Pranav Ranjit | William Schuman - Symphony No. 9 "Le fosse ardeatine" (Score Video) @towardthesea_ | Uploaded April 2024 | Updated October 2024, 7 hours ago.
The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Translated to English as "The Ardeatine Caves". The symphony is divided into three continuously played sections, "Anteludium", "Offertorium" and "Postludium", but the start and end of each section is not specified in the score.
William Schuman (1910-1992) was a notable American composer of the 20th century, also known for serving as president of the Juilliard School and of Lincoln Center. See also my score video of Schuman's third symphony: youtube.com/watch?v=By4D_Nc1Gr0
Schuman's ninth symphony of 1968, as is the case with many of his later symphonies, is of a rather different character from his earlier orchestral works. It was written after the composer visited the Ardeatine Caves, in which over 300 Italian civilians were massacred by the Nazis in 1944 following an earlier attack by Italian resistance forces.
The musical content of this work has always been controversial and may not resonate with some ears, at least at first. Befitting the subject matter, it is a bleak, gloomy, and essentially atonal piece with far less clarity in development than one might find in Schuman's third symphony. However, it is also a deeply emotional and moving symphony that has much to offer the more contemplative and patient listener.
The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Translated to English as "The Ardeatine Caves". The symphony is divided into three continuously played sections, "Anteludium", "Offertorium" and "Postludium", but the start and end of each section is not specified in the score.
William Schuman (1910-1992) was a notable American composer of the 20th century, also known for serving as president of the Juilliard School and of Lincoln Center. See also my score video of Schuman's third symphony: youtube.com/watch?v=By4D_Nc1Gr0
Schuman's ninth symphony of 1968, as is the case with many of his later symphonies, is of a rather different character from his earlier orchestral works. It was written after the composer visited the Ardeatine Caves, in which over 300 Italian civilians were massacred by the Nazis in 1944 following an earlier attack by Italian resistance forces.
The musical content of this work has always been controversial and may not resonate with some ears, at least at first. Befitting the subject matter, it is a bleak, gloomy, and essentially atonal piece with far less clarity in development than one might find in Schuman's third symphony. However, it is also a deeply emotional and moving symphony that has much to offer the more contemplative and patient listener.
![Vasily Kalinnikov - The Cedar and the Palm, symphonic picture (Score Video) [N. Järvi]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qdxe9NZg7EU/hqdefault.jpg "Vasily Kalinnikov - The Cedar and the Palm, symphonic picture (Score Video) [N. Järvi]
Performed by the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi
Based on a poem by Heinrich Heine (English translation by Hal Draper)
Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam
Im Norden auf kahler Höh.
Ihn schläfert; mit weißer Decke
Umhüllen ihn Eis und Schnee.
Er träumt von einer Palme,
Die, fern im Morgenland,
Einsam und schweigend trauert
Auf brennender Felsenwand.
A pine is standing lonely
In the North on a bare plateau.
He sleeps; a bright white blanket
Enshrouds him in ice and snow.
He’s dreaming of a palm tree
Far away in the Eastern land
Lonely and silently mourning
On a sunburnt rocky strand.
Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901) was a Russian composer who, if not for his death from tuberculosis at the age of 35, would undoubtedly have become a leading light of Russian music. Kalinnikov - who counted both Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff among his friends and advocates - is best known for his two vibrant symphonies, which are masterfully orchestrated and draw from rich Russian folk melodies; both works are achieving increasing recognition outside of the USSR, particularly among youth orchestras and community orchestras. The Cedar and the Palm, which Kalinnikov completed in 1898 - the year after his second symphony - is in a similar vein, although perhaps more rhapsodic in quality than some of his other orchestral works.
Read more about Kalinnikov on my blog here: https://unknowncomposers.org/2019/03/25/special-feature-vasily-kalinnikov-the-forgotten-russian-romantic/
A full score can be found at the New York Philharmonic archives: https://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/artifact/c3e6418e-44e4-4ab8-8eb8-cf833f3d84cc-0.1/fullview#page/1/mode/1up. An IMSLP score is also available but is missing page 7 (page 9 in the NY Phil edition.)")
