User:Mésenller/Symphony no. 3 (Gerhard)

The Symphony no. 3 "Collages is a musical composition containing 7 movements, for symphonic orchestra and magnetic tape. Its duration is about 20 minutes. It was written by Robert Gerhard in 1960 and its first performance was 8th February 1961 at the Royal Festival Hall in London by Rudolf Schwarz.

History
The work was comissioned by Koussevitzky Foundation and dedicated to the memory of its founder, Serge Koussevitzky and its wife Natalia Koussevitzky. The title Collages is related to the diversity of music materials, as it presents symphonic instrumentation with magnetic tape. Later, before a performance in 1967, Gerhard decided to give the title of Symphony no. 3.

Gerhard was inspired during a plane flight, when he saw the sun raising at 10.000 m. height, like it was "the sound of 10.000 trumpets". This gave him the idea of using magnetic tape. Indeed, the first sounds of the tape reminds us the sound of an airplane. It also helped on the structure: each movement would represent a specific moment of the day, remembering the Psalm 113: "From the rising of the sun to the place of it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised".

Symphony no. 3 is one of the first music works combining electronic music with orchestra, although Edgard Varèse made this first on Déserts (1954). The difference between this tow works is that Déserts uses magnetic tape between instrumental sections, but Gerhard's work mix both tape and orchestra at the same time. We can see in the score some dynamic notations meant to be controlled by an interpreter.

Première and reviews
The first performance was 8th February 1961 at the Royal Festival Hall in Londres, conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. The reviews were someway diverse. This one is concerning the première: "At this performance the noises only very occasionally seemed to add anything worthwhile to the music.For the most part they were felt to be rather annoying intrusion on what the orchestra was saying, andonce the novelty had worn off, the ear tended to ignore them as far as possible, just as it would anyother continuous sound that was not a product of the music."

- The Glasgow Herald This review comes from a performance in Barcelona on 1970, : "Gerhard, disciple of Schönberg, has continued the line of "grand music" with an exemplary dedication, and he has revealed some first-rank creative faculties on a basis without errors. Listening Symphony no. 3 "Collages" for orchestra and magnetic tape, I felt that I watched an heroic and over-human struggle, using all its resources in order to save the existence of "music". For me, Gerhard has been one of the last great valours of music in its traditional sense, and also he dedicated sincere struggles to research new ideas. He has done more than we could ask to a person of his generation (1896-1970) and most of his works should be present in an authentic musical antology of XXth-century music."

- Sebastià Benet

Composition
=== Instrumentation ===


 * Woodwinds
 * 2 flutes, 1 piccolo
 * 2 oboes, 1 english horn
 * 2 clarinets in A, 1 bass clarinet
 * 2 bassoon, 1 double bassoon.
 * Vent-metall:
 * 4 french horn
 * 3 trumpets in C
 * 2 trombones, 1 bass trombone
 * 1 tuba.
 * Percussió:
 * Timpani
 * 1st percussionist: suspended cymbal, 3 chinese tom-toms (small, medium and big), crotales, maracas, snare drum and woodblocks (small and big).
 * 2nd percussionist: tam tam and bass drum.
 * 3rd percussionist: xylorimba and glockenspiel.
 * 4th percussionist: viabraphone.
 * 5th percussionist: marimba.
 * Harp.
 * Piano.
 * Magnetic tape.
 * Strings:
 * 1st violins.
 * 2n violins.
 * Violas.
 * Celli.
 * Double bass

Structure and style
Gerhard presents a structure of 7 movements that represent specific moments of the day, from sunrise to night. He gave the following subtitles:


 * I. Allegro moderato: Brilliance of the rising sun.
 * II. Lento: Landing coming back to earth.
 * III. Allegro con brio: Man's rage and despair with the darkness of noon.
 * IV. Moderato: State of unconsciousness.
 * V. Vivace: Oblivion gives way to euphoria.
 * VI. Allegretto: Twinkling lights of distant cities.
 * VII. Calmo: Dead of night.

The "darkness of noon" of the 3rd movement is a quote of the work of Arthur Koestler, Sonnenfisternis, translated in english as Darkness at Noon. Concerning the composition elements, we can find material from Spanish folklore, so in rythm materials as melodic materials, for example the trichord [0,1,3] of the Phrygian mode. There are also some patterns similar to popular Spanish dances. In addition, Gerhard uses series of 12 notes as structural elements of the work, as he was disciple of Schönberg, but he applies it with a flexible point of view.

He recorded a wide variety of sounds for the tape and he edited them in his personal laboratory that he installed in his home in 1958, although some of the sounds he could not record by himself. For example, in 1959 he wrote by letter to Joaquim Homs and asked him to record the sound of two different castanets.

Therefore, taking into account the variety of elements that gives reason to the title Collages, Gerhard combines different styles without giving up his usual references of his own mediterranean roots.

Recordings

 * Pérez, Víctor Pablo (1993) Roberto Gerhard 3: Symphony no.1 - Symphony no.3 "Collages". [audio recording]. Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. Audivis Valois Montaigne. MON 782103
 * Bamer, Mathias (1997) Gerhard: Symphony no.3 "Collages", epithamalion, piano concerto. [audio recording] BBC Symphony Orchestra. Chandos Records LTD. CHAN 9556.