Sinfonietta on Beethoven's Eight Symphonies

Score title

Sinfonietta on Beethoven's Eight Symphonies

Composer

Akira Nishimura

More about the composer

Date

Instrumentation

Program note

This piece was composed on commission of IZUMI HALL in autumn 2007. I was requested to write a kind of overture to Beethoven's Symphony No.9 with ca. 10 minutes duration. As I was always thinking to write a small symphony, I decided to compose such sinfonietta as written in the title. This sinfonietta is fit to instrumentation of Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka and has following four movements;
I. Allegro con brio, II. Andante, III. Scherzo/Allegro vivace, IV. Finale/Allegro.
Movement III and IV should be played continually as attacca. The duration is about 11 minutes. In each movement, there are phrases quoted from every corresponding movement of Beethoven's symphonies No.1 to 8. Those phrases are free from the original ordering or context. Some of them are almost similar to originals, and the others are pretty changed. The fifth movement of Beethoven's Symphony No.6 "Pastorale" appears in Coda of finale in my work.