Call It a Symphony
HIiEKRE was a time when you knew what to expect from a symphony: three or four movements, serious even when blithesome, music for its own sake, about nothing in particular; design in sound. Nowadays symphonies may have anything from one to four or even five movements and take from twelve minutes to an hour and a-half. The composer may claim them to be manifestoes of the future, or reminiscences of the past, eulogies of machines or ecstasies of the dance. "Symphony on Marching Tunes," by Morton Gould-who flirts with the "popular" style arid aspires to be serious-would have made Beethoven think, have shocked Schumann and amused Haydn. It is a clever bit of writing, but as far from a symphony according to Beethoven’ or Mahler as a smart cartoon is from Rembrandt. One can only conclude that, sometimes at least, | the composer to-day when he has nothing to say writes it for orchestra and calls it a symphony. 23
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 328, 5 October 1945, Page 9
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163Call It a Symphony New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 328, 5 October 1945, Page 9
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