Polish composer Karol Szymanowski worked on his Symphony No. 1 in F minor Op. 15 between 1906 and 1907.
Szymanowski struggled with the composition. He wrote in a letter from 1906 that it was going to "turn out to be some sort of contrapuntal-harmonic-orchestral monster"[1] and going so far as to say "I don't like it".[2] He only completed the first movement and the finale and these two movements had a single performance at the Warsaw Philharmonia, conducted by Grzegorz Fitelberg on 26 March 1909, before Szymanowski withdrew the score.
The symphony is scored for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 6 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion (4 players), 2 harps and strings.
The two movements are:
- Allegro moderato
- Allegretto con moto grazioso
The playing time is approximately 20 minutes.
Recordings
edit- Chandos - BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner
- LSO Live - London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev
- Naxos - Polish State Philharmonic Orchestra (Katowice), conducted by Karol Stryja
- Naxos - Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Antoni Wit
References
edit- ^ "Symphony No. 1 in F minor op. 15". karolszymanowski.pl. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- ^ Thomas, Adrian. "LSO Szymanowski: Symphony no.1". onpolishmusic.com. Retrieved 14 April 2019.