The Simple Symphony, Op. 4, is beautiful
and worth a listen.
It was written Benjamin Britten between
December 1933 and February 1934 using bits of score that the composer had
written for the piano as a teenager, between 1923 and 1926. It was composed for
string orchestra and received its first performance in 1934, with Britten
conducting an amateur orchestra. He was twenty years old at the time.
It has four movements:
I. Boisterous Bourrée 3'
Themes Used
– Suite No. 1 in E for piano (18
October 1925), second movement (Bourrée: Allegro vivace) – Song (Song) (1923) A
Country Dance ('Now the King is home again'), text from Tennyson's The
Foresters, for voice and piano.
II. Playful Pizzicato 3'
Themes Used
– Scherzo (piano) (1924) Sonata
for Piano in B flat major, op. 5, Scherzo and Trio (Molto vivace) – Song (1924)
The Road Song of the "Bandar-Log" ('Here we go in a flung festoon',
text by Rudyard Kipling), for voice and piano.
III. Sentimental Sarabande 9'
Themes Used
– Suite No. 3 (for piano) (1925)
Suite No. 3, in F♯ minor,
for piano, op. 25, Prelude (Allegro di molto) – Waltz
for piano (1923) [Waltz in B major for piano], (Tempo di valse)
IV. Frolicsome Finale 3'15"
Themes Used
– Piano Sonata No. 9 (1926) Piano
Sonata No. 9, in C♯ minor,
op. 38, Finale – Song
(1925)
Eight main themes appear in the
symphony, with two movements, the most famous is the pizzicato. The entire
pieces last about 20 minutes. The second movement is popular with mandolin
players as it is pizzicato.
ENJOY!