Symphony No. 1 ''RiverRun'' is an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l symphony in four movements by the American composer

Stephen Albert Stephen Joel Albert (6 February 1941 – 27 December 1992) was an American composer. He is best known for his Symphony No. 1 ''RiverRun'' (1983) and Cello Concerto (1990) written for Yo-Yo Ma, both of which won a Pulitzer Prize for Music. He d ...

. The piece was completed in 1983 and won the

Pulitzer Prize for Music The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted ...

in 1985. The title comes from the novel ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction which combines a bod ...

'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

, whose literature served as inspiration for the work.

Composition

The symphony has a duration of approximately 33 minutes and is composed in four movements: #Rain Music #Leafy Speafing #Beside the Rivering Waters #River's End

Reception

Music critic Steve Schwartz said of the work, "Albert's characteristic mode of musical expression is epic. It takes big breaths and proceeds in long phrases. It is full of 'parody quotes' — that is, things that you can easily trace to another composer but not note-for-note." Schwartz nevertheless opined, "...the symphony doesn't really grab me, although I can certainly see why so many admire it. For me, Albert's strategy of building up layers of activity combined with his penchant for low sonorities yields something one step up from mud." Walter Price of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' conversely praised the work, saying, "Albert's 1985 Pulitzer Prize winning symphony, inspired by the works of James Joyce, is conservatively tonal, even Romantic. His style is eclectic though clearly the Stravinsky of '

Firebird Firebird and fire bird may refer to: Mythical birds * Phoenix (mythology), sacred firebird found in the mythologies of many cultures * Bennu, Egyptian firebird * Huma bird, Persian firebird * Firebird (Slavic folklore) Bird species ''Various sp ...

' and '

Petrushka Petrushka ( rus, Петру́шка, p=pʲɪtˈruʂkə, a=Ru-петрушка.ogg) is a stock character of Russian folk puppetry. Italian puppeteers introduced it in the first third of the 19th century. While most core characters came from Italy ...

' have influenced him." Price added, "Albert is certainly a master of lush orchestration, if his melodic material is not particularly distinguished." External Links

References

External links

Symphony RiverRun
Review and Joycean analysis 1983 compositions Finnegans Wake Pulitzer Prize for Music-winning works 1 {{symphony-stub