“It is pure music, contemplated beyond the limitations of reality, in the world of dreams, amidst the moving architecture that God builds out of the mists...” – so enthused the French composer and critic Pierre de Bréville following the premiere (1901) of Debussy’s symphonic triptych Nocturnes inspired by the subtle verse of the symbolist poet Henri de Régnier. Composed over a period of many years, the work has become a milestone in the history of music, setting new horizons in terms of expression, harmony, and the handling of orchestral sound.
The Swiss composer Frank Martin wrote his Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Percussion and String Orchestra for the Bern Musikgesellschaft in 1949 – the work perfectly exploits the timbral range and potential of this colourful set of instruments, enchanting the listener in particular with its interesting, polyphonising texture and the mysterious aura of the second movement, an aria-type Adagietto.
Jean Sibelius’ Symphony in E Minor opens a catalogue of seven works (the composer destroyed the eighth and last without finishing it) that he worked on over a quarter of a century, from 1898 until 1924. Commentators on this successful debut were delighted with Sibelius’ masterful management of contrasts in timbre and mood as well as with the interesting, original orchestration, which became a “hallmark” of the great Finnish symphonist.
