Symphony No. 1 (Rouse)

Symphony No. 1 is a symphony in one movement by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned by David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, completed August 26, 1986, and premiered in Baltimore, January 21, 1988. The piece is dedicated to Rouse's friend and fellow composer John Harbison.

The symphony is composed in a single adagio movement and has a duration of approximately 27 minutes. The work was conceived, in part, as a companion to Rouse's 1984 orchestral piece Gorgon.

The music quotes Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7. In the program notes to the score, Rouse commented on his inspirations and the use of Bruckner, saying, "In my Symphony No. 1 I have attempted to pay conscious homage to many of those I especially admire as composers of adagios -- Shostakovich, Sibelius, Hartmann, Pettersson, and Schuman, for example -- but only one is recognizably quoted (the famous opening theme from the second movement of Bruckner's Symphony No. 7, played both in the original and here by a quartet of Wagner Tubas)."

The piece is scored for two flutes (2nd doubling on piccolo), two oboes (2nd doubling on oboe d'amore and English horn), two clarinets (2nd doubling on bass clarinet), two bassoons (2nd doubling on contrabassoon), four French horns (all doubling Wagner Tubas), three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (three players), and strings (violins I & II, violas, violoncellos, and double basses).

...
Wikipedia