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I have found the First Symphony of Tubin to be very beautiful. I also very much was impressed with Tubin's "Idyllic Symphony" which I think is #4. His other symphonies are good but these are his top ones to me. His fifth Symphony is very good also. These works need repeated listenings to grasped the wealth and skill of development of this symphonist. The First and Fourth symphonies I would place in a tonal world somewhere between Sibelius and Shostokovich. The First has great changing and shifting tectonic plates of harmony that I find masterful. I wish some great conductor would champion more of the music of Eduard Tubin in the US. Jarvi's recordngs are very good.
I agree, Tubin is a composer who I believe by all rights should be mentioned in the company of Sibelius, Shostakovich and perhaps William Walton (the last because they were born and died in nearly the same years).
Tubin is a perfect example of a brilliant talent with some unique and stunning pieces that was in the wrong place at the wrong time (the Austrian Franz Schreker comes to mind as another one of these, caught up in the rise of the Nazis rather than Tubin's unfortunate burial by the Soviets).
The Fourth Symphony (the Lyric) was nearly destroyed by bombing of the Soviets in 1944. The only copy of the score was actually singed by the fire from the bombing! This would have been a tragedy, as I think any live performance of the Fourth would have the audience on its feet at the conclusion. It's the most approachable of Tubin's works, and is also one of the few Symphonies ever written that is essentially built off a single theme in all movements! Tubin pulled off the same thematic magic in his Concertino for Piano and Orchestra as well as his Sonatina for Piano in D minor (1942).
Tubin could be said to take a great deal from Bartok and perhaps even Prokofiev in much of his music. His Piano Sonata 2 (1950)'The Northern Lights Sonata' has a bit of resemblance in the last movement to the same driving energy of Prokofiev's Sonata No. (7 op. 83). The third of his Three Pieces for Violin of 1933 has striking echoes of Bartok's Allegro Barbaro for piano (Sz 49) Also, the influence of Shostakovich (perhaps a sympathetic soul to Tubin's plight) can be clearly heard in the military percussion, the instrumental unisons and biting sarcasm of Tubin's Sixth Symphony (the opening of the third movement, marked 'Festoso' could very well have been written by Shostakovich!)
Nevertheless, even with all of these influences and echoes, Tubin's music comes through as his own, with some truly brilliant passages: Not one but two horrifying battles of dueling timpani in the Fifth Symphony, A sparkling opening of the Second Piano Sonata which earned it the Northern Lights nickname, and an utterly ravishing third movement of the Lyric Symphony).
I'm hoping that the celebration of Tubin's 100th birthday this year will raise his profile in the world. Even Mahler needed some conductors to champion his cause!
The program notes to Volmer's recording of Tubin's 4th Symphony claim that all of Tubin's works were banned in the USSR (including Estonia of course) until "the ice was broken" by a performance in Estonia of the 4th Symphony on Tubin's 80th birthday. That would be 1985.
I find this remarkable because so much of Tubin's music is far from "formalist." Was it simply because it was considered nationalistic? If somebody has more information on this, it would be good to see it in Tubin's entry, which doesn't seem to mention the banning now. Opus131 ( talk) 22:50, 1 July 2015 (UTC)
This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I have found the First Symphony of Tubin to be very beautiful. I also very much was impressed with Tubin's "Idyllic Symphony" which I think is #4. His other symphonies are good but these are his top ones to me. His fifth Symphony is very good also. These works need repeated listenings to grasped the wealth and skill of development of this symphonist. The First and Fourth symphonies I would place in a tonal world somewhere between Sibelius and Shostokovich. The First has great changing and shifting tectonic plates of harmony that I find masterful. I wish some great conductor would champion more of the music of Eduard Tubin in the US. Jarvi's recordngs are very good.
I agree, Tubin is a composer who I believe by all rights should be mentioned in the company of Sibelius, Shostakovich and perhaps William Walton (the last because they were born and died in nearly the same years).
Tubin is a perfect example of a brilliant talent with some unique and stunning pieces that was in the wrong place at the wrong time (the Austrian Franz Schreker comes to mind as another one of these, caught up in the rise of the Nazis rather than Tubin's unfortunate burial by the Soviets).
The Fourth Symphony (the Lyric) was nearly destroyed by bombing of the Soviets in 1944. The only copy of the score was actually singed by the fire from the bombing! This would have been a tragedy, as I think any live performance of the Fourth would have the audience on its feet at the conclusion. It's the most approachable of Tubin's works, and is also one of the few Symphonies ever written that is essentially built off a single theme in all movements! Tubin pulled off the same thematic magic in his Concertino for Piano and Orchestra as well as his Sonatina for Piano in D minor (1942).
Tubin could be said to take a great deal from Bartok and perhaps even Prokofiev in much of his music. His Piano Sonata 2 (1950)'The Northern Lights Sonata' has a bit of resemblance in the last movement to the same driving energy of Prokofiev's Sonata No. (7 op. 83). The third of his Three Pieces for Violin of 1933 has striking echoes of Bartok's Allegro Barbaro for piano (Sz 49) Also, the influence of Shostakovich (perhaps a sympathetic soul to Tubin's plight) can be clearly heard in the military percussion, the instrumental unisons and biting sarcasm of Tubin's Sixth Symphony (the opening of the third movement, marked 'Festoso' could very well have been written by Shostakovich!)
Nevertheless, even with all of these influences and echoes, Tubin's music comes through as his own, with some truly brilliant passages: Not one but two horrifying battles of dueling timpani in the Fifth Symphony, A sparkling opening of the Second Piano Sonata which earned it the Northern Lights nickname, and an utterly ravishing third movement of the Lyric Symphony).
I'm hoping that the celebration of Tubin's 100th birthday this year will raise his profile in the world. Even Mahler needed some conductors to champion his cause!
The program notes to Volmer's recording of Tubin's 4th Symphony claim that all of Tubin's works were banned in the USSR (including Estonia of course) until "the ice was broken" by a performance in Estonia of the 4th Symphony on Tubin's 80th birthday. That would be 1985.
I find this remarkable because so much of Tubin's music is far from "formalist." Was it simply because it was considered nationalistic? If somebody has more information on this, it would be good to see it in Tubin's entry, which doesn't seem to mention the banning now. Opus131 ( talk) 22:50, 1 July 2015 (UTC)