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Symphony No. 2 (Alwyn)

(William Alwyn)

Called the “little symphony” by William Alwyn, and said to be his favourite of the five that he composed, was first performed in 1953 and is said to have taken a lot of the ideas from his previously abandoned Rhodes Symphony.  Rather than using the usual four movements it concentrates on one main motif written it in two pieces of music that are described as “one continuous movement only broken by a momentary pause”.   They both start out energetically and move into a slower tempo with a rhythm that continues throughout.  The two piece of music are:

Part I.      Con moto – Molto moderato – Quasi molto calmato
Part II.    Allegro molto – Moderato largamente – Molto tranquillo

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra recordings
Naxos 8.557647
Conductor – David Lloyd-Jones  

Sources:

  1. http://www.musicweb.uk.net/alwyn/9093.htm
  2. http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.557647#

Here is the first movement performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.