Great Compositions/Performances: Franz Schubert – Symphony No.1 in D-major, D.82 (1813)

Picture: Carlo Bossoli – A Bustling Market on the Piazza Navona in Rome

Franz Schubert 

Work: Symphony No.1 in D-major, D.82 (1813)

Mov.I: Adagio – Allegro vivace 00:00
Mov.II: Andante 11:47
Mov.III: Menuetto: Allegretto 19:17
Mov.IV: Allegro vivace 23:30

Orchestra: Failoni Orchestra

Conductor: Michael Halász

The symphony is scored for 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in D, 2 trumpets in D, timpani and strings. 

The orchestration, which is balanced between strings and winds, lends itself to small chamber orchestras, as well as larger ensembles. The trumpets are scored particularly high, as in many of Schubert’s early works. Trumpet players will find, in general, the tessitura sitting between a concert D to Concert A for most of the 1st and 4th movements. In the 4th movement, Schubert pushes them up to a high D, in a repeated fashion. 

Some careful planning is needed to balance the multiple doublings between horns and trumpets.

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• Franz Schubert – a brief biography
• Franz Schuberts Last Years
• The Strange Case of the Schubert Symphonies
• Schubert Symphony No 3 D major Maazel Bavarian RSO
• Marchwood Orchestra and Prelude host Spring concert

 

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Great Compositions/Performances: Prokofiev – ‘The Love for Three Oranges Suite’, Op 33bis – BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe conducting

Sergei Prokofiev
The Love for Three Oranges Suite, Op 33bis

00:00 I. The Clowns
03:04 II. The Magician and the Witch Play Cards
06:19 III. March
07:44 IV. Scherzo
09:15 V. The Prince and Princess
13:01 VI. The Flight

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Rudolf Kempe, conductor

Related articles

• Prokofiev’s Life
• 1917 revolution. Prokofiev’s diaries

Great Composition/Performances: Beethoven Symphony No.1 in C major, Op.21 / Roger Norrington The London Classical Players

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 † 1827) 

Work: Symphony No.1 in C major, Op.21 

01. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio
02. Andante cantabile con moto
03. Menuetto – Allegro molto e vivace
04. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

Dedication to Baron Gottfried van Swieten
Premiered on April 2, 1800 at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg in Vienna

Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in C, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in C and F, 2 trumpets in C, timpani and strings.

Conductor: Roger Norrington
The London Classical Players

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

Ludwig van Beethoven‘s Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21, was dedicated to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an early patron of the composer. The piece was published in 1801 by Hoffmeister & Kühnel of Leipzig. It is unknown exactly when Beethoven finished writing this work, but sketches of the finale were found from 1795.^[1]
Historical background

Portrait of Beethoven in 1803, three years after the premiere of his 1st Symphony.

The symphony is clearly indebted to Beethoven’s predecessors, particularly his teacher Joseph Haydn as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but nonetheless has characteristics that mark it uniquely as Beethoven’s work, notably the frequent use of sforzandi and the prominent, more independent use of wind instruments. Sketches for the finale are found among the exercises Beethoven wrote while studying counterpoint underJohann Georg Albrechtsberger in the spring of 1797.

The premiere took place on 2 April 1800 at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg in Vienna. The concert program also included his Septet and Piano Concerto No. 2, as well as a symphony by Mozart, and an aria and a duet from Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. This concert effectively served to announce Beethoven’s talents to Vienna.^[2]

Instrumentation
The symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in C, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in C and F, 2 trumpets in C, timpani and strings.

Related articles

• Analogy between symphony and life
• SLSO begins Beethoven festival

Great Performances: Brahms, Symphony Nr 3 F Dur op 90 Leonard Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker

 

Sergei Prokofiev – Symphony No. 1 in D major “Classical”, Op. 25

Sergei Prokofiev began work on his Symphony No. 1 in D major (Op. 25) in 1916, but wrote most of it in 1917, finishing work on September 10. It is written in loose imitation of the style of Haydn (and to a lesser extent, Mozart), and is widely known as the Classical Symphony, a name given to it by the composer. It premiered on April 21, 1918 in Petrograd, conducted by Prokofiev himself, and has become one of his most popular and beloved works.

The symphony can be considered to be one of the first neoclassical compositions. However, although it was composed in an attempt to emulate the style of Joseph Haydn, it does not do so strictly, and strongly reflects modern compositional practices and Prokofiev’s own voice. The work was partly inspired by his conducting studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory‎, where the instructor, Nikolai Tcherepnin, taught his students about conducting Haydn, among other composers.

The symphony is in four movements:

– Allegro 0:00
– Larghetto 3:50
– Gavotta: Non troppo allegro 7:45
– Finale: Molto vivace 9:22

Conductor: Kurt Masur
Orchestra: Dresdner Philharmonie