# Joly Braga Santos: movement IV of Symphony 4



## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

Composer: Joly Braga Santos
Symphony: 4
Movement: 4th (last)

An energic piece with a powerful theme.

Do you like it? Vote in the poll.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

The best I can offer is "insufficient". Yes, there's plenty of energy, but the melodies sound like left-over material to me.


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

Sounds rather "Coplandesque" for a Portuguese. It has an American Western feel to it. I enjoyed it. Enough to look into more of this composer's works.

However, I'm not exactly clear on what the OP's distinctions between "Sufficient," "Average," & "Good" are.

V


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## AaronSF (Sep 5, 2021)

The scale should be Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor. No need for the "Average" in the middle...or better yet, a 5-point scale where 5=Excellent and 1=Poor. At any rate "Sufficient" and "Insufficient" mean nothing and do not belong in this scale.

As to the piece itself, it often sounds like title music from any number of TV westerns...which puts it at "Fair" on my 4-point labeled scale or a "2" on my 5-point scale with labeled endpoints.


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## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

Its actually pretty good. Never heard of that composer


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Bulldog said:


> the melodies sound like left-over material to me.


So you don't like leftovers.. Ok..












 (Making your dog food from leftovers)


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## Aries (Nov 29, 2012)

Excellent I think. Straightforward music that just works. Not as good as highly sophisticated symphonies like that of Beethoven, Bruckner or Mahler but I prefer this type of 20th century music to average 19th century composers. Its more about effective expression than about cramped work with motifs.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

It´s a wonderful symphony in total, much underrated , always good to see enthusiast people who love his music.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I have been familiar with his music for a few years however the 4th is not one I have kept as I agree with the already expressed opinions about it having a strong 50's and 60's movie sense ... not that that is necessarily a bad thing but it isn't particularly distinctive.

P.S. Just what is the point of taking a single movement out of context?


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I would recommend his _Symphonic Variations on a popular song from the Alentejo_


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Rogerx said:


> It´s a wonderful symphony in total, much underrated , always good to see enthusiast people who love his music.


This symphony (especially that final movement) has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it, after purchasing the Marco Polo disc (8.225233) some years ago.









I recommend it to fans of 20th century Romanticism.


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## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

Varick said:


> Sounds rather "Coplandesque" for a Portuguese. It has an American Western feel to it. I enjoyed it. Enough to look into more of this composer's works.
> 
> However, I'm not exactly clear on what the OP's distinctions between "Sufficient," "Average," & "Good" are.
> 
> V


In the education system of my country:
- Insufficient = You failed the exam
- Sufficient = You passed the exam with the lowest possible score 
- Discrete = Not so good (which I translated with "average")
- Good = You did a good work, but not the best possible
- Excellent = You coldn't do better than what you have done

I see that this scale is not so clear to people outside of my country, so I'll have to elaborate an other scale for the next polls.


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## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

Becca said:


> P.S. Just what is the point of taking a single movement out of context?


Because in reality different movements are not related with each others. I see a symphony like a suite of different pieces. I know that in theory is not correct what I say, but in practice what I'm writing is correct.

Indeed, you can like a movement of a symphony but not an other one. I wanted to put the accent on the 4th movement.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

HansZimmer said:


> Because *in reality different movements are not related with each others*. I see a symphony like a suite of different pieces. I know that in theory is not correct what I say, but i*n practice what I'm writing is correct*.
> 
> Indeed, you can like a movement of a symphony but not an other one. I wanted to put the accent on the 4th movement.


That has (mostly) not been true of symphonies for the past 150 years.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Nice orchestration, but the music is not really stimulating to me.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

SONNET CLV said:


> This symphony (especially that final movement) has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it, after purchasing the Marco Polo disc (8.225233) some years ago.
> 
> View attachment 164020
> 
> ...


Nice one, I do have the same.


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

Sounds like the soundtrack to a movie about a dog going on a run.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

RogerWaters said:


> Sounds like the soundtrack to a movie about a dog going on a run.


But the sentimental stuff that starts at around 8:57 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=f36P3tZwXCQ&t=8m57s) sounds as if it's appropriate for scenes like




(15 Most Heartwarming Animal Reunions with Owners)
And certainly btw, if Bullie (for example) gets missing for some time (from the forum, for some reason), and eventually returns, we'll greet each other this way. With the soundtrack (www.youtube.com/watch?v=f36P3tZwXCQ&t=10m20s) playing in the background.


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## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

rogerwaters said:


> sounds like the soundtrack to a movie about a dog going on a run.


ahahahahahahaahah


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## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

Bulldog said:


> The best I can offer is "insufficient". Yes, there's plenty of energy, but the melodies sound like left-over material to me.


Mmmmmhhh... maybe you are right. Indeed that theme after a while becomes quite boring. The final theme is probably better.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

I say excellent. It has that exhilarating grandeur and with an unbelievable coda that caps this Symphony gloriously that would've made Vaughan-Williams, Bax, Sibelius, Nielsen, Tubin, Ginastera, and Ravel proud to claim as their own. As with the previous three movements, the structure of this movement is keenly tight and the orchestration expertly done. 

In short, a masterpiece of a born symphonist.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

choral finale


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

braga-santos is an excellent composer and i highly rate his symphonies 3, 4 and 6; needless for me to go into a single movement of any of those; his chamber music is even better than his symphonies; it is music that has to be enjoyed on its own merits and should not be compared to any other


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

HansZimmer said:


> *Because in reality different movements are not related with each others. I see a symphony like a suite of different pieces.* I know that in theory is not correct what I say, but in practice what I'm writing is correct.
> 
> Indeed, you can like a movement of a symphony but not an other one. I wanted to put the accent on the 4th movement.


Have you ever listened to this symphony carefully? I haven't either. But it only took listening once to the first half of the first movement to realize that you definitely haven't or you wouldn't have written the part in bold above. The material of the finale clearly derives from that of the first movement (and perhaps other movements as well — I'll let you know if I feel inspired to listen to the rest of it.).


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## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

EdwardBast said:


> Have you ever listened to this symphony carefully? I haven't either. But it only took listening once to the first half of the first movement to realize that you definitely haven't or you wouldn't have written the part in bold above. The material of the finale clearly derives from that of the first movement (and perhaps other movements as well — I'll let you know if I feel inspired to listen to the rest of it.).


I realized it later after I listened to the entire symphony. What I wrote in the bold part is true for many symphonies, but not for all.


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