Symphony No.6 - Peter Mennin

Описание: Albany Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Alan Miller.

I - Maestoso - Allegro: 0:00
II - Grave: 7:53
III - Allegro vivace - Adagio sostenuto - Allegro vivace: 16:14

Mennin's Symphony No.6 was composed in 1953, being a commission from Robert Whitney for the Louisville Orchestra. It was premiered on November 18 of that year, performed by said orchestra and conductor. In the year 1955 Dimitri Mitropoulos presented it in New York.

After his fifth symphony, the musical style of Mennin evolved towards a more grim and sober tone, along with a more intense form of expression and complex levels of elaboration. Rhythm became increasingly irregular and violent, the harmonic language became more chromatic, dry and dissonant, all while still maintaining the use of tonality. However, some elements are still present, like the constant use of counterpoint or the presence of characteristic motives and gestures through his music. With the sixth symphony, Mennin had virtually departed from the American style he was linked on in favour of a new, highly personal aesthetic that rejects the notions of balance, symmetry, and restraint.

The first movement is structured in binary form. It begins with a slow solemn introduction in which three motifs configure the movement: The first a descending melody from the violins, the second is a related line introduced by basses and cellos. Clarinet and bassoon present a dark variation of the main motif. The third motif is a desolate melody presented by the violins in counterpoint along with the previous motifs. The second part is the main allegro. An agitated and turbulent main theme: a long, irregular line played softly, but with suppressed urgency by the strings. This theme drives the movement through its breakneck course, ever-increasing in intensity, using hard contrapuntal lines. When the level of intensity seems to have reached the breaking point, the music comes finally to a guarded, temporary repose. However, the music soon retakes its energy and anxiety. The movement concludes with an intense coda.

The second movement is monothematic in form. A sombre and reflective main theme is presented by strings and woods, largely bases on the motifs from the introduction of the first movement. This material is solemnly developed in an almost funereal manner with great sobriety but intensely expressive and lyrical at times. Solos of the flute and clarinet offer some of that lyrical respite. However, the music slowly grows towards a massive climax, full of dark dissonances. New solos of the wood offer a lyrical contrast before a new climax even darker and catastrophic than the previous one. After a more lyrical and collected passage, the movement ends with the same somber spirit as it began.

The third movement is structured as a scherzo and finale fused in a single movement. It opens with a dissonant rhythmic theme, first heard at the beginning of the second movement which is also derived from the main theme of the first movement, creating this cyclic total structure. This material is developed in whirlwind fashion, as previous motifs are reintroduced, leading to a massive canonic treatment that then subsides into a quiet, peaceful interlude in the form of tense but expressive chorale presented by flute and strings. This leads to a strong climax, after which the scherzo theme is briefly recapitulated. The energy builds and recedes, as most of the material of the symphony finds its way into a constant and fierce development, hurtling headlong with an ever-increasing frenzy. After much turbulence, a tonal goal perceived in the distance comes gradually into clearer focus, as the symphony reaches its triumphant conclusion in A major.

Paul Snook wrote on "Fanfare": "The sixth is the crowning summation [of a] prodigious spurt of youthful inspiration [that produced] a quartet of symphonies in quick succession which remain unsurpassed for their seriousness of argument, compactness of form, and ferocious kinetic charge. Deep underneath [it's] tightly controlled and fluid surface of sound is a churning, chaotic mass of energy demanding release, of Manichean conflict seeking its ultimate, perhaps annihilating resolution. This is an obsessive, tragic, and metaphysical music, with a narrow range of reference but a deep cutting edge of significance, full of the destructive fury and enigma of an American power which lies behind Ahab's quest and what Henry James once called "The imagination of disaster.""

Picture: A photograph of Peter Mennin taken in 1975.

Musical analysis partially written by myself. Sources: https://bit.ly/3EgzomH and https://bit.ly/3lmbNbD

Unfortunately the score is not available.