Suite for Orchestra No.1 - Walter Piston

Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz.

I - Allegro: 0:00
II - Andante: 4:01
III - Allegro: 10:33

Piston's Suite No.1 was composed in 1929, it was Piston’s first published work and reflects his early years as a dance band musician, as well as his studies in France as pupil of Nadia Boulanger. The suite gained considerable attention in its day. Leopold Stokowski played it with the Philadelphia Orchestra and chose it for an All-American radio program in 1933. It was also played in New York and Los Angeles.

The first movement is written as a sonatina. It begins with an agitated main theme, surrounded by motives and elements influenced by blues and jazz. A more lyrical second theme is presented by cellos, supported by piano and snare drum played with wire brushes. An intense climax leads to a varied recapitulation of the main theme. A hammering coda ends the movement.

The second movement is structured in form of an arch. It opens with a lyrical and meditative theme on the English horn, with a hint of blues in the modal nature of its melody. The music gradually unfolds until reaching a climax in the middle part of the movement, followed by a mysterious passage. The theme is recapitulated in a new solo of the English horn. A reflective coda ends the movement.

The third movement is written as a theme and a fugue. It begins with an urgent and dissonant introduction, followed by the exposition of a chromatic subject by the strings. Gradually other instrumental groups intervene; woodwinds and brasses before the whole orchestra comes together, culminating in a nine-voice canon. An energetic coda ends the whole work.

Picture: "Sunset on the railway" (1929) by the American painter Edward Hopper.

Musical analysis partially written by myself. Sources: https://rb.gy/w21fj and https://rb.gy/zyzka

Unfortunately the score is not freely available.

Видео Suite for Orchestra No.1 - Walter Piston канала Sergio Cánovas