Have you been craving newly minted neo-romantic symphonies written in the last few years? Those that have an old world sound but have yet to be worn in like the war horse symphonies of such time period? You’ve come to the right shop.
Related: If you’re also into new romantic chamber works, we have you covered in that respect as well. Click here to visit the feazelle catalog’s chamber works page.
Below are descriptions, passages, and recordings of the feazelle catalog symphonies:
Symphony No. 1 – Andrew Feazelle
Andrew Feazelle’s first symphony, otherwise know as Symphony in C, is a large programmatic symphony of amorphous form, written for top tier orchestras. Though not the most mature, it’s the most creative and ambitious of his symphonies, with clear influence from Arnold Bax, William Walton, and Vaughan Williams.
The symphony is around 38 minutes, and is in 3 movements. Unlike 19th century symphonies, it owns no scherzo movement, but instead incorporates triplet meter sections inside each of the movements. Indeed all three of Feazelle’s symphonies are 3 movement works, referencing Arnold Bax’s symphonic form.
Movement 1
Movement one is partially motif driven, defined by the clarinets within the first few measures of its opening. The motif is dark with a chromatic component in its harmonic support. Inside this intro it further sits on a jagged ostinato rhythm that trips itself up every few measures in a manner that emphasizes the fourth beat in those, for the purpose of acting as a counter to the motif.
Once this idea is fully flushed out over the first minute and a half, the secondary melody presents itself via the flutes. This melody is more lyrical and triplet driven, illuminating the character of the form and functionality of the movement’s sections, in which areas of non-triplet material are interwoven with those built on triplets.
Other incidental melodies that have that distinctive English or Appalachian folk song character are born in the development of the piece and have their say.
And like a Bax symphony the middle section of the movement presents a slower, more subdued theme that eventually climaxes:
Eventually the piece finds its way back to the front material, but always finds more complex and exciting ways to express it:
Lots of big walls of sound, compliments of the brass, keep the last third of the piece building and building:
And finally, Walton inspired ending material presents itself:
…with the original motif superimposed onto a more definitive rhythmic driver, contrasting the original rhythmic idea from the beginning of the piece that had more unsure sudden starts and stops.
Check the piece out below:
Movement 2
A solo clarinet, playing a somber melody at liberty kicks off the slower, more subdued second movement to this symphony:
Other woodwind soloists present and build up to a momentary climax of long, partially dissonant chords with moving chromatic elements. These can be heard in this YouTube short on the subjective explanation of such harmony:
A flute soloist eventually pairs with the harp to offer a bedding texture from which the original melody, now stated by the violins, plays over:
Another miniature climax momentarily washes up, where a melody and an equally weighted counter melody have their says, with additional complexity derived from transiently superimposing triplet driven passages over non-triplet material:
secondary theme in movement 2
The secondary theme of the movement provides a little more motion as the piece progresses. Here it’s first stated by the English Horn (doubled by the violas):
This secondary theme then builds over several sections to something profound, with the full orchestra engaged. The brass fill up the room, handling the melody by means of the first trumpet, but also the counter melody with respect to the horns:
The next feature of interest is a passage built from individual soloists in the string section:
…whilst not that much further into the piece the tempo picks up and provides adventurous passages like this section, which feels as though the orchestra is turning on a dime as were it a score to an adventure film:
This leads to the orchestra in full tutti mode, restating the the secondary theme, albeit much quicker and bolder.
middle of the movement, 6/8 material
The middle of the movement owns some nice 6/8 material built around an oboe melody:
This eventually leads to orchestral passages that almost sound like faeries flying about flirting with one another in a magical realm:
Eventually this 6/8 material winds down, and the violins have another go at the main theme of the movement. Such briefly develops into a tutti section, but this is short-lived, as is the developed conclusion of this section of music.
A quicker 6/8 section then presents itself, as were at some tertiary derivative of the first movements main 6/8 theme. This continuously builds to a more epic, climax related version of itself.
Such concludes with a subito piano effect, allowing a bass clarinetist a conclusive remark that once again leads back into the main theme, now reiterated by the solo B flat clarinetist.
Movement 3
Symphony No. 2 – Andrew Feazelle
After a long hiatus from orchestral writing, and classical writing in general, having spend a few years researching and writing the book, Of Woodbridge and Hedgely, Feazelle returned to his writing desk to create a more simple, and easier understood symphony: Symphony No. 2.
Movement 1
Movement 2
Written during a period when Feazelle’s mother was dying, the second movement contains moments of dark sadness, and simple emotional passages. Interestingly the form of the second movement represents a novel approach not seen before or after in any of Feazelle’s works: It follow a A, B, C, A, B, C, A pattern, sandwiched between light but dense higher string swells on either side of the piece, with a harp in those areas reminding the audience and composer of the passage of time, with its ‘tick-tock’ like quality.
Movement 3
Symphony No. 3 – The Climate
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
Next Up
Thanks for checking out my new 21st century symphonies that are romantic in nature! Next up check out my article on how to write a symphony. Or head back to the feazelle catalog directional page. And of course there are more articles below to choose from as well…
Take care,
A. Fez