Topic: The Symphony: Still Relevant?

[eyeresist]

If there were no symphonies, I would have to write my own I find the nature of the symphony more satisfying than anything else: an integrated, independent, complex, large-scale musical statement - a masterwork. It's also fascinating to see the interplay of innovation and tradition in the form over the years.


(By "independent" I mean the music is not subordinate to demands of e.g. literary narrative, religious worship or virtuosic display.)

[starrynight]

If you wish to look at whether it is still 'relevant' then maybe it's worth looking at why it actually started in the first place.

[Florestan]

Yes.

[karlhenning]

(By "independent" I mean the music is not subordinate to demands of e.g. literary narrative, religious worship or virtuosic display.)

So you rule out such artifacts as the Lord of the RIngs "Symphony"? . . .

[North Star]

So you rule out such artifacts as the Lord of the RIngs "Symphony"? . . .

What James would say

[eyeresist]

So you rule out such artifacts as the Lord of the RIngs "Symphony"? . . .

There I think the word was misapplied.

[karlhenning]

There I think the word was misapplied.

Indeed : )

[Greg]

Yes, because it's my favorite form of music. So it better be.

NB: This is not any matter of a Henning symphony hanging in the balance. No, not at all.

[DieNacht]

Sergey Slonimsky, the Russian composer, just had his 30th Symphony premiered, and is now working on his 32th. Sadly, only little has been officially recorded and released, but he is definitely evolving into a major symphonist, using a caleidoscopic style with many influences - not avant-garde, but comparable to the later Shostakovich (15th Symphony) etc.