Four Centuries of Great Music November 12, 2022 The Symphony Through the Centuries Episode 12

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music we are continuing our series of Symphonies Through the Centuries with episode 12.  On this episode we have Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 In B Flat, Op. 67, "Pathétique" and Sir Edward Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 in A-Flat, Op. 55.

We open with Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 In B Flat, Op. 67, “Pathétique”.  Composed in the spring and summer of 1893 and was premiered  with Tchaikovsky conducting in Saint Petersburg on October 28 nine days before his death.  It is in 4 movements:
1. Adagio — Allegro Non Troppo — Andante — Adagio Vivo — Andante Mosso
2. Allegro Con Grazia
3. Allegro Molto Vivace
4. Adagio Lamentoso — Andante

Let’s close this first hour of todays Four Centuries of Great Music with a short tone poem.  Alexander Borodin’s “In the Steppes of Central Asia”.  Written in1880 and dedicated to Franz Liszt, it portrays the interaction between Russians and Asians on the great plains of eastern Russia.

We are opening the second hour of today’s Four Centuries of Great Music with our first foray into the 20th Century with Sir Edward Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 in A-Flat, Op. 55.

Edward Elgar completed his first symphony in 1908.  It was well received with over 100 performances in the first year following publication.

The first movement opens quietly with a theme marked Andante. Nobilmente e Semplice which is repeated by the full orchestra fortissimo. It gently subsides back to woodwind and violas and abruptly switches to D minor, an extraordinary choice of key for the first allegro of a Symphony in A flat.   The movement is in traditional sonata form with two main themes, a development and a recapitulation. It ends quietly, "an effect of magical stillness”.

The second movement marked Allegro Molto begins briskly. Elgar did not call it a scherzo, many reviewers called it “vivacious”.  Elgar asked orchestras to play it "like something you hear down by the river.” As the movement draws to a close it slows down, and its first theme is transformed into the main theme of third movement. This adagio movement is characterized by it’s “benedictory tranquillity” rather than the anguished yearning usually to be found in his quieter, shower passages.

The finale begins with a slow repeat of one of the subsidiary themes of the first movement marked Lento.  After the introduction there is a restless allegro, with a succession of themes including an "impulsive march-rhythm”. The movement builds to a climax and ends with the nobilmente opening theme of the symphony returning "orchestrated with glittering splendour" to bring the work to a "triumphant and confident" conclusion.






  • 3:00pm Four Centuries of Great Music by Introduction on Four Centuries of Great Music (Pre-recorded)
  • 3:00pm Four Centuries of Great Music November 6, 2022 Symphony through the Centuries Episode 12 Part 1 by Symphony through the Centuries Episode 12 on Four Centuries of Great Music
  • 3:01pm Commentary on the Music by Dave Lake on live (live)
  • 3:02pm Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 In B Flat, Op. 67, Pathétique - 1. Adagio — Allegro Non Troppo — Andante — Adagio Vivo — Andante Mosso by Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on Wilhelm Furtwängler Post-War Radio Recordings Vol. 5 (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • 3:23pm Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 In B Flat, Op. 67, Pathétique - 2. Allegro Con Grazia by Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on Wilhelm Furtwängler Post-War Radio Recordings Vol. 5 (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • 3:31pm Commentary on the Music by Dave Lake on live (live)
  • 3:32pm Four Centuries of Great Music by Mid-hour Break on Live (Live)
  • 3:34pm Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 In B Flat, Op. 67, Pathétique - 3. Allegro Molto Vivace by Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on Wilhelm Furtwängler Post-War Radio Recordings Vol. 5 (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • 3:44pm Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 In B Flat, Op. 67, Pathétique - 4. Adagio Lamentoso — Andante by Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on Wilhelm Furtwängler Post-War Radio Recordings Vol. 5 (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • 3:54pm Commentary on the Music by Dave Lake on live (live)
  • 3:55pm Alexander Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia by Ernest Ansermet: Suisse Romande Orchestra on Ansermet in Russa (Decca Music Group)
  • 4:00pm Alexander Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia by Ernest Ansermet: Suisse Romande Orchestra on Ansermet in Russa (Decca Music Group)
  • 4:00pm Four Centuries of Great Music November 6, 2022 Symphony through the Centuries Episode 12 Part 2 by Symphony through the Centuries Episode 12 on Four Centuries of Great Music
  • 4:02pm Commentary on the Music by Dave Lake on live (live)
  • 4:04pm Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A-Flat, Op. 55: I. Andante. Nobilmente e Semplice: Allegro by Philharmonia Orchestra & Sir Andrew Davis on Decca Concerts - Elgar: Symphony No. 1, Enigma Variations (Decca Music Group)
  • 4:23pm Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A-Flat, Op. 55: II. Allegro Molto by Philharmonia Orchestra & Sir Andrew Davis on Decca Concerts - Elgar: Symphony No. 1, Enigma Variations (Decca Music Group)
  • 4:32pm Commentary on the Music by Dave Lake on live (live)
  • 4:32pm Four Centuries of Great Music by Mid-hour Break on Live (Live)
  • 4:35pm Commentary on the Music by Dave Lake on live (live)
  • 4:35pm Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A-Flat, Op. 55: III. Adagio by Philharmonia Orchestra & Sir Andrew Davis on Decca Concerts - Elgar: Symphony No. 1, Enigma Variations (Decca Music Group)
  • 4:47pm Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A-Flat, Op. 55: IV. Lento: Allegro by Philharmonia Orchestra & Sir Andrew Davis on Decca Concerts - Elgar: Symphony No. 1, Enigma Variations (Decca Music Group)
  • 4:59pm Four Centuries of Great Music by Closing on Live (Live)
  • 4:59pm Default User by Live
Comments
You must be signed in to post comments.