Every so often, I come across a symphony in which one of the movements stands out more than the others and often can be listened to on its own. The characteristics of this type of movement, that appeals particularly to me are humour, goodnaturedness, brio and elan. In a nutshell, a movement that is a real joy to listen to, i.e. great fun. I can think of a couple of such movements from, for example, some of the Raff symphonies, but in this instance, I have been particularly taken with the second movement of the Rubinstein symphony no 2 ( sorry - yet another reference to Rubinstein!!!!). It's 7 :25 min go by in a twinkle and it's very easy to want to listen to the movement several times in succession. Listening to this movement really does put a smile on my face. Do other members have suggestions of movements which fall into this category?
Cheers
Dennis
Sorry
Re-reading my post, I noted that I said Rubinstein's symphony no 2, second movement. That obviously should have read Rubinstein's symphony number five!!!!!
apologies for typo!
Dennis
I think that the finale of Raff's 9th symphony "Im Summer" would fit that bill. Another would be the finale of Dvorak's 6th symphony (tjough he is not unsung).
Eschewing Raff for a change, my nomination is the opening movement of Dvorak's Third (although the whole work is a joy).
I certainly cast a vote for the 3rd movement of the 4th symphony of Tchaikovsky
It will HAVE to be Raff - Symphony No 3 in F major 'Im Walde / In the Forest' IInd movement - Largo (In der
Dämmerung / In the Twilight)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHkkxTgsV1o (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHkkxTgsV1o)
My choice would be the Scherzo (2nd movement) of Bruckner's 9th. What a ride of contrasts. Good natured brio? Well, maybe not. But what fun! (My wife says that, if Jimi Hendrix had been born a hundred years earlier, he would have composed music like this.)
Okay, Bruckner is far from unsung. For a movement by an unsung, I'd go with the 1st movement of Myaskovsky's 5th symphony. That delightful opening melody leads to a world of possibilities.
Quote from: DennisS on Tuesday 24 August 2010, 10:39
sorry - yet another reference to Rubinstein!!!!
No need to say sorry if you refer to the appealing Rubinstein, Dennis. ;D
I'll vote for the 2nd movement of Shostakovich 5th. This Allegretto is short, powerful, surprising, fresh and funny. BTW, what a stupendous contrast with the third movement.
It's hard to choose just one even here :( I agree with many of the choices already (and yes including the Bruckner).
Evgeny Golubev's 5th symphony (alas not yet CD-ified) has a very, very puckish scherzo. (Puckish scherzi when good can be very good and very fun true. Several Russians and Soviets had a dab hand at those, apologies for poor grammar!)
Two others I might choose-
*Scherzo of Brian's Gothic. A whole lot going on there, carrying you along, xylophone cadenza, ...
*Finale of Stenhammar's (acknowledged) symphony. ... impressive sort of wow! :)
(Not at all reaching for objective judgments here...)
Eric
Zemlinsky in B flat, first movement. Corrrrrrrrr!
The Scherzo of Czerny's Symphony no. 2. (Op. 781!)
Sung: 3rd movement scherzo from Beethoven's 3rd Symphony.
Semi-sung: 3rd movement scherzo from Dvorak's 5th Symphony.
Unsung: 2nd movement scherzo from Raff's 4th Symphony.
How about that fabulous scherzo in Glazunov's 3rd Symphony? An extraordinary tour-de-force. The first movement is also a fine piece but the slow movement and the finale in particular are not in the same class, I think.
My vote would go to the first movement of Herzogenberg's 2nd Symphony (I always got the feeling that the 1st and 4th ought to be swapped). The finale from Zemlinsky's 2nd or (even more so) Reznicek's 5th would do the trick, too.
Last movement of Glazunov 5. A real barn-burner! I heard it at Carnegie Hall once with
Lawrence Foster conducting and I thought the audience would tear the place up at the end. Furore, as the Italians say!
David
Three of my favorite single movements:
1) Amy Beach Symphony, 2nd movement (scherzo)
2) Glazunov - 4th Symphony Scherzo
3) Gliere -- 3rd symphony Scherzo.
Something about those scherzos!
Non-Scherzo: 2nd movement of the Bloch Symphony in C# minor.
One could choose any of the four movements of Scheherazade
Thomas :)
The lighter inner movements of some 19th-century symphonies were sometimes performed on their own. Case in point: the delightful and quite original scherzo of Draeseke's Symphony 1, well played in both major recordings.
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Quote from: Alan Howe on Tuesday 24 August 2010, 22:31
Zemlinsky in B flat, first movement. Corrrrrrrrr!
I have to agree on this one, especially after hearing the powerful reading of Riccardo Chailly and RSO Berlin.
Hard to move on to the next movements after that blistering
schnell mit Feuer und Kraft!
Another powerful first movement worth mentioning is from Franz Schmidt's 2nd.
Morten