Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jesús López Cobos.
I - 0:00
Balada's Symphony No.3 was composed between September 10 and November 12 of 1972. It was premiered on January 12 of 1973, performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Johanos. It was very well-received, as reflected the ensuing press coverage by music critics. In 1970, Balada moved to Pittsburgh and joined the faculty of Carnegie-Mellon, he soon became fascinated with the sounds of the American industrial workplace. Balada gathered his raw material for the Steel Symphony on visits to Pittsburgh's steel mills. The score is dedicated to steelworkers around the world.
Balada himself describes the inspiration behind the piece: "I was fascinated by the multitude and power of the factories in and around Pittsburgh. Before long I decided to write a symphony that would reflect some of the sounds produced by the steel plants. Each factory seemed to have its own rhythm and vibrations. The variety of metric pulsations was of special interest for my project. Noises of all kinds—whirling dynamos, buzzing saws, rivet guns, drilling machines—startled my musical imagination and I drew a variety of motivic material from them. Despite all these onomatopoeic sounds, the symphony is not a programmatic work; its form and intent are purely abstract with no extra-musical connotations. In short, the symphony is not a realistic imitation of the sounds heard in the mills; a tape could do this much better. My intention was to reflect the drama and poetry of the sonorities of the steel foundries in a sophisticated way."
The Steel Symphony has no formal beginning in the traditional sense. The musicians tune their instruments as they always do and without a break the tuning bridges into the opening bars of the symphony over an ostinato pattern. The form of the symphony is continuous with no melody and with an emphasis on polyrhythm. The music is harsh and mechanical, though sometimes calm, and often with driving impulses. The rhythms are brusque and there are heavily moving masses of dissonant sounds. These sounds are impersonal like machinery and almost static like a big sculpture. They are a monument to the great industry that brought the industrial revolution to its summit and to the men whose rough work made it possible. The end suggests the metric climax of pulsation in a steel factory. Soon everything turns to a unison. The mass of sounds filters into one single note.
Picture: "Steel Industry" (1936) by U.S. artist Howard Cook.
Sources: tinyurl.com/2ynyp48d and tinyurl.com/24t9rwoe
Unfortunately, the score is not available.
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jesús López Cobos.
I - 0:00
Balada's Symphony No.3 was composed between September 10 and November 12 of 1972. It was premiered on January 12 of 1973, performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Johanos. It was very well-received, as reflected the ensuing press coverage by music critics. In 1970, Balada moved to Pittsburgh and joined the faculty of Carnegie-Mellon, he soon became fascinated with the sounds of the American industrial workplace. Balada gathered his raw material for the Steel Symphony on visits to Pittsburgh's steel mills. The score is dedicated to steelworkers around the world.
Balada himself describes the inspiration behind the piece: "I was fascinated by the multitude and power of the factories in and around Pittsburgh. Before long I decided to write a symphony that would reflect some of the sounds produced by the steel plants. Each factory seemed to have its own rhythm and vibrations. The variety of metric pulsations was of special interest for my project. Noises of all kinds—whirling dynamos, buzzing saws, rivet guns, drilling machines—startled my musical imagination and I drew a variety of motivic material from them. Despite all these onomatopoeic sounds, the symphony is not a programmatic work; its form and intent are purely abstract with no extra-musical connotations. In short, the symphony is not a realistic imitation of the sounds heard in the mills; a tape could do this much better. My intention was to reflect the drama and poetry of the sonorities of the steel foundries in a sophisticated way."
The Steel Symphony has no formal beginning in the traditional sense. The musicians tune their instruments as they always do and without a break the tuning bridges into the opening bars of the symphony over an ostinato pattern. The form of the symphony is continuous with no melody and with an emphasis on polyrhythm. The music is harsh and mechanical, though sometimes calm, and often with driving impulses. The rhythms are brusque and there are heavily moving masses of dissonant sounds. These sounds are impersonal like machinery and almost static like a big sculpture. They are a monument to the great industry that brought the industrial revolution to its summit and to the men whose rough work made it possible. The end suggests the metric climax of pulsation in a steel factory. Soon everything turns to a unison. The mass of sounds filters into one single note.
Picture: "Steel Industry" (1936) by U.S. artist Howard Cook.
Sources: tinyurl.com/2ynyp48d and tinyurl.com/24t9rwoe
Unfortunately, the score is not available.
