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MP3 The Bay Area Philharmonic - Simon Parsons Conducts: Michelle Ende: Symphony No. 7 in C Minor, Op. 130 the Penitent
5 MP3 Songs in this album (94:07) !
Related styles: CLASSICAL: Orchestral, CLASSICAL: Postmodern
People who are interested in Gustav Mahler Richard Wagner Johannes Brahms should consider this download.
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The Symphony Number 7 in C Minor; Opus 130 – The Penitent
This work is divided into three sections, much like Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The first section makes up the first and second movements and is labeled, simply, “Endings and Queries”.
The second section is made up of the third and fourth movements, as they stand alone in the center of the work, and are the source of the name of the work, “The Penitent”. For it is here that we hear the longing for redemption and the heartfelt song of the penitent soul, seeking grace; at least in the third movement. In the fourth movement, we see some of the consequences of this redemption in the nature of peace.
The third section of this work is the fifth movement, and this section is known simply as “The Awakening”, signifying the movement of the soul toward union with something greater than itself.
Movement One – Largo
The movement opens with Wagnerian brass announcing the C Minor setting for the work. Like Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, this work opens with a funeral march, announcing, repeating and somewhat developing a main theme. A soaring theme ensues and halts the march theme for a bit, until the march intrudes again, only in a kind of cockeyed merriment, only to be broken by the lower strings as the movement reverts back to its melancholy status, and the resumption of the march.
Movement Two – Andantino
A simple theme, asking a question, begins the movement. Strings begin a dialogue with the main theme in the woodwinds, the strings eventually taking up the theme and the movement develops from there. A trumpet is heralded sporadically with some kind of threat to the structure. Brass emerges with its own statements, and a rhythmic section ensues, like some great lumbering query that simply gets bigger, the longer it is unanswered. Two themes are now contending for dominance, competing to see which question will be the greater one unanswered. Eventually, a brief return to rhythm and then a total collapse of melody until the movement just fades away.
Movement Three – Andante Cantabile
So we come to the second section of the work, encompassing the third and fourth movements. This movement is mostly choral in its structure, with an interlude developing some of the choral melodies, but mainly serving as a bridge from one chorus to another. Here in this movement, we get a glimpse of the penitent’s heart, as we listen to the lyrics.
Oh Peace
Oh Far, removed peace
I long for this rest eternal
These days are done, these crimes committed
This soul has known, the just and unjust hand.
Oh Light
Oh Sole, eternal Light
Why do you stand away from me?
Those friends I’ve known, those souls relinquished
This soul has known, both friend and foe alike.
O Home
To see, to touch you now
How distant do your shores seem now.
Those loves so long ago forsaken
This heart knows not, who will remember me.
Oh Child
Where have you gone to now
Your countenance so changed, so old.
Pardon me now, I ask in small voice
Forgiveness now, my only gateway hence.
Oh Peace
Oh Far, removed peace
I long for the rest eternal.
Movement Four – Allegro Non Troppo
And so grace befalls the weary soul and peace is found in some tucked away place in the mind, or the soul. A gentle melody coaxes us into a myriad of harmonies and nuances as the melody is repeated, played against itself, and woven into a tapestry of melody.
Movement Five – Allegretto
This is the final section of the Symphony Number 7 and we are at the last movement marked Allegretto. The work opens with a counterpoint melody taken up by various voices in the orchestra until a climax is reached and the first theme is stated. Another development section ensues and a second climax is reached and a second melody is stated and developed. The movement proceeds to coalesce the two melodies and offer a third, as the movement comes to a vibrant, but sudden close. A lone cello note ends the work, and we are left wondering why the work has closed so abruptly, but this is the way of Michelle Ende’s composition. Almost as if she were a painter who has run out of canvas, the work stops, having nothing more to say.
Much of Ende''s work comes back to these themes of redemption, clarification, the revelation of self, and the establishment of purpose. Although these are classical, and at time seemingly remote themes, they are as much applicable to the world at large as they are to ourselves as individuals. - P. Stanislauw
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