| Description: | Gunno Södersten (1920-1998) studied in Stockholm and also with Messiaen. He was a pianist, organist, and conductor, serving at the Immanuel Church in Stockholm 1943-1985. He wrote a number of organ works, among them 6 Symphonies, this is the 3rd movement of Symphony 1, titled "GLoria". The composer writes this about the work:
This symphony is intended to be a sermon - following the classical pattern with three points - over Bo Setterlind's poems to the church bells in the Immanuel church in Stockholm: Immanuel-Kyrie-Gloria. It also has a musical connection to the notes of church bells C-A-G (the so-called Gloria motif) and famous chorales and spiritual songs that have this motif and to texts that are in harmony with the content of the poems. The symphony has three movements.
The third movement, which is based on the hymn "With a grateful voice and a grateful soul", contains blazing fanfares on the trumpet alternating with a jubilant Gloria motif and chorale variation in canon and after a pedal cadenza, then finally ends with the chorale in pedal tutti and the full organ in rich chords with the final verse of the hymn in mind:
"So the soul sings a song of joy,
To you, Lord God, in praise,
Until I sing once more, Your praise in paradise.
At the top of the page is this inscription:
"He who has lost fleeting days, gains his life in a dazzling instant. The self, which cries, agonizes and complains, bursts its prison and meets its destiny." |
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