Symphony

Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony: The Majesty of Melody

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Sergei Rachmaninov’s First Symphony was nearly his last. During the work’s disastrous premiere in Saint Petersburg on March 28, 1897, the 23-year-old composer hid in a backstage fire escape with his ears plugged as an under-rehearsed orchestra, led by an inebriated and disinterested Alexander Glazunov, desecrated the score. Catcalls erupted throughout the hall, and César Cui colorfully derided the new Symphony as music that would “delight the inhabitants of Hell.” The confidence-shattering …

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Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony: Herbert Blomstedt and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

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Last Thursday, July 11, renowned Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt celebrated his 97th birthday. Sidelined by a serious fall in December of 2023, Blomstedt resumed his conducting schedule last April; and with numerous upcoming engagements, centered in Leipzig, Dresden, and Paris, he shows no signs of slowing down. This year, in celebration of Blomstedt’s birthday, the Bamberg Symphony played I denna ljuva sommartid, a Swedish summer psalm which holds significance for the conductor. …

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Mozart’s Symphony No. 27 in G Major: Salzburg Sunshine

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Symphony No. 27 in G Major, K. 199 is sunny, youthful music of the 17-year-old Mozart. Completed in April of 1773, it is among a group of four symphonies Mozart wrote after returning home to Salzburg following his second trip to Italy. (His opera, Lucio Silla, was being performed in Milan). Two months later, Mozart and his father would set out for the imperial capital of Vienna. Scored for two flutes, two …

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Brahms’ Second Symphony: Pastoral Sunshine and Shadows

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When it came to writing his First Symphony, Johannes Brahms felt the anxiety of influence. The nine symphonies of Beethoven were so transformative that Brahms was haunted by the “footsteps of a giant” marching behind him. The situation was made worse by Robert Schumann’s enthusiastic public prediction that the young Brahms was destined to become “the heir to Beethoven.” He would carry forward the mantle of “absolute” music, as opposed to the …

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Sibelius’ Second Symphony: The Creation of a Divine Mosaic

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The famous 1907 meeting between Jean Sibelius and Gustav Mahler in Helsinki revealed two opposing, yet equally compelling, conceptions of the symphony. Mahler insisted that “the symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.” In contrast, Sibelius expressed admiration for the symphony’s “style and severity of form, as well as the profound logic creating an inner connection among all of the motives.” On another occasion, Sibelius observed, similarly, Music is, …

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Remembering Yuri Temirkanov

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Yuri Temirkanov, the renowned Russian conductor, passed away last Thursday, November 2, in St. Petersburg. He was 84. From the time of his appointment as artistic director in 1988, Temirkanov was credited with restoring the brilliance of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Between 2000 and 2006, he served as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Additional titles included principal guest conductor of …

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Mahler’s First Symphony: The Titan

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Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major is music rooted in nature and song. It is the work of a 28-year-old composer who was rapidly rising as one of Europe’s premier conductors, and who was coming out of a stormy love affair with Marion von Weber, the wife of the grandson of composer, Carl Maria von Weber. It is music which synthesizes the Romantic influences of Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt, and Bruckner, …

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