Symphony No. 2 (Rautavaara)
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Einojuhani Rautavaara's Symphony No. 2, Op. 8, sometimes also subtitled Sinfonia intima, is a symphony for orchestra written in 1957. It marks the composer's departure towards atonality from his first symphony.
Background
[edit]Rautavaara's second symphony is largely derived from material from the composer's 7 Preludes for Piano, which was completed in 1956. According to Rautavaara's writings, the preludes, later rearranged as symphonic movements, are "bare, sketchy, aphoristic, unconventional, ascetic, and dissonant but still supported with tonality."[1] These preludes were expanded and further developed to accomodate the full instrumental range of the orchestra and would also later be rearranged again in another Rautavaara composition for string orchestra: Finnisch, heute (1970).[2]
The composition process began in the fall of 1956, after completing his composition diploma at the Sibelius Academy and scheduling a performance of his Symphony No. 1 for January 1957.[2] After receiving mixed reviews for that performance and concerned about being perceived as conservative, Rautavaara decided to showcase his skills as a contemporary composer writing a symphony full of chromaticism, in expressionistic contrast to the first.[2] The seven preludes were expanded to double their duration in the new four-movement symphony. According to the composer, the symphony should not be considered "new wine in old wineskins."[1] It would later become common for Rautavaara to reuse his own material in different works, as he did with his sixth symphony, which took material from his opera Vincent.[2]
The piece was finished in 1957 in Helsinki and was published later by Fennica Gehrman. In 1984, Rautavaara expanded the scoring to accomodate a larger number of musicians, as the original was scored for a relatively small orchestra. In his 1984 revision, the composer did not add any new fragments, but developed existing textures further by adding more instruments. [2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Rautavaara, Einojuhani (1998). Omakuva (in Finnish). W. Söderström. ISBN 978-951-0-23023-7.
- ^ a b c d e Hong, Barbara Blanchard (2022-07-12). Rautavaara's Journey in Music. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-7234-6.