Sinfoni Melayu
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Sinfoni Melayu (or Sinfoni Malaya) is mentioned in Contemporary composers[1] as a symphony composed by Anthony Burgess in 1956, when he was a teacher at Malay College Kuala Kangsar. In his book This Man & Music[2] Burgess himself writes:
- Sinfoni Melayu, a three movement symphony which tried to combine the musical elements of the country into a synthetic language which called on native drums and xylophones as well as instruments of the full Western orchestra. The last movement ended with a noble professional theme, rather Elgarian, representing independence. Then, over a drum roll and before the final chord in C major, the audience was to rise and shout "Merdeka!"[3]
In his Anthony Burgess Newsletter of 1999 Paul Phillips calls "Sinfoni Malaya for orchestra and brass band” Burgess' second symphony (after Symphony No. 1 of 1935).[4]
The musical score not having been delivered to posterity,[5] the only source that there ever was such a symphony seems to be Burgess’ own testimony.
[edit] References
- ^ Contemporary composers / editors: Brian Morton ; Pamela Collins. - Chicago; London: St. James Press, 1992 - ISBN 1-55862-085-0
- ^ Burgess, Anthony (1982), This Man And Music, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-008964-7
- ^ quoted in Crinson, Mark (2003). Modern Architecture and the End of Empire. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. p. 228. ISBN 0754635104. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JkNr4XZ-pYcC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161. page 161
- ^ Phillips, Paul (1999). "The Music of Anthony Burgess". Anthony Burgess Newsletter. The Anthony Burgess Centre, University of Angers. http://bu.univ-angers.fr/EXTRANET/AnthonyBURGESS/NL1/NL1Music.html. Retrieved 8 June 2011.
- ^ Music 1954-59, International Anthony Burgess Foundation[dead link]
