The ''Symphony No. 1 in C major'' by Mily Balakirev was commenced as early as 1864, but was not completed until 1898. It is scored for three

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

s (the third doubling

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

), oboe,

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

, three

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

s (switching between B flat and A instruments), two

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

s, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals,

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

, two

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

s, first and second violins, violas, cellos and double basses.

Revision

Balakirev revised the symphony but the publisher Zimmerman does not mark the printing of the second version as different, and scores and parts of the two versions were sometimes mixed up. One way to tell them apart is that the first version has rehearsal figures going up to 15, 10, 7, 16 but in the second version they go to 26, 14, 14, 26. The more obvious textual changes occur in the third movement.(Del Mar, 1981): 6 – 9

Description

The piece is in four movements:

Performances

Sketching began in 1864 but the first performance, with Balakirev himself conducting, did not take place until 1898. In 1949, Herbert von Karajan recorded it with the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

. In December 1955, Sir Thomas Beecham and the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

made the first stereo recording in the U.K.. There is also a recording of a concert performance with Beecham conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Yevgeny Svetlanov recorded it in 1971, with the

USSR Symphony Orchestra The State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov" (Государственный академический симфонический оркестр России имени Е. Ф. Светланова) is a Russian orchestra based in Mo ...

. It was later recorded digitally by Neeme Järvi for EMI Classics. A modern recording by the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Igor Golovschin, is also available, as well as one from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with Vassily Sinaisky as conductor.

Footnotes

References

*Norman Del Mar, ''Orchestral Variations: Confusion and Error in the Orchestral Repertoire'' (1981) *Mily Balakirew, Symphony No. 1 in C major, Kalmus *フランシス・マース（森田稔・梅津紀雄・中田朱美　訳）「ロシア音楽史」（2006年　春秋社） {{Authority control Symphonies by Mily Balakirev 1898 compositions Compositions in C major