[Ştefan Niculescu] Symphony No.2 "Opus dacicum" (Score-Video)

Ştefan Niculescu - Simfonia a II-a "Opus dacicum" pentru orchestră mare (1979-1980) Performers: Remus Georgescu / Orchestra simfonică a Filarmonicii „Banatul” din Timișoara —————— Special Thanks to my friend ‪@工具人-p8n‬ for permission to reupload his video on YouTube! Here's the original video link: www.bilibili.com/video/BV1TL796CE8C/ —————— "During the composition of my Second Symphony, some research papers concerning the great circular sanctuary within the sacred site of Sarmizegetusa happened to catch my attention. Two aspects of this ancient monument profoundly struck me: First, its overall configuration: three concentric circles marked by pillars and stone slabs, presenting a typical mandala pattern—a symbol of wholeness or the self, and also of the coincidence of opposites; Second, the structure of one of the circles: a module composed of 6+1 units (six pillars and one stone slab), which repeats in integer multiples along the circumference. These two aspects—the coincidence of opposites and modular construction—had actually deeply occupied my thoughts long before I began conceiving this symphony. Thus, I decided to merge two seemingly opposing possibilities of symphonic thinking that I had used separately for a long time: first, the discontinuous presentation of musical ideas; second, the continuous unfolding of sonic material. These two possibilities appear successively in the two large parts of the symphony, which are played without pause. In the first part, eight highly contrasting musical ideas are presented in succession (contrasting also in their kinetic forms); while in the second part, a single melodic line (initially played by the contrabassoon) continuously proliferates and undergoes differentiation during its sustained evolution. Furthermore, while the first part is dominated by six-tone figuration combinations, the second part features seven-tone—or more precisely, 6+1 tone—combinations (as one of the tones is designated as the 'ison'). Moreover, this 'module' of 6+1 tones runs through the entire 'circle' of the system constituted by our musical work. All these profound correspondences with the great circular sanctuary of Sarmizegetusa were discovered only after I had finished my drafts. It convinced me of the constancy of human thought, even across vast spans of time, vastly different fields and worlds, and disparate means of expression and representation. Therefore, I decided to pay tribute to this Dacian architect from over two thousand years ago by subtitling my Second Symphony 'Opus Dacicum'. This term is deeply familiar to musicians, and it is also the very proper noun that historians habitually use to describe the architecture representing Dacian culture, such as the ancient ruins of Sarmizegetusa." — Ștefan Niculescu (Description provided by ‪@工具人-p8n‬) —————— I do not own neither the score, nor the recordings used in this video. This is only for educational purposes. If you have any complaints regarding copyright issues, please write to me directly at asorabji20(at)gmail(dot)com before submitting a report to YouTube and I will remove the video as soon as possible.