Episode 1663
Short Symphony
Tue, 2021-Nov-23 01:53 UTC
Length - 2:45
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Tuesday, 23 November 2021 is Short Symphony.
The Short Symphony or Symphony No. 2 by the American composer Aaron Copland is a symphony written from 1931 to 1933. Its short length of only 15 minutes led to its name. The work is dedicated to Copland's friend, the Mexican composer, and conductor Carlos Chávez. The symphony's first movement is in sonata-allegro form, and its slow second movement follows an adapted ternary form. The third movement resembles the sonata-allegro but has indications of cyclic form. The composition contains complex rhythms and polyharmonies, and it incorporates the composer's emerging interest in serialism as well as influences from Mexican music and German cinema. The symphony includes scoring for a heckelphone and a piano while omitting trombones and a percussion section. Copland later arranged the symphony as a sextet.
The symphony was not widely performed during Copland's lifetime, largely due to the piece's rhythmic difficulties. After Serge Koussevitzky and Leopold Stokowski both declined to conduct the premiere, Chávez agreed to deliver it in 1934 in Mexico City. The symphony eventually received its U. S. premiere in 1944, with subsequent concert performances in the 1950s. The piece's first recording was made in 1969 with Copland conducting. Though Copland thought of the Short Symphony as "one of the best things I ever wrote", some critics found it to be fragmented and cacophonous. Others agreed with Copland's assessment, describing the symphony as a masterpiece and significant work in both Copland's career and modernist music.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:53 UTC on Tuesday, 23 November 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see Short Symphony on Wikipedia.
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This has been Brian Standard. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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