Twentieth Century Symphonies
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:55 am
For me one of the most fascinating niches (and a very big niche at that) of classical music is the modern symphony. Far from dying out (the famous stated opinion that the symphony is 'dead' could not possibly have been more mistaken), the symphony in the Twentieth Century has developed into one of the richest, most varied and most prolific musical forms of the last hundred years or so. My rather primitive Excel database, on which I've been collecting 20th Century symphonies for years reached about 3,600 seperate works before I gave up on it a couple of years ago, after realising it would be an impossible job to make it even nearly complete!!
Modern symphonies are of a quite bewildering variety of styles, lengths, subjects, and expressive range. Take the symphonies of that wonderful composer Rautavaara for example: the fourth symphony ('Arabescata'), witten in 1962 when the extreme-progressive ideas of the avant garde were at their height, is an austere piece of abstract constructivism, in which not only the notes, but also the rhythm and dynamics are subject to serial techniques. Contrast that with its predecessor, the great third symphony, in which Rautavaara used the model of Bruckner (complete with opening string tremolo and distant horn calls), and married it to serial techniques (although the work is respendently tonal!) to create surely one of the most beautiful and wonderful orchestral creations of the last fifty years. Then there's the wierd but compelling dream-painting world (created with ample use of the bizarre/creepy sounds of a prominent synthesizer part) of the sixth symphony ('Vincentiana'), which culminates, unexpectedly, in the overwhelming, tonal Apotheosis, one of Rautavaara's most beautiful movements. There's another five symphonies by Rautavaara to hear as well.
I'd love to hear suggestions or opinions on some of the Twentieth Century's other less well-known symphonies. I've been quietly obssessed with the subject for a decade now, and have heard the (complete) symphonic outputs of about a hundred 20th Century composers now, but there's still a lot of wonderful stuff out there.
Besides Rautavaara's astonishing set of eight, here are a few personal favorite symphonic canons, with personal highlights from each: Martinu's six (well established classics: could never choose just one, but numbers 1,3, and 4 are perhaps my favorites), Vaughan Williams (9; nos 3,5,6 are good places to start); Tubin (11; no 4 is a great place to get hooked); Tournemire (years since I heard his eight symphonies, but nos 4 and 7 really stand out), Boris Tchaikovsky (4; nos 2 and 3 are astonishingly atmospheric, the fourth, 'harp' symphony strikes me a a bit of a dud, though); Kancheli (7; nos 5 and 6 are among the most powerful, despairing pieces of music I know); Madetoja (3; no 3 is one of the most delectable symphonies of the century in my view: a miraculously lovely piece, especially the scherzo); Holmboe (14; try any of them).
The list could go on, but it would be great to hear of a few others' favorites or opinions about this endlessly surprising, absorbing area of classical music!
Modern symphonies are of a quite bewildering variety of styles, lengths, subjects, and expressive range. Take the symphonies of that wonderful composer Rautavaara for example: the fourth symphony ('Arabescata'), witten in 1962 when the extreme-progressive ideas of the avant garde were at their height, is an austere piece of abstract constructivism, in which not only the notes, but also the rhythm and dynamics are subject to serial techniques. Contrast that with its predecessor, the great third symphony, in which Rautavaara used the model of Bruckner (complete with opening string tremolo and distant horn calls), and married it to serial techniques (although the work is respendently tonal!) to create surely one of the most beautiful and wonderful orchestral creations of the last fifty years. Then there's the wierd but compelling dream-painting world (created with ample use of the bizarre/creepy sounds of a prominent synthesizer part) of the sixth symphony ('Vincentiana'), which culminates, unexpectedly, in the overwhelming, tonal Apotheosis, one of Rautavaara's most beautiful movements. There's another five symphonies by Rautavaara to hear as well.
I'd love to hear suggestions or opinions on some of the Twentieth Century's other less well-known symphonies. I've been quietly obssessed with the subject for a decade now, and have heard the (complete) symphonic outputs of about a hundred 20th Century composers now, but there's still a lot of wonderful stuff out there.
Besides Rautavaara's astonishing set of eight, here are a few personal favorite symphonic canons, with personal highlights from each: Martinu's six (well established classics: could never choose just one, but numbers 1,3, and 4 are perhaps my favorites), Vaughan Williams (9; nos 3,5,6 are good places to start); Tubin (11; no 4 is a great place to get hooked); Tournemire (years since I heard his eight symphonies, but nos 4 and 7 really stand out), Boris Tchaikovsky (4; nos 2 and 3 are astonishingly atmospheric, the fourth, 'harp' symphony strikes me a a bit of a dud, though); Kancheli (7; nos 5 and 6 are among the most powerful, despairing pieces of music I know); Madetoja (3; no 3 is one of the most delectable symphonies of the century in my view: a miraculously lovely piece, especially the scherzo); Holmboe (14; try any of them).
The list could go on, but it would be great to hear of a few others' favorites or opinions about this endlessly surprising, absorbing area of classical music!