Symphonic cycle

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A symphonic song cycle can either refer to a symphony composed of separate movements played consecutively or to a set of symphonic works linked by theme, common composer, or common conductor. A symphonic cycle should not be confused with the closely related song cycle.

Symphony extended musical composition

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often written by composers for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts.

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession. A movement is a section, "a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena".

A unit of a larger work that may stand by itself as a complete composition. Such divisions are usually self-contained. Most often the sequence of movements is arranged fast-slow-fast or in some other order that provides contrast.

A song cycle is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.

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Symphonic cycle as a whole symphonic work

A symphony is essentially cyclic in nature, typically containing four interconnected movements as part of a larger work. At first the movements of a symphony were meant to be distributed among other works -- arias, overtures, concertos -- in extended evening social events at which music served a background or occasionally center role. The movements were meant to be connected and identified as part of the symphonic cycle through recall and quotation of earlier movements, and the finale movement meant to be seen as a destination and recap. It was not until Beethoven that a symphonic cycle came to be seen as a work needing isolated, consecutive play of the constituent movements. [1]

Symphonic cycle as a set of works

A symphonic cycle may also refer to a set of symphonies linked through a common composer or conductor. For example, the symphonic repertoire of Ludwig van Beethoven, consisting of his nine numbered symphonies, may be wholly referred to as the Beethoven symphonic cycle. Another conception of the symphonic cycle is that of a set of composer's works as performed and recorded on audio/visual media by a common conductor. This practice came into existence with the establishment of audio record companies in the 1920s. [2]

Ludwig van Beethoven 18th and 19th-century German classical and romantic composer

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the classical and romantic eras in classical music, he remains one of the most recognized and influential musicians of this period, and is considered to be one of the greatest composers of all time.

A symphonic cycle of particular note is that of Leonard Bernstein's first attempt at providing recordings for the complete symphonic works of Gustav Mahler. The Bernstein–Mahler cycle became an advertising mechanism by which Bernstein championed the revival and critical acceptance of Mahler's music during the 1960s and '70s. Symphonic cycles of various composers are now recorded and sold in this sort of fashion featuring complete sets rendered by a common conductor or performing group.

Leonard Bernstein American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist

Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the U.S. to receive worldwide acclaim. According to music critic Donal Henahan, he was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history."

Gustav Mahler Late-Romantic Austrian composer

Gustav Mahler was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century. In 2016, a BBC Music Magazine survey of 151 conductors ranked three of his symphonies in the top ten symphonies of all time.

The Bernstein–Mahler cycle usually refers to two separate audio recordings of the symphonies of composer Gustav Mahler, as performed by conductor Leonard Bernstein in the 1960s and 1980s respectively.

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Bruno Walter German-born conductor, pianist, and composer

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Symphony No. 1 (Mahler) 1887/1888 symphony by Gustav Mahler

Symphony No. 1 in D major by Gustav Mahler was mainly composed between late 1887 and March 1888, though it incorporates music Mahler had composed for previous works. It was composed while Mahler was second conductor at the Leipzig Opera, Germany. Although in his letters Mahler almost always referred to the work as a symphony, the first two performances described it as a symphonic poem or tone poem. The work was premièred at the Vigadó Concert Hall, Budapest, in 1889, but was not well received. Mahler made some major revisions for the second performance, given at Hamburg in October 1893; further alterations were made in the years prior to the first publication, in late 1898. Some modern performances and recordings give the work the title Titan, despite the fact that Mahler only used this label for two early performances, and never after the work had reached its definitive four-movement form in 1896.

Eugene Ormandy Hungarian conductor and violinist

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Kenneth Woods is an American-born, UK-resident conductor, composer and cellist. He is known for his interpretations of the works of Mahler, Haydn, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Bruckner and Hans Gál. He has conducted orchestras including the English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Northern Sinfonia and National Symphony Orchestra.

Choral symphony musical composition for orchestra and choir

A choral symphony is a musical composition for orchestra, choir, and sometimes solo vocalists that, in its internal workings and overall musical architecture, adheres broadly to symphonic musical form. The term "choral symphony" in this context was coined by Hector Berlioz when he described his Roméo et Juliette as such in his five-paragraph introduction to that work. The direct antecedent for the choral symphony is Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Beethoven's Ninth incorporates part of the Ode an die Freude, a poem by Friedrich Schiller, with text sung by soloists and chorus in the last movement. It is the first example of a major composer's use of the human voice on the same level as instruments in a symphony.

Karel Šejna was a Czech double bassist and conductor, the principal conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1950.

The Dessoff Choirs is an independent chorus based in New York City. Margarete Dessoff established the organization in 1930 as the union of two choirs she directed, the Adesdi chorus and the A Cappella Singers, whence the plural Choirs. Today, the plural connotes Dessoff's various ensembles, which range from the large Dessoff Symphonic Choir, which appears with major orchestras, to the smaller Dessoff Chamber Choir, which performs in more intimate settings.

References

  1. ↑ Brown, A. Peter (2002). The Symphonic Repertoire. Indiana University Press. ISBN   0-253-33487-X.
  2. ↑ Schoenherr, Steven E. (6 July 2005). "Recording Technology History". Archived from the original on 12 March 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
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