Lovin’ me a good symphony (as you know), I couldn’t resist the suggestion to investigate Tournemire’s, and so far have listened to the first two (No.4 may follow later today). What immediately struck me (apart from the vivid orchestration and obvious cyclical elements) was the tendency of his themes towards a constant state of contrapuntal “becoming”, as opposed to being contrasted and developed more conventionally. Not dissimilar to the methods of a certain 20th-century British symphonist we’ve discussed a fair bit, in fact! It’s clear that, when it came to writing symphonies, from the outset Tournemire had his own approach – and a very compelling one it is too!
Lovin’ me a good symphony (as you know), I couldn’t resist the suggestion to investigate Tournemire’s, and so far have listened to the first two (No.4 may follow later today). What immediately struck me (apart from the vivid orchestration and obvious cyclical elements) was the tendency of his themes towards a constant state of contrapuntal “becoming”, as opposed to being contrasted and developed more conventionally. Not dissimilar to the methods of a certain 20th-century British symphonist we’ve discussed a fair bit, in fact! It’s clear that, when it came to writing symphonies, from the outset Tournemire had his own approach – and a very compelling one it is too!