Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often written by composers for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are scored for string (violin, viola, cello and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30–100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their instrument. A small number of symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony).

Origins

The word symphony is derived from Greek συμφωνία (symphonia), meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "concert of vocal or instrumental music", from σύμφωνος (symphōnos), "harmonious". The word referred to an astonishing variety of different things, before ultimately settling on its current meaning designating a musical form.

Symphony (El Khoury)

Bechara El Khoury's Symphony, subtitled The Ruins of Beirut, was composed in 1985. It was the third of a series of works inspired in the ongoing Lebanese Civil War, being preceded by tone poem Lebanon in flames and a Requiem. It is composed of four movements, marked Drammatico, Misterioso, Poetico and Tragique.

It was recorded for Naxos Records in 2002 by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, conducted by Vladimir Sirenko.

References

Review at Gramophone, February 2003.

League of American Orchestras

The League of American Orchestras, formerly the American Symphony Orchestra League, is a North American Musical Organization consisting of a network of approximately 800 orchestras. “Dedicated to helping orchestras meet the challenges of the twenty-first century,” the League consists of leading symphony and philharmonic orchestras, collegiate orchestras, community ensembles, and youth and student ensembles. The only national organization devoted and focused on elevating the orchestra industry, the League was founded in 1942 and later chartered by Congress in 1962. The League creates a network of all facets of the industry, including administrators, managers, board members, business partners, volunteers, and musicians. Each year this organization presents two awards: the Gold Baton Award and the Helen M. Thompson Award. The League affects the orchestral world through several outreach experiences, dedicated advocacy to music education and especially orchestral education, and maintaining and communicating a breadth of information and pertinent topics in publications. It has also developed detailed antitrust policy and guidelines in order to comply with the landscape of the industry. The League is a leading force in work on legislation regarding orchestras and support for the arts.

LZ7

LZ7 are a Christian rap and dance group from Manchester. The band was formed in 2005 by Lindz West, a member of dance band The Tribe, who had split up the previous year. LZ7 worked for many years as a part of the Christian charity The Message Trust, working with tens of thousands of teenagers each year in schools across Greater Manchester, Maidenhead and Reading. In 2012 LZ7 moved on from being part of the Message Trust and moved under the banner of independent charitable organisation "Light".

The band released their debut album, Ruckus, in 2005. They performed live at music festivals, such as Live Audacious and Grapevine, and also featured on the 2007 Hope Revolution tour. In 2008, LZ7 released a new mini-album named Gasoline.

Two years later, their lineup changed, and a remixed version of their single "This Little Light", taken from their new album Light, made No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart in October 2010.

In 2012, LZ7 collaborated with worship leader Matt Redman, to release the single "27 Million", to raise awareness of modern day slavery, the single hit at No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart in February of that year. A music video was released alongside, which was filmed at the Passion Conference in Atlanta.