Komm ! Hebe dich… (Symphony n° 2)

Composed in
1987

For
Large Orchestra

Instrumentation
4/4/4/4 – 6/4/3/1 – 6 Perc. – 2 H – P – Strings

Duration
15′

First performance
November 7, 1987 at deSingel in Antwerp (B). Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders conducted by Günter NEUHOLD.

Commissioned by
Royal Flanders Philharmonic (deFilharmonie)

Dedicated to
Günter Neuhold

Awards
This work was awarded the First Prize at the European Competition for Composers in Metz (F) in 1988.

Commercial recordings
Cyprès CYP 2609 (2cd)

Publisher
Donemus

Luc about Symphony 2 (NL):

Deze symfonie bestaat uit drie delen die zonder onderbreking na elkaar worden gespeeld. De bezetting is zeer uitgebreid (100 man) en opvallend is het slagwerk, wegens het gebruik van redelijk ongewone instrumenten zoals: (lege) mazouttank, badkuip, een pauk met een snelbinder, enz… Deze ‘ongebruikelijke’ zaken werden enkel toegepast met het oog op het klinkende resultaat: mijn muziek is sedert geruime tijd gebaseerd op boventonen met alle (on)mogelijke implicaties vandien en in dit werk heb ik voor de eerste keer gepoogd om het op een dynamische manier (de meeste zogenaamde ‘spectrale’ muziek is toch zo statisch) te verwerken. In het langzame middendeel is er een citaat uit de 8ste symfonie van Gustav Mahler (cfr de titel!) dat overigens pas nà het voleindigen van het werk is toegevoegd, wegens het idee dat er naar mijn gevoel nog iets ontbrak aan het geheel. Verder zijn er nog tal van speciale ‘ingrediënten’ in deze muziek, maar elke verklaring daarover lijkt me totaal overbodig te zijn. De muziek spreekt immers voor zichzelf.

Harry Halbreich about Symphony 2 (CD Booklet Cyprès 2609):

This Symphony was written from July to September 1987 as a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, which premiered under Günter Neuhold (the dedicatee of the work) the 7yh November of that year at the Singel hall in Antwerp. The same orchestra then revived it several times, also abroad.(…)The work’s subtitle, ‘Komm, Hebe dich…’ stems from a very short quotation (added after the work was completed) from Mahler’s Eight Symphony, which occurs at the very end of the second of its three linked parts. The complete quotation (from Goethe’s Second Faust) is: ‘Komm! Hebe dich zu höheren Sphären. Wenn er dich ahnet, folgt er nach.‘ (‚Come! Raise yourself to higher spheres. If he forebodes you, he shall follow’)As compared to the First Symphony, the Second is more substantial, more richly contrasted, more individual and more clearly articulated. Here the spectral harmony is fully developed (over the fundamental C), resulting in that intense luminosity so typical of Brewaeys’ tonal palette. The work consists in three parts played without a break (in the ‘classical’ succession moderata-slow-fast), each part breaking down into several sections.The first main part has four such sections.A. (bars 1-14): the work opens in full strength and dazzle, with electrifying fst runs of the high brass, also to appear later.B. (bars 15-36): after this brief openings gesture, there follows a quieter episode, whose ascending and descending glissandi of the strings playing harmonics and of the percussion are reminiscent of some places in the First Symphony.C. (bars 37-61): violent, ‘telegraphic’ rhythms of the winds are added, gradually becoming more continuous.D. (bars 62-87): after a brief zone of repose, tension gradually grows, the very broad progression leading to a colossal and sustained climax, during which the quick rungs of the brass are unleashed in a relentless turmoil through triple reiteration of certain harmonic structures. This climax breaks up abruptly.The second main part is also in four sections.A. (bars 87-96): this slow middle part of the work, a meditation of radiant beauty, begins with long held, quiet spectral harmonies, still over the fundamental low C.B. (bars 97-103): here a long episode senza tempo begins, an enchantment of small tonal drops from the ‘gamelan’ instruments (metallic percussions and keyboards) above spectral harmonies of the strings, and with the participation of three low male voices (the parts are to be sung by three skilled orchestral players), modulating their vocal sounds through the nose and always changing the repartition of overtones like in Stockhausen’s Stimmung.C. (bars 104-108): the senza tempo is continued, however without the voices, but instead with ‘telegraphic’ rhythms of the claves (a reminiscence from section C of part one), then with free cadenzas for the harps, the piano and the metallic percussions.D. (bars 109-126): the long-held spectral harmonics from section A turn back to round off this second part. At the very end, after a very soft horn solo, we hear the Mahler quotation, played very softly by the piano, with the horn giving a faint, almost inaudible echo.The very concise Third main part follows at once: under the last notes of the Mahler theme, the regular pulse of fast demisemiquavers of the timpani and the log-drum is brought in, to remain the whole final part during a breathtaking, ever accelerating progression. This is a kind of coda-stretto to the whole work, breaking down into only two sections (bars 127-151 and 152-184), the second of which brings back the brutal ‘telegraphic’ rhyuthms of the brass from section C of part one, as well as (just before the end, from the upbeat of bar 178) the quick runs of the brass. As so often with Brewaeys, the music suddenly stops at its very climax.