Tüür 3 "Magma"

I decided to explore Tüür's music a little further. While the second symphony seems to me to be quite typical of late Soviet and post- Soviet music, the fourth is more obviously modern. Effectively also a percussion concerto, it is a powerful and often violent work, with less of the more engaging music which also featured in the second. More interesting than enjoyable I think.
Still I like Tüür and I must always have time for any composer whom I have seen live.

Copland 3

Again an ipod choice and a good one as this is one of my favourite symphonies, one of my favourite pieces of music. Some years ago I bought "The Great American Novel" by Philip Roth; one day I might read it. But I believe the central premise of Roth's satire is there has never been a great American novel. Perhaps there has not been a truly great American symphony either, but Copland's third comes closest to it. And I wonder if there will be a recording to surpass Leonard Bernstein's. 
Perhaps the gesture of using the Fanfare for a Common Man to open the last movement is too simplistic, but I find the effective. The rest of the work is also beautiful, tuneful and a satisfying symphonic composition. 

Tüür 2

Erkki-Sven Tüür's second symphony was an almost random choice courtesy of my ipod. I admit I forgot I owned it, but it really is am impressive piece of music. A short, violent first movement resolves itself into calm and beautiful music. The much longer second and concluding movement seems to be constantly striving towards simpler, modal music, based on plainchant.

I listened twice. This really is very good music.

Tchaikovsky 4

I thought it was about time to return to the mainstream of the symphonic repertoire and listened to one of my longtime favourites, Tchaikovsky's fourth. I realise there is much show in this work and it is a little over the top with its "fate" motive and dramatic finale. Still it's fun and some great musicianship there. I used to prefer it to the sixth symphony, but now I think the sixth is better.

 

Szymanowski 3 "Song of the Night"

I have only visited the house of one composer and that is Karol Szymanowski. In 2006 I went to Poland for the first time and spent a couple of days in  Zakopane in the footthills of the Tatras. It's a pleasant little town, but two days largely exhausts its attractions. I was happy to see the Szymanowski museum, but I had not travelled to Zakopane especially to see it. The museum is interesting, but makes no mention of the fact that Szymanowski was gay.


The passionate third symphony is one of the first works by Szymanowski I got to know and I must admit it is a work I like less for knowing more. Perhaps it is too superficially beautiful and has no hidden depths to reveal. I like it, but I can't say it's a masterpiece by any means.  My photograph of the museum.

Schnittke 8

The eighth symphony of Schnittke is still a demanding work, but seems less despairing than the previous two, though only a little less so. One long, slow movement is framed by two pairs of shorter movements, reminding me of Shostakovich's sixth and eighth symphonies, both of which have one very long, slow opening movement, followed by shorter, more concise movements. The character of Schnittke's central slow movement, though, is more Mahlerian; the resignation of that composer's ninth and tenth symphonies. The fourth movement is more a cry of despair and the last movement recalls the first symphony as if in a sense of coming full circle. 

Bowen 1

York Bowen is one of those formerly neglected composers who has been considerably less neglected recently on radio and CD. I enjoyed a CD of his piano music a few years ago and I have listened to some of his orchestral and chamber works since. To tell the truth, I can't really say any of them made a great impression on me. The symphony is impressive for an 18 year old and, in the terms of a student work, it showed how much potential Bowen might have had. I am not sure there was enough spark and daring to fulfil that potential. The symhony has only just been recorded and I doubt if I can find a link. 

 

Holst Symphony in F minor "The Cotswolds"

I was thinking I might not blog Holst at all but a BBC4 documentary about him reminded me that I have a CD of the Cotswolds symphony and it was about time I listened to it again. This first recording, from 1999, was made 100 years after the symphony was written and this really is a badly neglected work. If you consider that no English composer had written a major symphony by that time, it is even more impressive. You can hear elements of Holst's early Wagner worship but this is a beautiful work, especially the slow movement which is an elegy for William Morris, whom Holst knew and admired, as well as sharing socialist principles. Definitely a symphony that deserves many more performances. 

 

Creston 2

I hadn't intended to blog two Creston symphonies straight away, but the CD ran on and I listened to the whole of the second. It is a more interesting and original work than the first symphony, with the opening movement especially showing passion and drama. I don't think my kife would be so much poorer if I had never heard any music by Creston, but it is still entertaining and diverting. 

 

Creston 1

Born Giuseppe Guttoveggio, Paul Creston "Americanized" his name at a time when it was fashionable to do so. I haven't heard much of his music, but it seems well-crafted and tuneful while lacking distinctiveness. The first symphony is short, pleasant and not so memorable though the slow movement strives for something more impassioned and original.

Schnittke 7

At less than 30 minutes, the seventh is the shortest of Schnittke's symphonies and I wonder if this reflects how hard it was for him to write. The central slow movement is gone so quickly I hardly notice it passing. Like some of the music in Nielsen's 6th and Shostakovich's 15th, the closing movement of Schnittke's 7th has an air of laughing in the face of death, nothing left but jokey despair. This is disturbed and disturbing music, not something to relax to at all. I cannot locate it on youtube, so here is an alternative.

 

Gipps 2

At last a woman composer. For some years I only knew of Ruth Gipps thanks to Malcolm Arnold's brilliant "Variations on a Theme of Ruth Gipps." Eventually I acquired a CD of the second symphony. In 11 short sections, this work, from 1945, is fairly obviously British but not simply a bland offshoot of the "pastoral" school. It feels like extended variations which resolve them themselves into a march which is sometimes dramatic, sometimes ghostly. This may be the best symphony I have heard by an English woman (though I can't immediately think of any more I have heard). Apparently there are another four symphonies by Gipps; I won't hold my breath waiting to hear them all. The video is not the symphony. I as happy to find anything at all online by Ruth Gipps

Incidentally after the symphony finished iplayer changed to a work by  Kaija Saariaho. Interesting to hear something again by a woman composer and from a totally different aesthetic to the anti-modernist Gipps. I am glad the world has room for both of them. 

 

Schnittke 6

One thing I have realised from listening and blogging is that Schnittke's symphonies are getting shorter - well numbers one to seven are progressively shorter in length. Is this because Schnittke was finding to harder to engage with symphonic form? Is it because of the illness which affected him for years? His move to the west? Whatever the sixth is a disturbing, but effective piece of music; another stage in the death of the post-soviet symphony.

Schnittke 5 "Concerto Grosso number 4"

Schnittke's fifth symphony begins as an exercise in the neo-baroque with its concerto grosso format moving rhythmically and fairly dissonantly - Bizarro Bach perhaps. The second, slow movement sticks to the concerto grosso format; but the last two movements are more obviously symphonic, more exercises in the despair that Schnittke seems to be feeling at the future of music and, perhaps, life itself. I am still considering how I like Schnittke. 

 

Lilburn 1

As Naxos kindly recorded all three of Douglas Lilburn's symphonies, it gave me an opportunity to listen to them and I have done so several times over a few years. The first seems larger and longer than it actually is, as it packs a lot into its time-span. It seems obvious to point out the influence of Sibelius and make some comment about the landscapes of distant countries. But I don't think it is about landscape, simply that Sibelius was such a powerful influence and Lilburn is part of that English-speaking world which reacted to him. This is a very good symphony. I don't think I will ever hear it live. 

Walton 2

At last I have blogged the complete symphonic output of a composer who wrote more than a single symphony. Well I have managed both of Walton's. I can't say I like the second symphony as much as the first, but then the first is one of my favourite pieces of music. The tauter, shorter second symphony has beautiful themes, but they are more elusive, harder to recall after listening though they are all distinct and instantly memorable. Just as his first symphony will give me constant pleasure, Walton's second will continue to intrigue and delight me. 

Brian 18

While realising I might be able to blog all 27 symphonies of Myaskovsky, I can't do similarly for Havergal Brian as all 32 of his symphonies have not been recorded yet. I first got interested in his music in the 1970's, near the end of his long life. I realise much of my interest was fascination with the story of a self-taught composer from an ordinary background who had composed a large number of, then, unperformed works (and I think many are still unperformed). 
I heard the first recording of any of Brian's symphonies from the Leicestershire School's Symphony Orchestra (how remarkable is that and so pleased to see that the orchestra still exists). Subsequently I was happy to acquire a recording of Brian's massive Gothic Symphony.
For all that I can't say I really like the 18th. I heard it a few weeks ago and, like this hearing, found it churning along with an air of composing for the sake of it. My critical jury is out on Havergal Brian. Maybe I prefer the back story to the music itself. I am looking forward to seeing how I react to the other symphonies.

Rautavaara 1

Having bought a boxed set of all Rautavaara's concertos, today's choice had to be one of his symphonies. The first symphony, written in 1956 and revised later, sounds like music from a few years earlier. A dramatic first movement, a passionate slow-movement and a throw-away scherzo-like finale form a satisfactory, short work. I loved it.

Myaskovsky 10

I have been wondering if I will complete all 366 symphonies in the year and whether the potential 366 will include all 27 of Nikolai Myaskovsky. Well I have to start somewhere and I admit I chose the 10th symphony as it's a concise one-movement work. Powerful and dramatic like many Soviet works, this symphony packs a lot into its short space. It was a good start: I think I may manage all 27.

Mozart 40

In complete contrast to Brahms, Mozart's 40th is sheer perfection for me. Like many classical-era symphonies, I find the first movement the most effective and this surely is the finest opening movement of any 18th century symphony with a tune immortalised in ring-tones everywhere. 

 

Brahms 3

I don't like Brahms, or rather, I don't like most of Brahms. I have tried to listen to the orchestral and chamber music, the songs and even the German Requiem. A couple of years ago I went to a concert performance of the fourth symphony but found it dull. I know many people adore Brahms - including composers I admire like Ades and Ligeti, but somehow his music is not for me. I can respect the artistry and maybe it is the sheer skill of Brahms which is off-putting for me when I can prefer the much clumsier music of, for example, Bruckner.
Still I remember quite liking the third symphony once, so I decided to give it another try. Each movement seemed to start with some nice tunes and you can feel the sheer intellectual power, but still it left me cold. Apologies Mr Brahms, but I am sure you don't need me.

Monn Symphony in G Major

A chance hearing of one of Monn's cello concertos sent me to listen one of the earliest of the classical symphonies. A pleasant, brief three-movement work, it is obviously much simpler than much that was in the written in the high baroque period which preceded it. Haydn and Mozart may have brought the symphony to some sort of perfection, but it is good to remember they were not the first composers of classical symphonies. 

Bizet Symphony in C

With some composers who died young, it is possibe to take consolation in the large body of work which they still managed to produce. It is harder to do that with Bizet who composed only one truly great masterpiece, though there are still some little miracles in his music. I have always had a soft spot for the teenage Symphony in C, with an LP of it amongst the first records which I bought. I assume I like it a lot partly because it looks back so much to classical forms and is lighter and simpler than other romantic symphonies of the same period. Maybe it is just a matter of some really beaiutiful tunes. It is shocking to think that this symphony was only perfomed 80 years after it was written and 60 years after the composer's death at the age of 37.

 

Martinu 1

Having noted a few days ago that I had yet to blog some of my favourite symphonists, I chose Martinu tonight.

Martinu is a late musical love for me. I often thought I should like his music, but I never seemed to get properly into it. 2009 was the 50th anniversary of his death and Radio 3 kindly broadcast several of his works. I listened, I bought some CDs and came to realise how wonderful his music is. He started writing symphonies well into his musical career; I now adore all six of them. The first is sometimes bucolic, sometimes neo-classical, sometimes romantic and always effective in its use of symphonic material while showing a distinctive voice. I still have a lot to hear from this prolific composer.

Schnittke 4

Apparently a set of meditations inspired by the major world religions, Schnittke's fourth symphony is a more relaxed work than the third with some beautiful singing. While not as nihilistic as the third symphony, I feel that the fourth is not as effective as Schnittke's first two symphonies and I am now wondering whether he was a great symphonist or a composer who missed out on true greatness through cynicism, despair and finally resorting to cheap religiosity. I don't deny I get pleasure from his music, but it is always tinged with major doubts. This is the Faust cantata - a work I adore, even when I find it decadent.

 

Wood Symphony

Hugh Wood's symphony was a semi-random choice thanks to iplayer and I have to admit I was glad to listen to it again. In some ways its four movement structure seems quite conventional; in others it is a radical, exciting work showing how modernism can contribute to traditional symphonic form, much as Elliott Carter does in his mature symphonies. After listening to the symphony, I had to listen to Wood's piano concerto. It was interesting to compare how both works use a modernist language but can effectively use traditional tunes (in the concerto's case the Nat King Cole song, Sweet Lorraine). No youtube of the symphony, so here is Wood's string quartet.

Alwyn 2

I have been thinking how I am working through the 366 symphonies. I have not been very consistent and planned, grabbing CDs at random or taking what is on Radio 3. 

I realise I have not yet listened to any works by some of my favourite symphonists (Tchaikovsky, Martinu, Malcolm Arnold and Prokofiev are the major omissions so far) and there are some composers who have written many symphonies - Mayaskovsky for example - who have not featured so far. Bruckner is a slight exception as I listened to 8 of his symphonies before I started this blog and that was the basic inspiration for the 366 in the year.

It seems like I might get through the five Alwyn symphonies fairly quickly. I want to consider again if the fourth is my favourite, but I had forgotten how very good the second symphony is. With its dramatic opening and serene ending and much else besides, it reminds me a lot of Vaughan William's sixth. That is not to call it a simple copy, it's a fine work in its own right and another symphony which is too little performed. 

 

Schubert 9

After listening to two American and two Soviet symphonies, it was good to return to the heartland of the Austro-German tradition. I have an odd relationship with Schubert's music. I don't know it so well, but I enjoy it when I listen properly. I have recently tried to listen to the songs more and am now wondering if Winterreeise is the greatest song-cycle ever written.
I am not ambiguous about the Great C Major symphony though. It's utterly wonderful; the first movement, drawing on Beethoven, offers a master-class on how to write a sonata form. It's a cliche to be sad at the early death of Schubert, but I have to think how he never heard this work and was dead at 31. We need to be thankful for what we do have of his music.

 

Schnittke 3

When I started this blog, I had not planned to progress through the Schnittke symphonies so early in the year, but it seems appropriate now. The third symphony was the first of Schnittke's to be premiered in the west and it is both a tribute to Austro-German symphonies and a commentary on the difficulties of writing a symphony in the late twentieth century.

Far more cynical than the first two symphonies, the third symphony is often a cry of despair at the futility of creative composition. For me it still has enough to say - especially in the calmer last movement - to be worthwhile unlike unlike late and post-Soviet music which degenerated to utter pointlessness. 

Piston 4

I could spend this entire blog going on about composers who are unjustly neglected. I wonder if anyone performs Walter Piston at all though there are several recordings. The fourth symphony is romantic, tuneful and well-crafted building to an emotional climax in the third, slow movement. It's not a great work, but I don't want to listen to great works all the time.

 

Pärt 3

This work, along with the Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, was my first real introduction to the music of Arvo Pärt. I have heard a lot since and seen him at the Huddersfield Contemporary music festival. I like this symphony a lot, particularly its chorale-like brass writing. However, I can't enjoy all of Pärt's music as sometimes it is too static, too empty, the epitome of pointless "holy minimalism." Generally though I find him more interesting than John Tavener.

 

Diamond 1

David Diamond is among the many composers whom I would claim are unjustly neglected. Given that he was one of Nadia Boulanger's American pupils it is hardly surprising that this symphony - from 1941 - is typical of the populist style of fellow pupil like Copland or early Carter. Diamond is not their equal, but who was. In three concise movements this is a pleasant enough work and probably one you'll never hear in the concert hall - unless they are already organising a festival for Diamond's centenary in 2015.