My first symphony

[andreasvanharen]

Hello,

I have put my first symphony on my website. Is has four movements, you can listen to the music and read the score while listening. Have a look here:

http://www.andrevanharen.com/firstsymphony.htm

best wishes,
André

[zeitblom]

Okay, André, as I expected, it is a very enjoyable work. I particularly liked the first movement with it's clearness and energetic lightness. The finale is indeed very finale-like, as it should be.
I must admit that the slow movement wasn't my favourite one, although I found the themes very lovely; I think that this light-hearted tune gives a good contrast to the fresh vigour of the other movements. But I have the impression, that the movement loses somewhat of it's charme because it is - well - a little bit too long. I won't give you know concrete advises where I would cut out anything and what. And I am aware that the far from ideal sound of the synthetic instruments makes it very difficult to give a fair appreciation of this movement.
What I love however is the scherzo-like third movement. It is clearly my favourite because of it's ironic touch and it's originality.

One last - and maybe inappropriate - remark: If I were the composer of this work, I am not sure I'd call it a symphony. Obviously it has quite a "classic" habit, and I am aware that not everyone has the same "Bruckner-/Mahler-/Shostakovich-feeling" about symphonies than I have. My first impression by listening at it however was, that this is rather a kind of "Serenade" or something like that, but has few to do with the big heavy word "Symphony". This doesn't say anything about the quality of the work, don't misunderstand me, but rather with the feeling that ... uhm ... well leet's say: you are calling a young elegant sports car a "limousine". That's at least what I feel.

However: I really hope you will have the chance to have that piece performed by a real orchestra, I think it deserves it.

Greetings (and sorry for my errors in english)
Daniel

[andreasvanharen]

Hi Daniel,
thanks for the comments. I know that the word symphony is a big heavy word, but still I believe it's ok here. Think about the light Mozart/Haydn symphonies. I believe as long the piece really has all the expected form elements, it can be called so.

Even after putting a lot of time in every part of the recording, I agree that it still doesn't sound good at some moments, and I really hope I can find an orchestra that would like to play it. I am working on that at the moment with the Gothenburgs Symphonic Orchestra here in Sweden. I am trying to get in contact with the artistic manager but didn't succeed yet. I will post any info that I get on this here on the forum.

Best wishes,
André

[Boneman]

Can you post a pdf of the file?

[andreasvanharen]

All the pdf's are on the website.