Robert Simpson(1921-1997)

Started by Dundonnell, March 25, 2008, 02:09:14 PM

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Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Dundonnell on February 25, 2012, 02:30:30 PM

"A great composer in full and total command of symphonic structure producing a masterpiece of cosmic grandeur and shattering power!!! :)

Colin, which symphony are you referring to?

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

cilgwyn

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on February 28, 2012, 03:33:46 AM
Colin, which symphony are you referring to?

Sarge
Indeed,which one? I just saw this post! You're keeping us in suspense!!! ::)

springrite

Quote from: cilgwyn on February 28, 2012, 03:49:51 AM
Indeed,which one? I just saw this post! You're keeping us in suspense!!! ::)

The recently discovered #12?  :o
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

Dundonnell

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on February 27, 2012, 08:49:12 PM
I would like to thank Dundonnell, but his inbox is full!

Anyway, much appreciated. :-X

I think that I have deleted enough messages from my inbox now to allow access ;D

Dundonnell


Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Dundonnell on February 28, 2012, 05:03:32 AM
The Ninth ;D

Thank you. I've spent the afternoon listening to Simpson: 2, 4, and now 11. It's been awhile since I last heard 9. Perhaps I'll spin that next.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Dundonnell

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on February 28, 2012, 05:09:27 AM
Thank you. I've spent the afternoon listening to Simpson: 2, 4, and now 11. It's been awhile since I last heard 9. Perhaps I'll spin that next.

Sarge

I listen often to the Simpson 2nd. I absolutely adore the slow movement whose palindromic structure reminds me of the famous quote in relation to Simpson:

"Many composers have no idea how to compose forwards, let alone backwards"

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Dundonnell on February 28, 2012, 05:39:13 AM
I listen often to the Simpson 2nd. I absolutely adore the slow movement whose palindromic structure reminds me of the famous quote in relation to Simpson:

"Many composers have no idea how to compose forwards, let alone backwards"

;D :D ;D

The Second is probably my favorite. His most "Classical" in feeling.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

cilgwyn

Quote from: Dundonnell on February 28, 2012, 05:03:32 AM
The Ninth ;D
Thought so (now,Dundonell's told us! ???) But,even,with my limited knowledge of Simpson's symphonies,it HAD to be THAT one! :)

Dundonnell

Quote from: cilgwyn on February 28, 2012, 06:06:04 AM
Thought so (now,Dundonell's told us! ???) But,even,with my limited knowledge of Simpson's symphonies,it HAD to be THAT one! :)

The Ninth is Simpson's most Brucknerian symphony....not in any sort of religious sense (which is why I shy away from the description of "cathedrals in sound" regarding Simpson) but in that implacable certainty that the work progresses towards a destination which is structurally in sight from the very first bar. The complete mastery of symphonic structure, in the Beethovenian sense, and the cosmic grandeur. It is both a terrifying work and a work which more than any other convinces me that Simpson was a master of both his material and the symphonic form.

J.Z. Herrenberg

I am going to listen to the Second again.  :)
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Dundonnell


DavidW

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on February 28, 2012, 05:49:07 AM
;D :D ;D

The Second is probably my favorite. His most "Classical" in feeling.

Sarge

Not the 9th or the 8th? :'(

Sergeant Rock

#133
Quote from: DavidW on February 28, 2012, 04:55:36 PM
Not the 9th or the 8th? :'(

I like 8 (but I have to be in the proper mood for it). 4 is wonderful, and I enjoy 3 & 11 too. I've had trouble responding positively to 9 but, inspired by Colin's advocacy, I'm going to give it another go soon. I'm still learning 7.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Archaic Torso of Apollo

The only symphony I haven't heard is #10. What's the consensus on it?
formerly VELIMIR (before that, Spitvalve)

"Who knows not strict counterpoint, lives and dies an ignoramus" - CPE Bach

Dundonnell

Quote from: Velimir on February 29, 2012, 01:47:46 AM
The only symphony I haven't heard is #10. What's the consensus on it?

Consensus ???  On here ???  An unlikely prospect ;D

I find the Tenth Symphony one of the tougher nuts to crack. It is a work which requires a definite commtment from the listener to sit and listen very carefully. It does not give up its secrets easily.

Lethevich

I found the 10th to have a feeling of "what do I do next?" after the 9th, before the composer found his solution in No.11. It's a very typical symphony for the composer, but book-ended by two such unique works perhaps it suffers in comparison. Nos.8-10 form a group of a kind, in my mind, but I've yet to map out entirely how this works (2/4, 3/5 and 6/7 I also feel a kind of kindredness amongst, not sure why at all yet ???).
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

Archaic Torso of Apollo

Quote from: Lethevich on February 29, 2012, 06:26:58 AM
(2/4, 3/5 and 6/7 I also feel a kind of kindredness amongst, not sure why at all yet ???).

Probably because that's the way they're coupled on the recordings  :D
formerly VELIMIR (before that, Spitvalve)

"Who knows not strict counterpoint, lives and dies an ignoramus" - CPE Bach

Lethevich

Quote from: Velimir on February 29, 2012, 07:48:32 AM
Probably because that's the way they're coupled on the recordings  :D

Woah. My subconscious is a very strange thing indeed - I remembered that 6 and 7 were coupled (and despite that "influence", feel that they compliment each other better than any of the others) but didn't remember that the others were ??? 3 and 5 is a bit of a stretch, but 2 and 4, c'mon! Bed buddies for life :)
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

calyptorhynchus

Quote from: J on February 29, 2012, 09:26:12 AM
I've often wondered if Simpson himself was as cold and unfeeling, - indeed inhuman, as so much of his music.  I suppose in some reversal of the haughty and aloof Delius writing music of such self-surpassing tenderness and sensitivity, the heartless sterility of Simpson's 9th Symphony (for example) might mask an individual of gregarious instinct and wide sympathies.  Does anyone have insights in this regard?

I was writing about Havergal Brian on that thread and pointed out how truly objective his music. Although they are very different composers, Simpson also has this objectivity in his music which can make it appear cold and unfeeling to some people. Personally I feel it's a great privilege to have this music, and it's certainly a better music than that which wallows in emotion.

As to the 10th, as soon as I heard it it became one of my favourite Simpson symphonies. As I said before, the Hammerklavier sonata as a symphony, wonderful.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton