The best ever movement by US composer?

[piston]

"molto deliberato"
Copland's Third Symphony
Blows my mind away!

Dissenters?

[Heck148]

"molto deliberato"
Copland's Third Symphony
Blows my mind away!

Dissenters?

Schuman Symhony #3 - I [Passacaglia/Fugue]
Bernstein - Symphony #1 "Jeremiah" - II "Profanation" Vivace con Brio

[ContrapunctusIX]

Schuman Symhony #3 - I [Passacaglia/Fugue]

seconded.

[Donaldopato]

Would you consider the Harris 3rd as one movement? If so that is my nomination.

[MaestroDJS]

Schuman Symhony #3 - I [Passacaglia/Fugue]

seconded.

Thirded.

[diegobueno]

"molto deliberato"
Copland's Third Symphony
Blows my mind away!

Dissenters?

Any movement in the Copland 3rd symphony could be deemed the best by an American composer. It's that great.

[slofstra]

"molto deliberato"
Copland's Third Symphony
Blows my mind away!

Dissenters?

Schuman Symhony #3 - I [Passacaglia/Fugue]
Bernstein - Symphony #1 "Jeremiah" - II "Profanation" Vivace con Brio

I don't think Schumann was American, and also, your spelling is atrocious. (Okay, I'm kidding! )

[Chalkperson]

"molto deliberato"
Copland's Third Symphony
Blows my mind away!

Dissenters?

Schuman Symhony #3 - I [Passacaglia/Fugue]
Bernstein - Symphony #1 "Jeremiah" - II "Profanation" Vivace con Brio

I don't think Schumann was American, and also, your spelling is atrocious. (Okay, I'm kidding! )

Well, at least you agree that Schumann is a joke...

[maestrob]

Will nobody stand up for Sam Barber?

In a totally different mood, I'd rank his piano Concerto and Violin Concerto as having the most tuneful slow movements.

[JackC]

Will nobody stand up for Sam Barber?

In a totally different mood, I'd rank his piano Concerto and Violin Concerto as having the most tuneful slow movements.

I will, and the "Adagio" is a very powerful piece of music, even if it is popular!

[johnQpublic]

The first movement of the Barber Piano Concerto is so powerful.

The last movement of Schuman's 8th symphony is a non-stop whirlwind.

The first movement of Rochberg's 2nd symphony is so angry and so granitic.

The final movement of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms is so jubilant.

[Wallingford]

Would you consider the Harris 3rd as one movement? If so that is my nomination.

Well, if so, I'd likely nominate Barber's First.

[johnQpublic]

I forgot the bluesy slow movement of Piston's 2nd symphony. The best lyrical movement he ever wrote.

[ContrapunctusIX]

I'd likely nominate Barber's First.

That's another good choice. If that symphony had been written in 1880 it would have been hailed as a masterpiece of the late Romantic era. However he wrote it in 1936; the cognoscenti at the time likely criticized it as overly conservative and derivative.

[diegobueno]

That's another good choice. If that symphony had been written in 1880 it would have been hailed as a masterpiece of the late Romantic era. However he wrote it in 1936; the cognoscenti at the time likely criticized it as overly conservative and derivative.

If the Barber 1st had been written in 1880, it would have been seen as terribly dissonant, a miscalculation by someone who didn't know what he was doing. The themes are too angular, the orchestration too thin and the form too unorthodox. The integrated one-movement form needed the example of Sibelius' 7th (though it's not quite as thoroughly integrated as that). Today the impression we get of it is that of a juicy Romantic symphony (especially the lush opening of the slow section), and even in 1936 it must have seemed quite conservative, but the closer you look at the score the more details you're going to find that place it in the 1930s. The scherzo section, for instance, is very characteristic of what American composers were writing at that period: the staccato theme developed contrapuntally, without the strict, Bach-derived voice leading rules that still prevailed in 1880, the sudden bursts of hemiola.

[stenka razin]

I nominate the finale, marked, 'Allegramente' from the great American composer Roger Sessions' Symphony No. 2. This 4 movement masterpiece was inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It is a very powerful orchestral score, sadly neglected today.

[Steinway]

I will add the fourth vote for the Schuman Passacaglia/Fugue.

Second choice for me is the first movement of the Hindemith Symphony in E Flat. It really stirs my blood everytime I hear it.

[StephenSutton]

I'm going for the Harris Third too.. and as movements don't have to be orchestral I am juggling between Charles Ives piano sonatas and can't decide; but leaving aside higher aesthetic and going for pure fun and adrenaline, it has to be the Dog's Heaven movement from Paul Schoenfield's 'Four Parables' Piano Concerto; we play our recording in the music cafe here and customers love it.

[erato]

The best movement by a US composer is Bernstein conducting. His moves are incredible.

[val]

The amazing 4th movement, "Largo maestoso" of Charles Ives Symphony n. 4.

[diegobueno]

The amazing 4th movement, "Largo maestoso" of Charles Ives Symphony n. 4.

That really is quite breathtaking, especially as the culmination of the three preceding movements.