4th Symphony (Eliasson)

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The Fourth Symphony by Anders Eliasson was commissioned by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for the Munich concert series Musica Viva (Munich) and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra . Work on the approximately 25-minute work was completed in 2005. Their first performance experienced Eliasson's final symphony on 12 January 2007 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Christoph Poppen .

occupation

Piccolo (also 4th flute ); 3 flutes (3rd also 2nd piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd also English horn ). 3 clarinets (3rd also bass clarinet ), 3 bassoons (3rd also contrabassoon ), 6 horns, 3 trumpets , (3rd also flugelhorn ), 3 trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion ( xylophone , glockenspiel , cymbals , bongos , tam-tam , Bass drum , crotales , bell tree , snare drum ), strings .

music

The work, completed in 2005, has three movements that follow one another without a break (“ attacca ”).

  • 1st movement Allegro moderato [alla breve]
  • 2nd movement Adagio [5/4]
  • 3rd movement Con moto [9/8], minaccioso - Adagio

The sentences merge into one another in the “classic sequence fast-slow-fast without cuts; A look back at the calm middle section concludes the work. "

1 sentence

“Eliasson sets the first part in motion according to the principle of actio and reaction . The starting signal of the falling second is answered by an upward gesture with the rising second as the prominent core. The composer gains greater melodic traits through a kind of growth in primary motifs and through the creation of variants. He achieves increases by accelerating the inner movement, by widening the range of sounds while at the same time compressing the network of motifs, from which a leading voice sometimes emerges, and the simultaneity of different tenses. " Lutz Lesle recognizes in the first movement" the classical drama principle preserved in the sonata form . [...] In swelling waves - held up by 'islands of the blessed' - and a sound zone that seems strangely 'unreal' due to the use of pizzicati glissandi, flageolets and hemiolas - the development drives to a climax where the particle flurry is under high pressure aggregates and practically implodes. "

2nd movement

The Adagio “is determined by an extended flugelhorn solo, which sometimes enters into short dialogues with other instruments, and for a certain time passes on its expressive bel canto to colleagues.” Lesle speaks of “contrapuntal whispers and tissue” that play around or replace the solo. This “flugelhorn part, divided into several stanzas” gives the Adagio “an Arcadian aura ”.

3rd movement

"Con moto, minaccioso" (moved, threatening) Eliasson headed the fast final part. “In the textures of its beginning, in addition to falling gestures, the halftone in particular emerges as a noticeable interval . It appears in numerous trills , in striking twists such as the beginnings and ends of motifs, in narrow, meandering figures, but also as an expressive figure in itself. Various melodic gestures are increasingly reminiscent of the first part, the flugelhorn of the second movement through its sound alone. The symphony fades away with his cantabile solo. ”Lesle interprets the trills as“ a threatening counterbalance… to the syncopated rolling theme, which recurs eight times rondo-like in a different sequence of motifs and a changing sound environment - six times in the first section and twice in the last. The interval pendulum of the theme head ( major sixth / tritone ) moves - if one follows the key characteristics of the composer - in the human sphere. The swan song of the flugelhorn, on the other hand, “points towards the transcendent. This interpretation was indirectly confirmed by the composer "[a ​​few] days before [he] succumbed to cancer [...]". In these final acts, he said, “everything contained anyway” that he had in mind for his symphony trilogy . “The Fifth Symphony, for which the premiere date was already fixed (May 29, 2013), was supposed to be a 'lonely journey' (his symphonically structured violin concerto with this title was premiered in October 2012), the sixth should have 'broken new ground'. "

General characteristics of the tonal language

The “symphonic sound stream” of this work develops “from a few rhythmic and melodic cells: a kind of lead rhythm ( dactylus ), different manifestations of the trill (from simple mordent to long chains of trills) as well as preferred intervals that constitute the Doric and Lydian modes (Large and small seconds, perfect fourths or excessive fourths , fifths and major sixths). "

reception

Habakuk Traber claims to have recognized Eliasson as an "heir" of the Swedish composer Allan Pettersson , "the older, misunderstood Swedish symphonic composer ", as he is able to "accumulate and unleash energies, but also regain another quality besides harmony." who the post-war avant-garde had their dearest need: Pettersson called them 'Canto', he meant instrumental singing that needed no words. In Eliasson's work it can be found in some of the solos in the first movement, also in melodies that run through several instruments one after the other. You are in lively conflict and exchange with virtuoso figures; Eliasson's Fourth is also a concerto for orchestra . The actual location of the 'Canto' is the middle section, the Adagio. "

Performances

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Program: 3rd musica viva event [subscription] Friday, January 12, 2007, Herkulessaal der Residenz
  2. ↑ a b Program: 3rd musica viva event [subscription] Friday, January 12, 2007, Herkulessaal der Residenz, p. 16
  3. ↑ a b Habakuk Traber: The symphony and its relatives: Anders Eliasson's Fourth Symphony. S. 8. Program (“Introduction”) German Symphony Orchestra Berlin May 8, 2015.
  4. ↑ a b c Program: 3rd musica viva event [subscription] Friday, January 12, 2007, Herkulessaal der Residenz, p. 17
  5. ^ Concert in the morning. In: oe1.orf.at. Retrieved December 2, 2017 .
  6. ↑ https://www.gp.se/cmlink/kanske-ett-sv%C3%A5rt-verk-f%C3%B6r-mycket-1.1196114?ajax=true&site=2.189&page=2.209
  7. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/27/bbcsso-manze-review
  8. ↑ https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/38933866/veli-matti-puumala-the-music-is-the-man-gehrmans-musikfarlag/7
  9. ↑ https://oe1.orf.at/programm/20150701/392949
  10. ↑ https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2020/tchaikovsky-piano-concerto/