Composers who wrote only one symphony

[(poco) Sforzando]

He left behind a very small output, of which only the magnificent Symphony for Classical Orchestra has been recorded on CD.

Not quite. Previn's version includes an orchestral overture, and there is a CD with three chamber pieces for strings.

[amw]

Not quite. Previn's version includes an orchestral overture, and there is a CD with three chamber pieces for strings.

I'm also aware of some pieces by him on the following discs:

(with various other composers)

(with Bernstein, Debussy and Stravinsky)



(with Jacob Weinberg and Ezra Laderman)

and there is probably more. But not much more.

Incidentally I knew someone who was dating Shapero during his student years and thereby also met Copland, Bernstein and others—she led a rather interesting life. She passed away a few months before he did.

[Bogey]

John Williams

The virtually unheard Symphony #1" (1966), premiered by Houston Symphony under André Previn in 1968. Williams reworked the piece in 1988 (scheduled to be performed by the San Francisco Symphony during a visit as guest conductor in early 1990s but pulled before the performance).

http://www.johnwilliams.org/compositions/symphony.html

[listener]

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.

and the three Piano Sonatas on New World 80 402 played by Michael Boriskin   

[kyjo]

He should be paying royalties to the Holst estate.

[(poco) Sforzando]

That's quite all right.

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

Maybe I should assemble all this into one list, as here are a number of others I forgot last night:

R. Strauss, Wolf, Gesualdo, Ockeghem, Webern, Crawford Seeger, Ruggles, Barraqué, Britten, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Smetana, CPE and WF Bach, Lutolawski, Ives, Copland, Pettersson (in small doses), Janacek, Jannequin, Purcell, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Offenbach, Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Gluck, Spontini, Weber.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I'm also aware of some pieces by him on the following discs:

Interesting that Meyer Kupferman pops up on one of those discs. Back in the 60s, my piano teacher, Morton Estrin, was a great champion of his work and I got to know MK slightly. I never had much appetite for the little percentage of his prolific output that I got to know, but his Little Symphony - a kind of American counterpart to the Prokofiev Classical - has always been a great favorite of mine. But he wrote many more symphonies than that one.

[marvinbrown]

The very best of Wagner's very profound Orchestral Overtures & Preludes alone say more & absolutely level the vast majority of symphonies ever composed anyway.

  HEAR! HEAR! Indeed Wagner is quite possibly the most influential "symphonist" of them all.  The scores of his music dramas are without doubt SYMPHONIC!....and not just the preludes and overtures. He studied Beethoven's 9th, with its massive choral  and saw his music dramas as the next step in a musical progression of the symphony. In fact it is claimed that Wagner's music dramas "grew" out of Beethoven's 9th. I am sure that this must have irritated anti-Wagnerians everywhere, and still does.  The fact that Mahler's and Bruckner's symphonies pay tribute to Wagner and show a strong Wagnerian influence is testament to Wagner's contribution to the symphonic "genre". 


   
  marvin 

[(poco) Sforzando]

At this rate .. soon enough you'll have everyone on your list. 

Oh no. Not at all. There are any number of deliberate omissions. V-W, for example, whose 4th symphony [ETA: and Tallis Fantasia] I like, but not much else. And I once thought of writing a farce where the musicians are trying to play Delius but they all fall asleep . . . .

But there are still others I've omitted whom I greatly admire - Birtwistle, for one, some of Tippett, Varèse . . . .

Interesting but few post-war selections amoungst these .. what are your favorite "electroacoustic" works of the last 60 years or so .. ?[/font]

Not too much off the top of my head, but certainly Stockhausen's Momente, Mikrophonie II, and Gesang der Juenglinde . . . .

[The new erato]

Anybody besides me know the single (and masterful) op 5 symphony by Finn Mortensen?

Ignore it at your peril (I have copyrighted this phrase).

[Bogey]

He should be paying royalties to the Holst estate.

Actually, if you listen to Bill Conti's score for The Right Stuff you will find closer similarities.

As for the Holst estate, I believe you have it backwards.  For the "general consumer" of music, I believe there to be a backward map.

[kyjo]

Anybody besides me know the single (and masterful) op 5 symphony by Finn Mortensen?

Ignore it at your peril (I have copyrighted this phrase).

I do, and I agree with you. Reminds me a lot of Holmboe and Koppel (both composers I love) in its dark, slumbering power.

[The new erato]

A little Brucknerish at times as well.

Hugh Wood wrote one symphony, which I just ordered, being a fan of his violin and cello concertoes on NMC.

[amw]

A little Brucknerisk at times as well.

Hugh Wood wrote one symphony, which I just ordered, being a fan of his violin and cello concertoes on NMC.

I quite like Hugh Wood's Symphony actually, though I'm not totally convinced by the ending. Wonder if I still have it, it's been quite a while since I last listened.

[Mirror Image]

A little Brucknerish at times as well.

Hugh Wood wrote one symphony, which I just ordered, being a fan of his violin and cello concertoes on NMC.

Corrected.

[kyjo]

Corrected.

What did you correct, John?

[Mirror Image]

What did you correct, John?

Erato spelled concertos like 'concertoes.' He definitely had a Dan Quayle moment.

[The new erato]

Yes, that one slips through the cracks occasionally, since that is the way such things often are done in Norwegian.

[Mirror Image]

Yes, that one slips through the cracks occasionally, since that is the way such things often are done in Norwegian.

No problem, Erato. I'm just giving you a hard time.

[The new erato]

No problem, Erato. I'm just giving you a hard time.

Yes, I console myself that I'm better at English than most of you are at Norwegian. I don't mind corrections, how else to learn?