John Maxwell Geddes - Catalogue
http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/john_maxwell_geddes/
Catalogue
Symphony No 3 (1999)
Programme Note available
John Maxwell Geddes
Commissioned by National Youth Orchesta of Scotland.
First performance:
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland / Sian Edwards, `s Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 03 Aug 2000
Recording Musik Sommer Berlin 2000 / location: sound archive - YELLOW [enquire]
Score : Periwinkle Publications / Location: ref library [enquire]
Recording Composer / location: sound archive - YELLOW [enquire]
Programme Note availableJohn Maxwell Geddes
Commissioned by National Youth Orchesta of Scotland.
First performance:
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland / Sian Edwards, `s Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 03 Aug 2000
Work Details
Category: orchestral
Duration: 29'
Instrumentation: 2+22+13+12+1 4341 Tp Perc Pf (Or Cel) Str
Duration: 29'
Instrumentation: 2+22+13+12+1 4341 Tp Perc Pf (Or Cel) Str
SMC Holdings
Recording Musik Sommer Berlin 2000 / location: sound archive - YELLOW [enquire]
Score : Periwinkle Publications / Location: ref library [enquire]
Recording Composer / location: sound archive - YELLOW [enquire]Programme Note
I have chosen to write a work which the players will find rewarding, yet challenging, for although the language is simple and direct, I am uncompromising about the technical demands made on the players - for this is a fine orchestra and I have admired its achievements over the years.
The symphony is scored for large orchestra and has four movements. The first movement is by far the most fragmented: it is as if the components of ideas were being washed up on some surreal shore, and motifs emerge reluctantly at first; some will not be fully developed until later movements. To this end I have used percussion instruments including cymbals and rainstick to create a `shore' backdrop together with sinister E flat pedals, percussive strings and emergent waveform motifs.
More aggressive waveforms assert the mood of the second movement. The E flat pedal yields to a series of different tonalities, in an exuberant allegro. The more static middle section features horn and cor anglais solos. The opening Allegro returns followed by a recap of the second section (cor anglais, cello) giving the movement an overall ABAB shape.
Initially, the third movement restates material of the previous coda - but inquieto. Four solo violins together with harp, vibe and celeste are menaced by wind, lower strings and timps. The brass begin to reassert earlier material and huge waveforms emerge like heavy seas. These subside; timps and rainstick make a last brooding statement.
The finale's opening brass motif is connected to the previous movement by the underlying dotted rhythm on timps. This moto perpetuo is taken up by strings and leads to a quotation from my Postlude for Strings (1996) - a short piece, protesting about the lack of funding in music education, in which the players leave the platform one by one during the performance.
But in this instance the mood of the original Postlude is turned around, for the players are required to remain and finish the work - as if in triumph over adversity. Apart from two brief periods of recess (rainstick / strings and a recall of the horn solo) the piece is unstoppable, its momentum takes the work through various tonalities and ends blazing in A major, the furthest point from the symphony's dark opening in E flat.
John Maxwell Geddes
I have chosen to write a work which the players will find rewarding, yet challenging, for although the language is simple and direct, I am uncompromising about the technical demands made on the players - for this is a fine orchestra and I have admired its achievements over the years.
The symphony is scored for large orchestra and has four movements. The first movement is by far the most fragmented: it is as if the components of ideas were being washed up on some surreal shore, and motifs emerge reluctantly at first; some will not be fully developed until later movements. To this end I have used percussion instruments including cymbals and rainstick to create a `shore' backdrop together with sinister E flat pedals, percussive strings and emergent waveform motifs.
More aggressive waveforms assert the mood of the second movement. The E flat pedal yields to a series of different tonalities, in an exuberant allegro. The more static middle section features horn and cor anglais solos. The opening Allegro returns followed by a recap of the second section (cor anglais, cello) giving the movement an overall ABAB shape.
Initially, the third movement restates material of the previous coda - but inquieto. Four solo violins together with harp, vibe and celeste are menaced by wind, lower strings and timps. The brass begin to reassert earlier material and huge waveforms emerge like heavy seas. These subside; timps and rainstick make a last brooding statement.
The finale's opening brass motif is connected to the previous movement by the underlying dotted rhythm on timps. This moto perpetuo is taken up by strings and leads to a quotation from my Postlude for Strings (1996) - a short piece, protesting about the lack of funding in music education, in which the players leave the platform one by one during the performance.
But in this instance the mood of the original Postlude is turned around, for the players are required to remain and finish the work - as if in triumph over adversity. Apart from two brief periods of recess (rainstick / strings and a recall of the horn solo) the piece is unstoppable, its momentum takes the work through various tonalities and ends blazing in A major, the furthest point from the symphony's dark opening in E flat.
John Maxwell Geddes