Brian's Overture to The Tinker's Wedding features sudden disjunctions in the musical flow and quirky, virtuosic orchestral writing, characteristic of his later style.
Composition History
The Overture to The Tinker's Wedding is based on the eponymous comedy by Irish playwright J.M. Synge, whom Brian had desired to set to music.
Composer Biography
Havergal Brian, the composer, wrote 32 symphonies between 1919 and 1968, but he considered his main accomplishments to be in musical drama.
Composition History
Symphony No. 7 was composed in 1948, after a three-year compositional hiatus, and was inspired by Goethe's autobiography about his student life in Strasbourg.
Composer Biography
Havergal Brian was largely self-educated but taught himself German, French, and Italian, setting works by Schiller and Goethe in their original languages.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Brian's symphonies often grew from literary inspirations, with many stemming from poetry or drama.
Composition History
Symphony No. 16 is part of a group of five symphonies Brian wrote in just 15 months between 1959 and 1961, following a two-and-a-half-year break from composing.
You might also enjoy...
Harty, H.: Irish Symphony (An) / A Comedy Overture
Charles O'Brien: Complete Orchestral Music, Vol. 1
Dvorak, Magnus Lindberg, Tchaikovsky
Ullmann: Orchestral Works
Brian: Symphonies Nos. 11 & 15
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Shostakovich: Prologue to 'Orango'; Symphony No.4
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93 & Tormis: Overture No. 2
