Use Facebook login
LOGOUT  Welcome
 

Work

Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson Composer

Symphony No.3   

Performances: 1
Tracks: 4
Loading...
Musicology (work in progress):
  • Symphony No.3
    Year: 1972
    • Movement 1
    • Movement 2
    • Movement 3
    • Movement 4
Composed in 1972, this delightful, tonal symphony of classical length is actually an orchestration of the composer's String Quartet No. 2. Opening with an impressive array of gongs and cymbals into a staggered brass accompaniment figure, the triple-meter music (Allegro moderato) quickly develops into a mood somewhere between a neo-classical work and a summer concert under a bandshell in the park. The second movement is a sentimental, but carefree "Tempo di valzer". This gentle waltz suggests at times Spanish influences, at times that American bandshell concert, and at other times some lighthearted Alpine oom-pah, and even English fox-chasing trumpet calls. The third movement, Adagio sostenuto, begins with a unison theme that gets chromatically harmonized upon repetition. The musical imagery lies somewhere between a funeral march and a tango, with a very simple figure played by tambour and later tympani. The opening theme is heard again in canon with winds, then strings; it seems to wander off, and is unexpectedly cadenced with a major (Picardy) third. The last movement, Allegretto, begins with a lovely bourrée-like feeling, and develops into a canon. The canon gets more strident, and quickly we are back from Europe, thrown directly into American folk tunes orchestrated with flowing lines, and developed chromatically. Lyrically dramatic writing in simple counterpoint continues until the movement's very gentle concluding cadence.

© All Music Guide
Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.
AMG
Select a performer for this work
Loading...
 
© 1994-2012 Classical Archives LLC — The Ultimate Classical Music Destination ™