About the creation

The Fourth Symphony was commissioned by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra on its Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of its founding. This central body of the cultural life of Israel was a major influence throughout my life, so that it is only natural that my emotional reaction to the Jubilee events became the background that spurred my imagination as a composer. This is evident throughout the symphony, both in the excited passages and in the lyrical ones, in all their varying idioms.

So far it has been easy to indicate the nature of my enthusiasm in writing this work. On the other hand, I hesitate to supply the listener with verbal analysis to explain a musical-theoretical method by using professional terminology that belongs to the composer›s workshop and which need not concern the listener. Every listener brings to the concert his own listening experiences, acquired usually through hearing mostly classical and romantic music. This listening-experience formed habits that assist in finding one›s way through classical music.

The listener›s position regarding the 20th century music is different. The musical idiom is ever changing, and as a result the aesthetic concept of this music also changes. Musical elements such as melody, harmony and rhythm are expressed differently from what was customary in traditional music. Yet, despite these changes, there is one constant and unchanging element that is common to all periods and styles in the history of music: the suggestive power that flows from the music to the listener.

If the listener simply absorbs my Fourth Symphony without prejudice, one might realize that here is a second «Poeme d›Ecstase» (vide Scriabin), that expresses in terms of contemporary music the event of the Jubilee.

Josef Tal