leadingtone:

Carl Vine - Symphony No. 3 (1990)
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Stuart Challender, cond.

Although Symphony No. 3 is not a programmatic work as such, the music traces a journey that may be interpreted in many ways. The opening is veiled and brooding, and somewhat enigmatic. The texture graudally lightens until it reaches a section of childlike innocence. This passage is interrupted at its climax by a rhythmically-based movement introduced by a solo for Maracas. The climax of this section cuts away, once again, to an extended slow movement characterised by a series of solos spread throughout the orchestra.

At the end of a long, melismatic Clarinet Solo, rapid running gestures move inevitably towards the Presto Finale. At the height of the Finale, the rhythmic momentum grinds to a halt and a slow-moving Coda closes the work with a final burst of power.

- Carl Vine

(photo by -dubliner-)