The Symphony No. 3 by Robert Simpson was written in 1962 and dedicated to veteran composer Havergal Brian. The premiere was given by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on 14 March, 1963 under the conductor Hugo Rignold.
The orchestration is fairly standard, except Simpson required all three flutes to double on piccolos.
The work lasts about 31 minutes in performance (both recorded performances time in at a few seconds under that figure) an...
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The Symphony No. 3 by Robert Simpson was written in 1962 and dedicated to veteran composer Havergal Brian. The premiere was given by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on 14 March, 1963 under the conductor Hugo Rignold.
The orchestration is fairly standard, except Simpson required all three flutes to double on piccolos.
The work lasts about 31 minutes in performance (both recorded performances time in at a few seconds under that figure) and is in two movements:
In two movements, this Symphony conflicts C major and B-flat. The first movement is a dissonant, craggy sonata-allegro in B flat which strays into the orbit of C. The model of this movement has some parallels with the first movement of Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven, but it is still highly individual.
Simpson described the second movement as 'a huge composed accelerando, but with the dynamics repressed'. It is really a slow movement and finale, and the tempo is always increasing. The movement takes a good while...
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