Content
- Composer's note
- Instrumentation
- Symphony No. 4
Unlike MacMillans first three symphonies Symphony no 4 (201415) is essentially abstract. Here he is interested in the interplay of different types of material, following upon a fascination with music as ritual that has stretched from Monteverdi in the early 17th century through to Boulez and Birtwistle in the present day. There are four distinct archetypes in this work, which can be viewed as rituals of movement, exhortation, petition and joy. It is also a homage to Robert Carver (c1487after 1566), the most important Scottish composer of the High Renaissance. There are allusions to Carvers 10-voice Mass Dum sacrum mysterium embedded in the symphony, and at a number of points it emerges from across the centuries in a more discernible form: the vocal lines are muted and muffled, literally in the distance, as they are played delicately by the back desks of the violas, cellos and double basses.
for: Chamber orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 666841
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1556
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 666855
for orchestra (chamber orchestra)
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1512
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 616924
Concert overture for orchestra
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1534
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 637731
Hawkes Pocket Scores
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 635853
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1446
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 580062
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1448
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 580064
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1466
for: Chamber orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 635626
für Sinfonieorchester
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 382861
für Orchester
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 103120
for: Orchestra
Score (hardcover, with musicological analysis)
Item no.: 104717