The Symphony No. 1, Op. 210, by

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

is a work for orchestra composed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in 1939, during a period of illness and anxiety following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Nearly fifty years old at the time and already a very prolific and mature composer, Milhaud had never attempted a symphony before. In spite of his expressed antipathy toward the "German music" typified by the symphony, he accepted a commission for this work from the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

, then approaching its 50th anniversary. Milhaud went on to write twelve more numbered symphonies by 1963. In spite of the trying circumstances in which it was written, Milhaud's First Symphony is a bright, optimistic work in its composer's unique neo-classical style. With a total running time of some 24 minutes, the piece's four movements are: # Pastoral. Modérément animé (approx. 7') # Très vif (approx. 4'30") # Très modéré (approx. 6'30") # Final. Animé (approx. 6'20") This symphony, which is not to be confused with Milhaud's Little Symphony No.1 "Le printemps", Op.43 (1917), is published by Heugel & Cie.

Recordings

* a 1943 mono recording on the Guild label, featuring the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

* a 1956 mono recording made by GDR Radio, featuring the

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has also ...

conducted by Rolf Kleinert * a 1991 all-

digital recording In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is saved to a storag ...

Michel Plasson Michel Plasson (born 2 October 1933, Paris, France) is a French conductor. Plasson was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1962, he was a prize-winner at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. ...

and the Toulouse Capitole Orchestra, on

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

* a 1995 all-digital recording by Alun Francis and the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Basel, part of a boxed set of Milhaud's Symphonies No. 1-12 on CPO

References

External links

Video - Darius Milhaud - Symphony No. 1 (1 of 2) (12:25).Video - Darius Milhaud - Symphony No. 1 (2 of 2) (15:03).
{{Authority control Symphony 01 1939 compositions Music commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra