Composers who wrote only one symphony

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Webern, whose Symphony is one of the most profound pieces of harmonic writing ever.

After not understanding that piece for ages, I became kind of obsessed with it recently, and had to listen to it every day for a while. I suppose that says something in its favor.

[DavidW]

After not understanding that piece for ages, I became kind of obsessed with it recently, and had to listen to it every day for a while. I suppose that says something in its favor.

When I first listened to it in music appreciation I didn't like it all.  I like it quite a bit now.

[listener]

George Dyson
Sir Arthur Sullivan ('Irish')

[pjme]

Bernd Alois  Zimmermann (early - ca 1947-1953) Symphonie in einem Satz.  Scorching!

Available on EMI / Bamberger SO / Metzmacher

[not edward]

Bern Alois  Zimmermann (early - ca 1947-1953) Symphonie in einem Satz.  Scorching!

Available on EMI / Bamberger SO / Metzmacher

Good choice, and the Metzmacher may well be my favourite performance of it.

There's two other recordings I am aware of, both with slightly unexpected conductors: one under Gunter Wand and one under Witold Lutoslawski.

[kyjo]

Bernd Alois  Zimmermann (early - ca 1947-1953) Symphonie in einem Satz.  Scorching!

Available on EMI / Bamberger SO / Metzmacher

Don't believe I know that one-thanks for the tip! Also, Wolfgang Fortner's only Symphony-a fine work.

[Wanderer]

Korngold (though his Sinfonietta is a symphony in all but name)

Thank you! And a brilliant one at that. 

[kyjo]

Thank you! And a brilliant one at that. 

Indeed. I've never understood the comparative popularity of Korngold's VC to his Symphony, Sinfonietta, and piano and cello concertos-I actually find his lesser-known orchestral works to often be more rewarding than the VC.

[(poco) Sforzando]

it says more in 9 minutes than the (mostly) mediocre & unmemorable stuff you listed. [/font]

Come now, James. The stuff our two young gentlemen favor may be mediocre, but at least it's unknown.

[kyjo]

Come now, James. The stuff our two young gentlemen favor may be mediocre, but at least it's unknown.

Why don't you actually post about music you like instead of constantly trashing music you don't (and probably haven't even heard)?

[Mirror Image]

Why don't you actually post about music you like instead of constantly trashing music you don't (and probably haven't even heard)?

I certainly agree with you here, Kyle. I don't like the fact that I was brought into Sforzando's post when I had nothing to do with the discussion at all. It's much more fruitful to everyone to promote music you enjoy.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Why don't you actually post about music you like instead of constantly trashing music you don't (and probably haven't even heard)?

First, you don't know what music I know, and anybody who's familiar with my postings from the past 15 years on classical music forums knows I have spent a great many hours discussing the music I care most deeply about. I'm not so grandiose to think anyone has actually followed my writings that long, but some of them are still in the archives for those who have time on their hands.

I could also take the time to convey why I have some reservations about your fundamental approach, but given your overall belligerence and unwillingness to listen to anyone who doesn't share your basic revisionist premises, I am sure anything I'd say would fall on deaf ears.

So go ahead, keep making up your little lists and trotting out any number of names of composers you are certain haven't gotten their fair shakes. I won't bother you any more.

[Sammy]

So go ahead, keep making up your little lists and trotting out any number of names of composers you are certain haven't gotten their fair shakes.

I feel a new thread coming - Composers who have been shafted.

[kyjo]

First, you don't know what music I know, and anybody who's familiar with my postings from the past 15 years on classical music forums knows I have spent a great many hours discussing the music I care most deeply about. I'm not so grandiose to think anyone has actually followed my writings that long, but some of them are still in the archives for those who have time on their hands.

I could also take the time to convey why I have some reservations about your fundamental approach, but given your overall belligerence and unwillingness to listen to anyone who doesn't share your basic revisionist premises, I am sure anything I'd say would fall on deaf ears.

So go ahead, keep making up your little lists and trotting out any number of names of composers you are certain haven't gotten their fair shakes. I won't bother you any more.

So, then, who are your favorite composers? I don't care who they are, I just want to know that there actually is music that you're passionate about.

[(poco) Sforzando]

So, then, who are your favorite composers? I don't care who they are, I just want to know that there actually is music that you're passionate about.

Too many to count. Beethoven above all, but not far behind and in no particular order (chronological or otherwise) are Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Chopin, Wagner, Brahms, Stravinsky, Mahler, Bruckner, Verdi, Debussy, Berg, Schoenberg, Sibelius, Carter, Boulez, Ravel, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Prokofiev, Puccini, Handel, Scarlatti, Rameau, Machaut, Dufay, Monteverdi, Josquin, some of the Renaissance madrigalists like Marenzio and Gibbon, Shostakovich, and I admit to an undying weakness for Gilbert and Sullivan. Not all works by all the above of course: there is some of Handel I love enormously such as the opera Orlando and the oratorio Saul, but though it's difficult to know everything he wrote I find him extremely uneven; and much as I love some of the early Stockhausen like Punkte and Gruppen, I don't care for most of the later work I've heard. I don't care for all of the neo-classical middle-period Stravinsky either, but I dote on Les Noces, the Symphony of Psalms, Agon, and The Rake's Progress; and while I don't care for some of Schoenberg's 12-tone works like the Serenade and Wind Quintet, I think the earlier more freely atonal pieces like Erwartung and the Five Orchestral Pieces are among the finest things from the 20th century. And there are many others to whom I listen or play with interest.

From the first list in your thread, some particular favorites are Vorisek's little symphony, the Bizet (especially as choreographed by Balanchine), and the Harold Shapero (which has the finest long slow movement by an American I know).

I trust that answers your question.

[kyjo]

Too many to count. Beethoven above all, but not far behind and in no particular order (chronological or otherwise) are Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Chopin, Wagner, Brahms, Stravinsky, Mahler, Bruckner, Verdi, Debussy, Berg, Schoenberg, Sibelius, Carter, Boulez, Ravel, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Prokofiev, Puccini, Handel, Scarlatti, Rameau, Machaut, Dufay, Monteverdi, Josquin, some of the Renaissance madrigalists like Marenzio and Gibbon, Shostakovich, and I admit to an undying weakness for Gilbert and Sullivan. Not all works by all the above of course: there is some of Handel I love enormously such as the opera Orlando and the oratorio Saul, but though it's difficult to know everything he wrote I find him extremely uneven; and much as I love some of the early Stockhausen like Punkte and Gruppen, I don't care for most of the later work I've heard. I don't care for all of the neo-classical middle-period Stravinsky either, but I dote on Les Noces, the Symphony of Psalms, Agon, and The Rake's Progress; and while I don't care for some of Schoenberg's 12-tone works like the Serenade and Wind Quintet, I think the earlier more freely atonal pieces like Erwartung and the Five Orchestral Pieces are among the finest things from the 20th century. And there are many others to whom I listen or play with interest.

From the first list in your thread, some particular favorites are Vorisek's little symphony, the Bizet (especially as choreographed by Balanchine), and the Harold Shapero (which has the finest long slow movement by an American I know).

I trust that answers your question.

Thanks for taking the time to write that post, Sforzando. I appreciate it.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Thanks for taking the time to write that post, Sforzando. I appreciate it.

That's quite all right.

Forgot some, of course: Bartok, Berio, Ligeti, some of Elgar, Nielsen, Rachmaninoff . . .

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

the Harold Shapero (which has the finest long slow movement by an American I know).

I think that whole symphony is excellent, not just the slow movement. Poor Harold - not even a 1-hit wonder, but he sure deserves to be.

[kyjo]

I think that whole symphony is excellent, not just the slow movement. Poor Harold - not even a 1-hit wonder, but he sure deserves to be.

Unfortunately, Shapero passed away last May (I believe). Someone I know was good friends with him and was deeply saddened by his death. He left behind a very small output, of which only the magnificent Symphony for Classical Orchestra has been recorded on CD.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I think that whole symphony is excellent, not just the slow movement. Poor Harold - not even a 1-hit wonder, but he sure deserves to be.

He died just recently, you may have heard. I like it all myself, including the exuberant finale, but a lengthy adagio perhaps requires especial mastery. There was a time when the Schwann catalog included that symphony in its Basic List of classical compositions, but somehow it fell by the wayside when neoclassicism went out of fashion. I think of the piece as Beethoven-meets-Stravinsky (I also think of some of Stravinsky as Beethoven-meets-Stravinsky), and there are clear references to the Beethoven 7th throughout. At one time Bernstein was Shapero's roommate and championed the piece, and it was one of Bernstein's earliest recordings (despite a tiny inexplicable first movement cut), but Bernstein later turned his back on Shapero. Copland admired Shapero too up to a point, and so did Stravinsky. I've heard some of Shapero's other music but I haven't found anything that measures up to the symphony. Previn rediscovered the piece too, but I consider Bernstein's version superior. For one thing Previn totally screws up the rhythms in the syncopated section with the timpani in the slow movement.