Symphony No. 1 (Balakirev)


The Symphony No. 1 in C major by Mily Balakirev is scored for 3 flutes, oboe, English horn, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, snare drum, bass drum, 2 harps, first and second violins, violas, cellos and double basses.

Revision

Balakirev revised the symphony but the publisher Zimmerman does not mark the printing of the second version as different, and scores and parts of the two versions were sometimes mixed up. One way to tell them apart is that the first version has rehearsal figures going up to 15, 10, 7, 16 but in the second version they go to 26, 14, 14, 26. The more obvious textual changes occur in the third movement

Description

The piece is in four movements:
  1. Largo – Allegro vivo
  2. Scherzo. Vivo – Poco meno mosso – Tempo I
  3. Andante
  4. Finale. Allegro moderato

    Performances

Sketching began in 1864 but the first performance, with Balakirev himself conducting, did not take place until 1898. In 1949 Herbert von Karajan recorded it with the Philharmonia Orchestra. In December 1955 Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra made the first stereo recording in the U.K..
There is also a recording of a concert performance with Beecham conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Yevgeny Svetlanov recorded it in 1971, with the USSR Symphony Orchestra. It was later recorded digitally by Neeme Järvi for EMI Classics. A modern recording by the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Igor Golovschin, is also available, as well as one from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with Vassily Sinaisky as conductor.

Footnotes