Symphony No. 8 is a
2005 symphony by
Philip Glass commissioned by the
Bruckner Orchestra Linz
The Bruckner Orchester Linz is an Austrian orchestra based in Linz. Named for Anton Bruckner, the orchestra is the concert orchestra for the state of Upper Austria, and also the opera orchestra at the Landestheater Linz (Upper Austrian State Theat ...
. It was premiered on November 2, 2005 at
Brooklyn Academy of Music by Bruckner Orchester Linz conducted by
Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies (born April 16, 1944 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American conductor and pianist, He is currently the music director and chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic.
Biography
Davies studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard Sch ...
. The symphony is in three movements and features extended solo writing. Critic Allan Kozinn described the symphony's chromaticism as more extreme, more fluid, and its themes and textures as continually changing, morphing without repetition, and praised the symphony's "unpredictable orchestration", pointing out the "beautiful flute and harp variation in the melancholy second movement". Alex Ross (music critic), Alex Ross remarked that "against all odds, this work succeeds in adding something certifiably new to the overstuffed annals of the classical symphony. (...) The musical material is cut from familiar fabric, but it’s striking that the composer forgoes the expected bustling conclusion and instead delves into a mood of deepening twilight and unending night."
[Alex Ross, The Endless Scroll, The New Yorker, November 5, 2007, http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/11/05/071105crmu_music_ross]
Orchestration: 2 flutes (dbl. picc.), 2 cor anglais, 2 clarinets (E-flat & bass), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets (2 in E-flat), 3 trombones (2+1 bass), tuba, timp, 4 percussion (harp + piano), strings.
References
External links
Philip Glass – Symphony No. 8
Symphonies by Philip Glass, 08
Philip Glass albums
21st-century symphonies, Glass 08
2005 compositions
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