rather than relaxation. The 2nd movement is also unsettled and dark, another swung jazz like section seems to offer relief, but then returns in a powerful gritty climax. The movement also features a ‘shriek’ on a held note, that seems to anticipate Shostakovich’s 13th Quartet. The finale is on the surface a bright A major rondo, but whose main theme is repeated so many times the apparent triumph starts to sound rather hollow. Another fine and fascinating work.

Havergal Brian composed a further three symphonies in 1967. The 28th Symphony is in four movements that play continuously and its lasts a little over 15 minutes. Much of the work is dominated by a gritty affirmative aspiration with a more lyrical 2nd movement. The symphony could almost be heard as one continual development. The 29th Symphony is also in four movements but with the first two and last two connected and the work lasts about 20 minutes. The 1st movement at times has an almost Elgarian swagger, whilst the slow 2nd movement has a haunting lyrical quality. The scherzo is short and understated, whilst the finale begins with a certain swagger, but becomes more expressive and for a change ends in a most effective quiet haunting manner. The 30th Symphony is in two connected movements and lasts about 15 minutes. The origin of the material appears to come from a planned but never completed opera. The music is very expansive and boldly confident. The 2nd movement begins unusually with percussion and solo woodwind and eventually builds to a confident and spacious conclusion. All three works show a fair degree of imagination and are remarkable for a 91 year old composer.

The 3rd Symphony of Arnold Cooke is a pretty good work in three movements lasting about 25 minutes. The 1st movement is energetic with a strong rhythmic profile. The central movement is like an elegiac threnody and is very expressive and quite moving. The finale is fairly short but contrapuntally alert and makes a satisfactory conclusion. The symphony is nicely crafted suing a fairly conventional and approachable harmonic language.

Frankel’s 5th Symphony is in three movements and lasts under 20 minutes. The first movement is fairly slow and expressively atmospheric and almost picturesque. The central movement is a sort of moderately paced dance that is rather hesitant and never really settles, finally disintegrating into thin air. The finale is fairly swift moving and quite energetic though I feel it seems a little forced. The language is fairly approachable though I feel less convinced by this symphony than I do the previous four.

Gerhard’s 4th Symphony was one of a number of works composed for the 1967/8 125th Anniversary Season of the New York Philharmonic. The Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about 25 minutes. It must be among the most arresting and compelling of all serial works from the period. Gerhard uses serialism in his own way to create an exciting, imaginative and exhilarating score, that commands one’s attention throughout. The score is highly imaginative and endlessly fascinating and there are moments of eerie stillness and great rhythmic excitement. For those who like a challenge this is an absolute must of a symphony.

Howard Hanson’s 6th Symphony was also a New York Philharmonic commission. It is in 6 fairly short movements that alternate slow and fast and lasts a little over 20 minutes. It is among Hanson’s best scores, all built from the opening three note motive and composed in Hanson’s very individual romantic manner. There are moments of melting beauty in the 3rd movement and rhythmic assertiveness in the faster movements. The work hangs together very well and is quite effective.

Roy Harris’s 11th Symphony was yet another New York Philhamonic commission. In one movement divided into two sections the symphony lasts a little over 20 minutes and is Harris’s darkest and most pessimistic score. The structure is a sort of inverted arch, that begins unusually on amplified piano with supporting chiming percussion and string harmonics, but steadily becomes darker and more aggressive before collapsing in a passage of deliberate barbaric crudity. The 2nd half reverses the process and attempts an assertively defiant and optimistic conclusion, but the very high tessitura of the trumpet parts make it sound strained and just out of reach. Harris’s familiar language has much more acerbic bite in this work. It is among the final significant Harris scores.

Janis Ivanovs 12th Symphony is in four movements and lasts about 25 minutes. Like his 11th Symphony this represents a darker and somewhat tougher side of the composer. The 1st movement is athletic but tense and the 2nd movement has a sense of rather despairing weariness. The moderately paced 3rd movement is a rather strange and menacing movement. The finale is more assertive and conventional, but overall this is a fine work from a far from negligible symphonist whose music needs to be heard far more often.

Kokkonen’s 3rd Symphony is a compact little four movement work that lasts around 16 minutes. The structure is slightly unusual with two slow movements surrounding two quicker ones. Both quicker movements are rhythmically quite intricate. The first movement is expressively melancholic, the finale is IMO the finest movement, a movement of real atmospheric beauty and an exceptionally haunting movement too. Such is the concentration in this work, that it seems far longer than it actually is.

The 3rd Symphony of Paul Le Flem plays continuously and lasts for about 25 minutes. It is an atmospheric work in a sort of post-impressionistic manner, pleasantly and effectively orchestrated and generally quite appealing if a little unmemorable. But still a relatively youthful sounding work for an 86 year old composer.

Lutoslawski’s two movement 2nd Symphony is a key work in his output that seems to sum up his direction of the previous few years and herald new exciting works (Livre and the Cello Concerto were to follow shortly after). It is a virtuosic work that employs some of Lutoslawski’s aleatoric processes to create fluid textures of real fascination. Like the Gerhard, this symphony contains some exhilarating writing and is a key work of the period. The language is not easy, but the Symphony is worth getting to know if you don’t already know it.

Malipiero’s 10th Symphony is dedicated to the memory of the conductor Hermann Scherchen, who collapsed and died after conducting a performance of the composer’s opera L’Orfeide. The symphony is in four movements lasting about 15 minutes and opens and closes with quotes from the Opera. The lyrical and appealing 2nd movement is also in the Opera’s spirit. The rest of the music is rather less appealing, being rather angular, austere and rather dry.

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1967

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The 8th Symphony of Vincent Perichetti is a four movement work of about 30 minutes duration. This is an elegant and approachable work. A gentle slow introduction leads to a nicely crafted and attractive 1st movement proper. The 2nd movement is elegiac and moving with a touch of Roy Harris about it. The 3rd and 4th movements are both lively and remind one slightly of Piston, the finale being boisterously and contrapuntally energetic. No masterpiece but an example of a pleasant and nicely written symphonic score.

Roger Sessions 7th Symphony is a three movement work and lasts about 22 minutes. It is among his more impressive scores, tense, restless and searching with the Vietnam War years and acknowledged backdrop. The 1st movement is typical Sessions with its restless expressive lines in fairly rich textures. The 2nd movement is more withdrawn, even wearisome with a touch of melancholy, there are even brief moments of tenderness, unusual in Sessions music of the period. The finale begins in a dramatic and serious manner but Sessions gradually thins out the texture to and the music slows to a resigned and sad epilogue. Despite the relative difficulty of Sessions language this is a very fine symphony and worth the effort of seeking out.

Finally Wellesz’s 7th Symphony, a 3 movement work lasting a little under 20 minutes. The 1st movement is marked ‘sostenuto’ but is not what one would expect, being a searching and rather dynamic movement, with the ‘sostenuto’ being more of a sustained expressive restlessness. The central movement is relatively short which alternates a Webern like transparency with rather more assertive outbursts. The finale is a slow and anguished movement with twisting chromatic polyphonic lines which seem to desperately try and escape their confines and the movement makes a powerfully moving conclusion. Wellesz harmonic manner is now relatively tough, but an underlying romantic sensibility still remains.

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1968

Badings: Symphony No 14
Berio: Sinfonia (final 1969 vers)
Brian: Symphony No 31
Brian: Symphony No 32 in A flat
Eklund: Symphony No 3 ‘Sinfonia Rustica’
Flagello: Symphony No 1
Hoddinott: Sinfonietta No 1
Hoddinott: Symphony No 3
Hovhaness: Chamber Symphony ‘Mountains and Rivers without end’
Hovhaness: Symphony No 21 ‘Etchmiadzin’
Imbrie: Chamber Symphony
Josephs: Symphony No 3 ‘Philadelphia’
Lees: Symphony No 3
Pettersson: Symphony No 7 (composed 1967)
Rubbra: Symphony No 8 ‘Homage a Teilhard de Chardin’
Runolffson: Symphony in F minor
Sessions: Symphony No 8

Henk Badings 14th Symphony is a three movement work of a little under 25 minutes duration and is for me among Badings more impressive symphonies. The first two movements are full of power and drama that is then often suppressed only to suddenly and briefly explode with a tense tonality to match. The finale is slow and atmospheric with a sense of beginning and look out on an unworldly journey, before fading away high on the violins. Certainly a work worth exploring.

Berio’s Sinfonia was another work commissioned for the New York Philharmonic’s 125th Anniversary. Originally in four movements the composer added a fifth in 1969. It is scored for eight amplified voices and orchestra, with the voices called upon for a variety of effects and duties and often speaking and is a key work of the period. The emotional weight is in the 3rd movement with its Ivesian collage effect quoting Mahler, Stravinsky, Beethoven etc. The other movements are more restrained and often hauntingly effective. In many ways this work seems to sum up the experimental period of the 1960’s and looks forward to musical developments of the next 20 years or so. It is a work that you either take to or don’t, but there is no denying that it is a work of some importance in the music of the time.

Brian’s 31st Symphony is in one continuous movement and lasts about 13 minutes. It has the feeling of an orchestral fantasia full of polyphonic ingenuity. It is a somewhat understated score and more lyrical and subdued that is often the case with Brian.

Brian’s 32nd Symphony was his final completed work and returns to a four movement format and lasts around 20 minutes. The 1st movement is moderately paced and also rather understated, the 2nd movement is somewhat reflective and almost pensive. The final two movements are played without a break and are more confident and exuberant showing considerable contrapuntal mastery marking an affirmative close to one of the larger symphonic cycles of the 20th century.

Hans Eklund’s 3rd Symphony is a fairly compact work lasting only around 15 minutes. It is a dark pessimistic and somewhat moody score contrasting moments of aggression and extreme tension with moments of chilling stillness. Eklund’s language is fairly uncompromising accentuated by rather dark scoring which is rather unrelieved.

The 1st Symphony of Nicolas Flagello is a four movement work of about 25 minutes duration. The 1st movement is a sonata structure and is effective and well balanced. The 2nd movement is aria like and reaches a powerful climax. The scherzo is particularly inventive, rhythmically alert with shifting textures. The trio is rather eerie and when the scherzo returns all elements are combined in a moment of powerful agitation. The finale is basically a passacaglia with variations and is a fine movement, well constructed with real inevitability. Flagello’s language is in no way difficult and this Symphony is certainly worth seeking out.

Hoddinott’s Sinfonietta No 1 is an engaging and inventive two movement work of a little over 10 minutes duration that shows the composer’s art to great advantage on a small scale. The two movements are Rhapsodia and Scherzi.

Hoddinott’s 3rd Symphony is in two movements and lasts a little over 20 minutes. The two movements are slow-fast and fast-slow in design creating a general arch structure to the whole. The brooding opening adagio is full of pent up energy which burst forth in the inventive Presto which is scherzo like. The 2nd movement continues the pressure release with a powerfully assertive allegro, this slows to a developed return of the opening adagio before the symphony resolves in a luminous but slightly resigned conclusion. The Symphony calls for a large percussion section, which is used very effectively. Though the composer’s language can be fairly acerbic at times it is still approachable and has real individuality.

Hovhaness’s Chamber Symphony is scored for winds and percussion and is in one continuous movement lasting around 23 minutes. It is a reflective and somewhat ritualistic score with eastern harmonic and melodic touches typical of the composer.

Hovhaness’s 21st Symphony is in three movements and lasts under 20 minutes. It is a typical Hovhaness score with eastern and modal lines and a prominent role for the solo trumpet. It is generally relaxing and quite hypnotic bur rather inconsequential.

Andrew Imbrie’s Chamber Symphony is in s movement and lasts nearly 30 minutes. Imbrie’s language is atonal though as in his 1st Symphony the influence of his teacher Sessions is apparent, particularly in the expressive nature of his melodic writing. There is plenty of imagination in the writing which has real inevitability and keeps a strong sense of focus throughout. Certainly one of the more impressive chamber symphonies.

The 3rd Symphony of Wilfred Josephs is a four movement work lasting about 30 minutes. It is a thoughtful work of some gravity. Josephs uses serialism, but with strong tonal overtones and his harmonic language is resultingly not overtly difficult. The symphony opens in the dark depths before the 1st movement proper begins in an athletic and rhythmically alert manner. The slow movement is grave and very intense. The other two movements show some ingenuity but are perhaps less than 100% inspired. Still the work is quite effective and not without merit.

Benjamin Lees 3rd Symphony has a rather unusual construction of three movements proceeded by three interludes for solo tenor saxophone and temple blocks. The 3rd movement concludes with a postlude in which the saxophone and temple blocks return whilst parts of the orchestra play fragments of the 1st movement before a final climax in which the fanfare idea of the 1st movement returns. The 1st movement itself is alert and rather edgy, the 2nd movement is short and wispy with scurrying muted strings. The 3rd movement is rather cool with rising chromatic scales and repeated notes. Lees language is not difficult and this is certainly an interesting work.

Allan Pettersson’s 7th Symphony is in one movement and lasts a little over 45 minutes. It is Pettersson’s best known symphony and is a much more concentrated and successful work than its predecessor. Whereas in his 6th Symphony the composer seems to lose concentration half-way through, here he maintains it impressively. Like the 6th Symphony much of the tension and drama takes place in the first half of the work which is very impressive, there follows a section of aching poignant and melancholy beauty, before a briefer more dramatic outburst returns the work to the familiar Pettersson brooding and the symphony finally ends in a sense of peaceful resignation. Certainly Pettersson’s finest and most successful symphony to date.

An 11 year gap separates Rubbra’s 8th Symphony from its predecessor. Teilhard de Chardin was a 19th/20th century Jesuit philosopher and writer. The symphony is in 3 movements lasting around 25 minutes and is a very fine work. The 1st movement contrasts a gently serene idea with a more rhythmically flowing one that creates a continual evolving movement. The central movement is a lively and free flowing movement of great contrapuntal ingenuity and very satisfying. The 3rd movement is one of grave beauty intense, but peaceful and with a superb sense of inevitability creating a very satisfying whole, fully up to the high standards that Rubbra has maintained.

The Icelandic composer Karl Otto Runolffson’s (1900-70) F minor Symphony is a little over 40 minutes long and is fairly romantic in manner. For many years the composer was a trumpet player in the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. The symphony is quite atmospheric with plenty of drama, but is otherwise rather short on memorability and rather inconsequential.

Finally Roger Sessions 8th Symphony, which was also a New York Philharmonic 125th Anniversary commission. The Symphony is in two movements that play continuously and lasts about 15 minutes. It is an impressive work of great concentration, the scoring is lighter and the textures thinner than in Sessions earlier symphonies, creating great clarity of texture and allowing Sessions poignant expressivity to come to the fore. There are still a sense of anger and frustration at times but this is a more subdued work than its immediate predecessors. Sessions language is quite demanding however with the greater clarity of texture in this work becomes quite accessible. This is an exceptionally fine work and would make a good entry point in which to explore Sessions symphonies.

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1969

Aho: Symphony No 1
L Berkeley: Symphony No 3
Frankel: Symphony No 6
Gutche: Symphony No 6
Harris: Symphony No 12 ‘Pere Marquette’
Henze: Symphony No 6
Hlobil: Symphony No 5
Holmnoe: Symphony No 9 (Final rev vers)
Hovhaness: Symphony No 20 ‘Three Journeys to a Holy Mountain’
Imbrie: Symphony No 2
Ivanovs: Symphony No 13 in D minor ‘Sinfonia Humania’
Knussen: Symphony in One Movement (revised 2002 vers)
G Lloyd: Symphony No 9
Malipiero: Symphony No 11 ‘Della Cornamuse’
Moyzes: Symphony No 8
Pettersson: Symphony No 8
Popov: Symphony No 6 ‘Festive’
Schuman: Symphony No 9 ‘La Fosse Ardeatine’
Shostakovich: Symphony No 14
Tubin: Symphony No 9 ‘Sinfonia Semplice’
Wellesz: Symphony No 8

Kalevi Aho’s 1st Symphony was a student work written when he was only 20 and shows considerable promise. The 1st movement is slow and fugal with a certain introspection and tension. The 2nd movement is a limping and rather whimsical waltz and this is followed by a 3rd movement that makes play with Baroque like figuration. The finale is moderately slow and is again a fugue, using the theme of the 1st movement in reverse. The language is not particularly difficult and the work shows an independence of mind and an awareness of Shostakovich.

Lennox Berkeley’s 3rd Symphony is a one movement work of about 15 minutes duration. It is an impressive, concentrated work and very engaging. The composer retains firm control throughout and the work maintains interest. The language is approachable and this is well worth a listen.
Frankel’s 6th Symphony is a five movement work of about 30 minutes duration. The 1st movement is expressive and expansive and this leads to a lively and rhythmically alert 2nd movement. The rather weary and resigned 3rd movement has genuine emotional depth, there then follows an Intermezzo which has the feeling of a slightly laboured bucolic dance. The finale alternates slow and fast sections and eventually stops almost in mid-air and is perhaps not the most successful of Frankel’s final movements, still a pleasantly attractive work.

Gutche’s 6th Symphony is a four movement work of about 30 minutes duration. The first two movement form the bulk of the work, they are well made but rather lacking in any memorable ideas. The slightly quirky scherzo suffers from the same ‘run of the mill’ dullness. The finale is for the most part rather weak imitation Shostakovich (the 2nd movement of the 10th Symphony in particular).

Roy Harris’s 12th Symphony is his longest symphonic work, it is in two movements and lasts about 50 minutes it scored for solo Tenor/Speaker and orchestra (Pere Marquette was a missionary who brought Christianity to Native Americans). The 1st movement is divided into two parts, of which the 1st part is also divided. The Symphony opens with a gentle luminous pastoralism and gradually accrues texture and ideas in the manner of the 6th Symphony’s opening movement, a fair proportion of the 2nd section of the first part is however lifted from his 8th Symphony. The 2nd part is an expressive setting of the Credo for Tenor and Orchestra. The 2nd movement is in three parts, the first a portrait of the wilderness that Pere Marquette encountered, the 2nd part is rather strange in which the tenor turns speaker to speak the words from St John’s Gospel in Latin in choric speech over various percussion instruments. The final section is a luminous and expressive setting of the Sanctus for Tenor and orchestra. Much of the tempi are slow in this work, which can be a drawback and the work has some faults but it is a work of great expression and was among Harris’s last significant scores.

Henze’s 6th Symphony is scored for two large chamber orchestras and is in three sections and lasts between 35 and 40 minutes. It was written in Cuba and the chamber orchestras include Guitar/Banjo, electronic keyboard and solo violin with a touch mike. Henze’s politics of the left are on display with some revolutionary songs woven into the fabric of the work. The three sections play continuously and Henze uses plenty of variety in the way he handles the two orchestras. There is a certain dynamism that is readily maintained and in the final section, rhythmic elements from latin American music are also employed.

Ernst Hlobil’s 5th Symphony is in two movements and lasts about 15 minutes. It is a concentrated work of neo-classical ilk. The 1st movement is lively and full of bustling, athletic energy, the 2nd is moderately paced and has a bustling rather fussy manner. Nothing particularly special but nicely crafted.
Holmboe’s 9th Symphony can after a considerable symphonic gap in his output. The Symphony is in three movements separated by two intermezzi. The Symphony lasts about 30 minutes. The 1st movement is a strikingly confident and determined movement, this is followed by the 1st Intermezzo for strings and percussion which is subdued and slightly eerie. The 2nd movement unleashes a fairly tempestuous storm of energy which is maintained for most of the movement. The 2nd Intermezzo is scored for strings alone and is peaceful but with a strange unease. The finale is moderately paced and builds to a powerful sonorous conclusion to crown a very fine symphony by a very fine symphonist.

Hovhaness’s 20th Symphony is scored for wind orchestra and percussion, is in three movements and lasts around 20 minutes. The 1st movement is typical of the composer in its noble processional manner, the 2nd movement is a moderately paced dance over various of an oriental manner over drone basses. The finale is a chorale and fugue. The symphony is effectively written for the medium, and has a certain appeal.

Andrew Imbrie’s 2nd Symphony is a four movement work of around 20 minutes duration. It is in Imbrie’s usual free atonal style. Following on from his Chamber Symphony, this work has a certain lightness and clarity of scoring with dynamic athleticism in the outer movements, a slightly witty scherzo and an introspective slow movement. Imbrie is in full control throughout and this is a far from negligible work.

Ivanov’s 13th Symphony is in three main movements each proceeded and concluded by a short movement for solo speaker over an orchestral accompaniment, the symphony is of about 30 minutes duration. It is a rather dark and tense score, with a powerful gritty manner, far removed from the composer’s earlier romanticism. It is perhaps almost too intense and rarely relaxes.

Oliver Knussen’s Symphony in One Movement is 15 minutes long and is a reworking of his Concerto for Orchestra of the same year, it is an exuberant and remarkable score from a 17 year old. The young Knussen seems to take a variety of sources from various American composers to Berg and jazz and absorb them to make a score notable for its highly competent and colourful orchestration. The only real drawback is that it ends too soon, and one really wants more.

George Lloyd’s 9th Symphony is in three movements and is not for me among his most convincing scores as a whole. The 1st movement is fairly light in tone, the central movement has a seriousness of purpose and the language is tougher than normal for Lloyd and is by far the best movement. The finale for just doesn’t come off and the symphony as whole is unsatisfactory and disparate.

Malipiero’s 11th Symphony composed at the age of 87, was his last symphony. It is in four movements but only lasts about 12 minutes. The subtitle ‘of the bagpipes’ refers to the frequent use of drone basses and a small concertante wind group of oboe, cor anglais and bassoon. It is a typical spiky late work of this composer but is rather dry and unmemorable.

The 8th Symphony of Alexander Moyzes is a three movement work of about 30 minutes duration. The 1st movement has a certain hesitancy and never really achieves momentum and finally flickers out. The 2nd movement is very contrapuntal in nature with a rather folksy, slightly Bartokian central section. The finale has some dramatic moments and is quite appealing though rather loosely structured and perhaps lacks the last ounce of real distinction. Nevertheless this is still quite an attractive work of some appeal.

Pettersson’s 8th Symphony is in two parts and lasts a little over 45 minutes. This is typical Pettersson of the period, sustained and fairly bleak in outlook. The tension in this work is very great and at times reaches and exceeds breaking point, fragmenting into an almost hysterical haunting madness, full of suffering. There is little relief from all of this and during the 2nd part Pettersson falls back, perhaps too easily, into the brooding manner of the previous two symphonies.

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[Suffolkcoastal]

1969

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Alexander Popov’s 6th Symphony was among his final completed works, it is in three sections which play continuously and lasts a little over 35 minutes. It opens with a slightly ceremonial brassy fanfare before a fairly racy main movement gets going, there is also a contrasting idea of slightly Bartokian ilk. The central section is slow has an almost impressionistic colourful richness. The final section is full of contrast and kaleidoscopic elements of early Stravinsky rub shoulders with Shostakovich and the coda has a Mussorgsky like bell effect. The score is very colourful with plenty of percussive colour too. Maybe a little diffuse but still very enjoyable.

William Schuman’s 9th Symphony is in three continuous sections, Ateludium, Offertorium and Postludium and lasts a little under 30 minutes. Its inspiration comes from a trip Schuman took to the Ardeatine Caves in Rome, the scene of a brutal Nazi massacre. This is a striking and powerful work, that unfolds with real inevitability. It opens quietly and builds a fugal texture to which other elements are added. The central section is the longest and is swift moving and unfolds in a continuous developing manner, full of drama and high tension reaching an intense climax. The final section begins in a sense of numbed shock which is maintained with ghostly hints of tragedy. Schuman highly individual style is fully evident and along with the 6th this is IMO Schuman’s finest symphony and one of the most imposing American symphonies of the decade.

Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony will be familiar to most MB’s, scored for soprano, bass, string ensemble and percussion, it is one of his most individual works. It is dedicated to Britten and sets 11 poems on the subject of death. The two largest are the 3rd Loreley, a dramatic scena, and the deeply pessimistic 7th ‘At the Sante Gaol’. Not a symphony in the traditional sense and more a deeply personal song cycle. Occasional allusions to Britten’s music are hinted at, but the ghost haunting the entire work is that of Mussorgsky. In its musical language it is among Shostakovich’s toughest scores and the imagination with which the composer uses his limited resources is very imaginative.

Tubin’s 9th Symphony is his shortest completed symphony, and is in two movements lasting around 22 minutes. The Symphony maintains a compelling haunting intensity throughout, aided by the composers very distinct and individual language. Both movements are of roughly equal duration and the effective is of transversing some disturbed landscape at evening twilight. The symphony has real inevitability and should be heard.

Finally Egon Wellesz’s 8th Symphony, a three movement work of around 23 minutes duration. This is a dark and sombre score, it begins slowly and heavily before an assertive and powerfully dramatic main sections takes over, the dark seriousness of the opening then returns. The 2nd movement is a slightly quirky scherzo with a certain angularity. The finale is slow, with a heavy, dragging determination that is maintained. The language is quite harsh and there is a certain bitterness in the score. The movements tend to freely develop rather keep doggedly to a set form.

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1970

Aho: Symphony No 2 (rev 1995)
Alwyn: Sinfonietta for String Orchestra
R Bunin: Symphony No 8
Frankel: Symphony No 7
Hoddinott: Symphony No 4
Imbrie: Symphony No 3
Joubert: Symphony No 2
Persichetti: Symphony No 9 ‘Sinfonia Janiculum’
Pettersson: Symphony No 9
Poloz: Symphony No 3 (Final version 1966-70)

Just a small number here under this year.

Kalevi Aho’s 2nd Symphony was like his 1st, a student work, the composer revised it in 1995 in preparation for its 2nd performance. The Symphony is in one movement lasting 20 minutes, and is basically one large triple fugue with a passacaglia coda. The Symphony shows the composer tackling the problem of symphonic form in the 2nd half of the 20th century and coming up with an interesting personal solution. For a student work, this is quite a striking and absorbing symphony, that has a natural progression, is approachable and well worth a listen.

William Alwyn’s Sinfonietta for Strings is a three movement work of around 25 minutes duration. It is a yet another fine British addition to the string orchestra repertoire. The 1st movement is inventive and engaging, the excellent 2nd movement is deeply serious, elegiac in tone and quite moving. The finale begins energetically enough but finally returns to the atmosphere of the slow movement in conclusion. This is a fine work and well worth investigating.

Revol Bunin’s 8th Symphony lasts a little under 25 minutes and is in four sections that play continuously. It is scored for a relatively small orchestra without heavy brass but with percussion. It is a strange score, rather understated in mood throughout, with a sense of delicate, hesitant and withdrawn wistfulness with no hint of bombast or rhetoric. The material isn’t particularly memorable, but the overall effect of the Symphony is.

Frankel’s 7th Symphony is a four movement work of around 30 minutes duration. The symphony opens slowly and atmospherically, almost hinting at the opening of Ives’s The Unanswered Question, and the effect is of a distant subdued landscape, this leads into the 2nd movement, which has more energy to begin with but which fragments into a soundworld that sounds hints at both Berg and Holst. The 3rd movement is a march that begins rather menacingly and with foreboding, but again ultimately fragments and fizzles out. The finale is expansive and attempts affirmation but ultimately ends in calm unease. Certainly a Symphony of interest and not unapproachable.

Hoddinott’s 4th Symphony is a two movement work of a little under 25 minutes duration. The 1st movement is fairly long and slow, and rather tough, with claustrophobic, dissonant granitic blocks of sound and is Hoddinott at his most uncompromising. The 2nd movement offers some relief as it is most swift and rhythmically agile with a touch of arrogant defiance, the coda is broad and reinforced by peeling bells. Not the easiest of Hoddinott’s scores to come to terms with, but worth a listen.

Andrew Imbrie’s 3rd Symphony lasts a little over 20 minutes, it opens with a powerfully assertive prologue which leads into a fast movement full of rhythmic athleticism and energy. The slow movement is poignantly wistful and rather withdrawn and makes an effective contrast. The finale is powerful and confident and the symphony ends in a coda that hints at the world of William Schuman. The Symphony can be seen as a combination of the composer’s dynamically powerful 1st Symphony and lighter more chamber like 2nd Symphony. The language is freely atonal but always interesting.

Joubert’s 2nd Symphony is a one movement work of around 23 minutes duration. It was composed in commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre in the composer’s native South Africa and is a powerful score. Three African melodies are woven into the work. The 1st part is mainly slow, with a rather heavy, forlorn tread full of hopeless anxiety. The 2nd half is dominated by a fast and rhythmically lively section full of action and defiance, with athletic, occasionally slightly Waltonian scoring. The Symphony concludes with a lament like section that ends the work uneasily. The language is quite straightforward and this is certainly worth a listen.

Vincent Persichetti’s 9th and final Symphony is a three movement work of around 23 minutes duration. It is Persichetti’s toughest symphony, the general lyric tendencies of his earlier symphonies here replaced with a grittier chromaticism. The central slow movement comes off best, and reminds one of William Schuman’s slow movements. The finale still retains elements of Persichetti’s rhythmic vigour.

The 9th Symphony of Allan Pettersson really is an astonishing feat of stamina, in one continuous movement , the Symphony lasts around 70 minutes. It is certainly a work that should be heard at least once, whether the composer is ultimately successful in this act of stamina is open to debate. The intensity and tension familiar from his previous symphonies is present throughout, though the tempi are often quicker, at times the Symphony comes close to totally emotional collapse and neuroticism and also at times seems to inhabit the world of the Burlesque from Mahler’s 9th Symphony. There are also passages where Pettersson lets things slack somewhat and falls into note-spinning. The ending seems to relieve some of the tension inherent in the work and the previous three symphonies and the Symphony ends in a simple ‘Amen’ with a straightforward plagal cadence.

Finally the 3rd Symphony by the Ukrainian Nikolai Poloz. The Symphony lasts around 20 minutes and is in three movements that play continuously. This is a dramatic and rather severe work , the 1st movement has an anger bordering on savagery, whilst the slow movement has an icy coolness. The finale is emphatic and determined. The language is not unapproachable and the Symphony , though by no means of the highest quality, is still worth listening to.

[Suffolkcoastal]

More from the journey through my symphonic collection:

1971

Englund: Symphony No 3 ‘Barbarossa’
Frankel: Symphony No 8
Holmboe: Symphony No 10
Hovhaness: Symphony No 22 ‘City of Light’
Ivanovs: Symphony No 14
Josephs: Symphony No 5 ‘Pastoral Symphony’
Jurowski: Symphony No 5
Knussen: Symphony No 2
Kokkonen: Symphony No 4
A Milner: Symphony No 1
Moyzes: Symphony No 9
Part: Symphony No 3
Rosenberg: Symphony No 7
Sallinen: Symphony No 1
Sauguet: Symphony No 4 ‘The Third Age’
Shostakovich: Symphony No 15 in A major
Shtoharenko: Symphony No 4
Valek: Symphony No 7 ‘Frescoes of Pompeii’
Wellesz: Symphony No 9

Einar Englund’s 3rd Symphony is a four movement work of about 30 minutes duration and was completed 23 years after its predecessor. A sonorous maestoso introduction leads a finely crafted and rhythmically alert main movement proper. The scherzo that follows is darker in mood with underlying tension as well as a certain determination. The slow movement maintains a continuous flow and is rather subdued and has a sense of longing but also seems to hide a deeper underlying emotional experience. The finale is fugal and resolves in a full blown expansive coda. The language is not difficult, the ideas engaging and Englund certainly has a distinct manner of his own. This is a fine symphony and well worth exploring.

Frankel’s 8th Symphony is in four movements and lasts about 25 minutes and is a rather reflective score. It begins as usual for Frankel with a slow and expansive 1st movement, which is somewhat sombre and subdued. The 2nd move is rather gruff with a somewhat heavy athleticism with an acerbic edge. The 3rd movement is subtitled ‘Reflections on a Christmas Eve’ and it certainly is reflective, slightly melancholic and uneasy. The finale is more confident and brings Frankel’s symphonic cycle to a close (a 9th Symphony remained unfinished at his death 2 years later).

Holmboe’s 10th Symphony is a three movement work of around 25 minutes duration. An uneasy slow introduction leads to an energetic and fairly stormy main movement that refuses to relax. The 2nd movement begins in reflective sombre mood, a central section seems for a short while about to bring back the storminess of the 1st movement. The finale gradually asserts confidence and builds steadily towards and affirmative conclusion, which at the last minute is side-stepped, the Symphony ending instead in hesitant unease. The Symphony is a fine example of Holmboe’s metamorphic technique and his style is highly personal. The Symphony unfolds with the sureness of master symphonist. Why do we hear so little of his music these days?

Alan Hovhaness 22nd Symphony is a four movement work of about 30 minutes duration. This is more simply modal in manner and the Eastern influences that pervade Hovhaness’s music are less in evidence here. The 1st movement is basically a broad chorale, the short 2nd movement is of little interest and the short 3rd movement has a catchy little tune which the composer wrote as a schoolboy. The broad finale is basically a chorale and fugue. The Symphony though slight, does have a certain nobility.

Janis Ivanovs 14th Symphony is a three movement work scored for string orchestra and lasting around 20 minutes. It is well written for the medium. The 1st movement is rather hesitant and withdrawn with wistful nostalgia. The fine central movement is elegiac in tone and has some depth. The finale has more purpose but even here sadness prevails and the Symphony’s opening idea returns at the conclusion.

Wilfred Josephs 5th Symphony is a five movement work of around 35 minutes duration. This is generally rather a subdued score, the 1st movement is slow and rather static making perhaps too much of the main idea. The scherzo makes use of ‘Sumer is icumen in’ and though marked leggeiro , the movement has a some rhythmic lumpiness. The atmospheric slow movement comes off best, this leads to an Intermezzo Nocturno’, which is basically textural in nature, which in turn leads into the finale marked ‘Epilogue’. It begins with bell like sonorities and finally ends hesitantly and quietly. A pleasant but rather inconsequential work.

Vladimir Jurowski (1905-72) was the Grandfather of the well known conductor, and well known in the Soviet Union for his film scores. His 5th Symphony certainly betrays this as it is a very cinematic 45 minutes long score. There are some dramatic and quite exciting moments, but there is also plenty that is rhetorical and frankly rather banal. The language is straightforward.

Oliver Knussen’s 2nd Symphony is in four short movements lasting around 15 minutes, scored for Soprano and Orchestral it is perhaps more a symphonic song-cycle, setting words by Trackl and Plath. Still this an imaginative score from a 19 year old. The various influences on the Symphony in One Movement have now been totally absorbed to create a style of vocal and instrumental writing that is very distinct.

Kokkonen’s 4th Symphony is a three movement work of a little over 20 minutes duration. It was Kokkonen’s final Symphony, the death of his wife and alcoholism were soon to take their toll on him. The 1st movement is transparent and has a sense of anticipation, the central movement is dancelike, rhythmically intricate and most engaging. The finale is sombre and serious in intention finally rising to two powerful climaxes before fading away. Kokkonen’s style is distinctive and like all his symphonies this is a very fine work.

The 1st Symphony of Anthony Milner is a 30 minute long work in one continuous movement, but which can be divided into 7 sections. Two ideas form the basis of the work and how they react and finally come together determines much of the argument. The orchestration is quite colourful and both in the orchestration and some harmonic and rhythmic elements, the influence of Tippett can clearly be heard. The faster sections have plenty of rhythmic bite and athleticism and are quite complex. The language is freely atonal but not overtly demanding. The work is generally successful and holds the listener’s attention.

The 9th Symphony of Alexander Moyzes is a three movement work of around 35 minutes duration, and is a dark and rather serious work. The 1st movement is full of restless searching and anxiety, finally ending in a mood of unease. The unease and menace of the 1st movement is also present in the central movement and there are distinct martial undertones. The finale is both anxious and defiant but still offers a far from optimistic picture. The harmonic language and orchestration are much darker than normal for this composer and the Symphony is among Moyzes most impressive symphonies and is well worth seeking out.

Arvo Part’s 3rd Symphony is a three movement work of around 20 minutes duration. In it the composer seems to turn his back on his more avant-garde earlier symphonies for a simpler language, and style that was to begin to dominate his music from this point. Chant like elements play a key role in the work and there are moments of noble grandeur, but also rather static moments which are frankly rather dull. The orchestration, though practical enough, is rather plain.

The 7th Symphony of Hilding Rosenberg is an imposing 25 minute long work. Rather serious in expression, it nevertheless unfolds naturally and purposefully showing the hand of a true symphonist. There is at times a sense of foreboding and martial unease in the work and there is certainly plenty of drama. Rosenberg’s language is quite approachable and also distinctive. It is quite astonishing that this fine composer hasn’t had a note of his music broadcast on Radio 3 since January 2009 when I began surveying R3’s output.

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