The Symphony No. 4, Op. 281, is a work for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

by French composer

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

. The piece was written in 1947 in response to a request by the French minister of education for a composition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the

Revolution of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

. Milhaud wrote this symphony on board a steamship to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

from the U.S., where he had lived since 1940. This symphony is not to be confused with Milhaud's Chamber Symphony No. 4, op. 74 (1921). Milhaud's Fourth Symphony has four movements and a total running time of a bit over 28 minutes. The outer movements have a military flavor, dominated by wind instruments and percussion. The descriptive titles of the movements are as follows: # L'insurrection. Animé (approx. 5') # Aux Morts de la République. Lent (approx. 13') # Le Joies de la Liberté retrouvée. Modérément animé (approx. 4') # Commémoration 1948. Animé (approx. 7'15") This symphony is published by Editions Salabert.

Recordings

* a 1947 stereo recording featuring the Orchestre Radio-Symphonique, conducted by the composer himself, and re-released in 2003 on the Apex label * a 1997 all-

digital recording In digital recording, an audio signal, audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or Color, chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is s ...

Alun Francis Alun Francis (born 29 September 1943) is a Welsh conductor. Career Francis was the principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra from 1966 for ten years. In 1978 he conducted the premiere of Donizetti's opera ''Gabriella di Vergy'' in the Que ...

and the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Basel, part of a boxed set of Milhaud's Symphonies No. 1–12 on CPO

References

External links

Video - Darius Milhaud - Symphony No. 4 (1 of 2) (15:30).Video - Darius Milhaud - Symphony No. 4 (2 of 2) (10:27).
{{Portalbar, Classical Music Symphony 04 1947 compositions