Robert Simpson composed his Symphony No. 11 in 1990, dedicating the work to the conductor and composer Matthew Taylor, who was scheduled to give the premiere at

Cheltenham Town Hall Cheltenham Town Hall is an early-20th century assembly rooms in Cheltenham, England. Unlike most town halls, it is a public venue and not the seat of the borough council, which is housed in the nearby Municipal Offices. It is a Grade II listed ...

with the

City of London Sinfonia City of London Sinfonia (CLS) is an English chamber orchestra based in London. CLS is orchestra-in-residence at Opera Holland Park since 2004 and holds a residency at St Paul's Cathedral. CLS also performs regularly across the city of London i ...

on 15 July 1991. However, this event never took place, and the actual premiere was given at the Malvern Festival in 1992, by the same performers.

Form

The symphony is approximately 28 minutes in length and is divided into two

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

of approximately equal length: # Andante #:The symphony opens with a lyrical line given out by the first violins, which rises up from the note D before descending through widely-leaping intervals. The musical material for the entire symphony grows out of this line. Passages of quietly intense string writing alternate with moments of reflection, where there is often only two or three lines moving at any one time. There is much lyrical writing for divided cellos in the middle of the movement, before a tightening of note values that gives the illusion of an increase in tempo. The movement gradually accelerates in this way, eventually climaxing on the note C from the entire orchestra before fading out into a quiet coda, which ends mysteriously and unresolved. # Allegro vivace #:This movement begins softly with quiet colouristic effects that seem to bubble from the texture: brooding sustained brass resonances and flickering woodwind and string pizzicati. Eventually the music becomes louder and more intense, with a great sense of Beethovenian dynamic energy. After a primary climax, the middle of the movement is dominated by mysterious threads of contrapuntal lines that gradually increase in dynamic. The climax of the work is built up, where gestures from the first movement are returned, now having undergone a different experience. This climax fades out on a timpani roll, which leaves a short, witty coda where fragments of the music are broken up and disappear into thin air.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a chamber orchestra: two

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

s, two

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

s, two

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

s, two

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

s, four

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

s, two

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

, and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Discography

Currently, the only commercially available CD is a

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca a ...

performed by the

conducted by Matthew Taylor.Andrew Jacksons,
Recordings and Reviews of Simpson's Works
. Accessed 5 May 2008 The work is coupled with a performance of Simpson's ''Variations on a Theme of

Carl Nielsen Carl August Nielsen (; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish composer, conductor, and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer. Brought up by poor yet musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he d ...

for Orchestra''.

References

11 1990 compositions {{symphony-stub