Symphonist

A symphony is a long composition in three or four separate movements written for a large orchestra. But not every orchestral composition in three or four movements is a symphony. Nearly any composer can string a few movements together like the acts in a vaudeville show. But a real symphonist must build his movements like the acts of a drama, make each one lead to the next, bring down his final curtain on an impressive climax. The great symphonists of any generation can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Therefore, when Cincinnati's thick-lipped Conductor Eugene Goossens last week announced the U. S. premiere of the "finest symphony of the past 15 years," musical cognoscenti lifted their brows. Fine symphonies of the past 15 years have included two by Finland's great bald Jean Sibelius, a half-dozen by such talented Russians as Dmitri Shostakovich, Serge Prokofieff and Tykon Krennikov . Conductor Goossens' entry for the honor was the Symphony in G Minor of reticent, little-known British Composer Ernest John Moeran. Premiered before a stuffy audience in Cincinnati's Music Hall, Moeran's opus drew pleased applause but no hosannas. Conductor Goossens' pronouncement has been only a cackle. But if Composer Moeran's symphony turned out to be less than a golden egg it was nevertheless a true symphony, meaty, fresh, symmetrical.

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