Symphony No. 2.zip
The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A, two bassoons, two horns in D, E and A, two trumpets in D (first, third and fourth movements only), timpani (first, third and fourth movements only) and strings.
Symphony No. 2.zip
When Mahler took up his appointment at the Hamburg Opera in 1891, he found the other important conductor there to be Hans von Bülow, who was in charge of the city's symphony concerts. Bülow, not known for his kindness, was impressed by Mahler. His support was not diminished by his failure to like or understand Totenfeier when Mahler played it for him on the piano. Bülow told Mahler that Totenfeier made Tristan und Isolde sound to him like a Haydn symphony. As Bülow's health worsened, Mahler substituted for him. Bülow's death in 1894 greatly affected Mahler. At the funeral, Mahler heard a setting of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock's poem "Die Auferstehung" [de] (The Resurrection), where the dictum calls out "Rise again, yes, you shall rise again / My dust".
The movement's formal structure is modified sonata form. The exposition is repeated in a varied form (from rehearsal number 4 through 15, as Ludwig van Beethoven often did in his late string quartets). The development presents several ideas that will be used later in the symphony, including a theme based on the Dies irae plainchant.
The original manuscript score was given by Mahler's widow to conductor Willem Mengelberg at a 1920 Mahler festival given by Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. It was bought from the Mengelberg Foundation in 1984 by entrepreneur Gilbert Kaplan, who specialised in conducting the symphony as an amateur.[8]
Recently, I was awaiting an international flight, when I heard the distinct sound of laughter coming from behind me. Because I could not see the people laughing, it occurred to me that it was a universal language of happiness; one which cannot evoke any judgment based on racial, religious, gender, social, or any other type of prejudice. I decided to not turn around, but rather to enjoy the laughter for what it was. It was this decidedly delightful sound of the human voice that inspired my 2nd symphony for wind ensemble.
My second symphony, while by no means a memorial, makes reference to this sudden paradigmatic shift. During the first eight minutes of the work, a slow orchestral build describes the unsuspecting climate pre 9/11, a naïve world aptly described by my mother as a metaphorical island. After a brief passage for solo violin, an upheaval of sorts effectively obliterates this opening sentiment and initiates another gradual crescendo which makes use of the same material as the opening, cast this time in darker and more ambiguous harmonic colors. Once the entire orchestra reaches the climax of the work, the solo violin returns in a more extended passage than before and subdues the turbulent orchestra. This leads to a reflective epilogue in which a clock-like pulse creates a mood of expectancy and uncertainty, interlaced with hope.
Rachmaninoff returned to Russia that summer, carrying with him the newly composed First Piano Sonata and the nearly finished symphony. He conducted the first two performances of the symphony, one in St. Petersburg, the other in Moscow. After repeating it in Warsaw he returned to Dresden, where he made the final adjustments to the score before sending it off to the publishers.
When W.H. Auden's ambitious book-length poem The Age of Anxiety was first published in July 1947, it garnered him some of the worst reviews of his career. The Times Literary Supplement declared it "his one dull book, his one failure." For many, though, The Age of Anxiety struck a powerful chord, giving name to the cultural condition of the mid-twentieth century and allegorizing the search for faith fomented by the Second World War. T.S. Eliot lauded it as Auden's "best work to date," and the poem won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Within two years, it had been reprinted four times and inspired a symphony by Leonard Bernstein and a ballet by Jerome Robbins. Bernstein regarded it as "one of the most shattering examples of pure virtuosity in the history of English poetry."
Immediately after reading Auden's "fascinating and hair-raising" poem in the summer of 1947, he found " . . . the composition of a symphony based on The Age of Anxiety acquired an almost compulsive quality."
The letters were both persuasive and prescient. The Age of Anxiety explored a theme that Bernstein was repeatedly drawn to in his compositional career: as he described it, "The essential line of the poem (and of the music) is the record of our difficult and problematical search for faith." Identifying strongly with the poem, he chose to write his symphony for piano and orchestra, noting that "the pianist provides an almost autobiographical protagonist" in the quest for meaning and faith. Just as the friend insisted should happen, Bernstein wrote his symphony, then the score was "put to a work" by a "clever choreographer", Jerome Robbins.
Bernstein's long-time mentor Serge Koussevitzky commissioned the symphony, and The Age of Anxiety premiered on April 8, 1949, with Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony and Bernstein playing the piano solo. Bernstein dedicated the work "in tribute" to Koussevitzky, who was completing his twenty-five-year tenure in Boston; a repeat performance was given at Tanglewood that summer. In February 1950, Columbia Records recorded The Age of Anxiety with Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic and Lukas Foss as soloist; the same month, Jerome Robbins's new work (unfortunately now lost) for the New York City Ballet premiered at City Center.
In the early 1930s, Copland turned to composing abstract pieces that were considered extremely difficult by performers and conductors. He had left his jazz period behind and was not yet making use of folk materials. "I was determined to write as perfected a piece as I possibly could," Copland wrote to his pianist friend John Kirkpatrick. He succeeded, but it took some time for the symphony to be recognized as one of Copland's greatest achievements. Copland felt particularly proud of the Short Symphony, since it was one of his "neglected children."AuthorVivian PerlisYear1998Audio Short Symphony "Symphony No. 2"Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2) In The News More News06/29/22 ArticlesMidday Thoughts: Copland Research at the Library of CongressEver wondered what it would be like to see Copland's manuscripts in-person at the Library of Congress? Join Jennifer DeLapp-Birkett as she recounts a recent visit.
Beethoven was about to embark on a "new path," as he told his student Carl Czerny. The "heroic" works of his middle period remain the best known and loved to this day, although in the early 1800s the public's favorite works were tamer pieces like his song "Adelaide" and the Septet, Op. 20. For those who had the chance to hear him perform, the first two piano concertos displayed both his compositional brilliance and virtuoso keyboard technique. Although he had published more than a dozen piano sonatas and, more prominently and recently, his first six string quartets, Op. 18, Beethoven had yet to write an opera. The compositions most associated with his name were generally aimed at domestic consumption or, as with the concertos, for his own use in performance. The genre of the symphony, in which his idol Mozart had written some 50, and his teacher Haydn more than twice that, offered new challenges.
The Scherzo is as frankly gay in its fantastic capriciousness as the previous movement has been wholly and serenely happy; for this symphony is smiling throughout; the warlike bursts of the first Allegro are entirely free from violence; there is only the youthful ardor of the noble heart in which the most beautiful illusions of life are preserved untainted. The composer still believes in immortal glory, in love, in devotion. What abandon in his gaiety! What wit! What sallies! Hearing these various instruments disputing over fragments of a theme which no one of them plays in its entirety, hearing each fragment thus colored with a thousand nuances as it passes from one to the other, it is as though you were watching the fairy sports of Oberon's graceful spirits.
Premiered in 1937 by the Philadelphia Orchestra, this symphony, subtitled "Song of a New Race," infuses elements of blues and jazz into the classical form, creating a uniquely blended sound to reflect Stills' vision of an increasingly diverse American culture. Originally composed for full orchestra, this slightly abridged second movement for string orchestra includes the original harp part, honoring the legacy of one of America's greatest composers.
On 15/27 November, in a letter to Ivan Klimenko, Tchaikovsky reported that he had been "frantically busy with the instrumentation of my new symphony, which I am already finishing and copying out...". In the same letter he gave his opinion of the new work: "... I don't think it would be proper for me to start boasting about how pleased I am with it" [9].
On 22 November/4 December 1872, the composer wrote to Ilya Tchaikovsky: "I've been slaving over my new symphony, which is now, thank God, finished... Having finished the symphony, I'm now resting" [10].
In 1879, Tchaikovsky's thoughts turned to a more fundamental revision of his old work: "Earlier I went through the whole of my Second Symphony, to which I want to make some fundamental changes", he wrote to Pyotr Jurgenson from Paris on 19 November/1 December 1879 [11]. He reported his intentions at length to Nadezhda von Meck: "I am engaged in reviewing the symphony, and have found parts of it to be so poor that I have made up my mind to rewrite the first and third movements, to alter the second, and just to shorten the last. And so if all goes well in Rome, I should turn this immature and mediocre symphony into a good one" [12].
On 16/28 May 1873, the composer told Bessel that he was working on the arrangement of the first movement [22]. On 25 May/6 June, he sent this arrangement to Bessel. In an accompanying letter, he asked that Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova should review it and, if necessary, make corrections. Burdened by work on the arrangement, Tchaikovsky asked Bessel to entrust the remaining movements to Nikolay Hubert [23]. On 25 May/6 June, Tchaikovsky left Moscow, and did not return until late August/early September. On 3/15 September he told Bessel: "I received the symphony, and immediately started work on the arrangement, which I shall be forwarding to you soon" [24]. 041b061a72
