Sibelius 6 & 7 together, without a break?

[Alain Maréchal]

No problem about including the two pieces in the same programme, but not allowing us to absorb one piece before starting on the next seems disrespectful, even arrogant. I have a problem with conductors who make an unasked for attacca between symphonic movements (eg last two mts of Tchaik 4) and this takes it one step further.

I have heard the latter two movements of Sibelius' sixth symphony performed attacca; a shock the first time but knowing it was to happen at the repeat concert it worked quite well. I'm not sure if the opening post suggests playing the sixth and seventh attacca or just in the same half of a concert. I attended a concert with the fifth, sixth and seventh symphonies but with two intervals: one needs time to prepare oneself for the seventh.

(My English apostrophe problem reappears; Sibelius' or Sibelius's? Also "oneself" or "one's self", which seems the more logical.)

[Pulcinella]

(My English apostrophe problem reappears; Sibelius' or Sibelius's? Also "oneself" or "one's self", which seems the more logical.)

It's not really a problem, Alain.
Choose a 'formula' and stick to it (unless you are submitting a learned article to a journal that demands otherwise!).
Some useful advice/comments here:

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp

Their suggestion (no more than that) would seem to be that, since we would say "Sibeliuses sixth...", it might help to use the form Sibelius's rather than Sibelius', but it's up to you.

I suspect that oneself is simply a contraction of one's self that has become the accepted form; perhaps one for Pedants' Paradise? Both forms are given in my Chambers (no apostrophe!) dictionary.

[Petrushka]

I once heard Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago SO play the Tchaikovsky 5 without any pauses at all between the movements thereby turning it into a one movement symphony and it really did work. Each of the movements follow on naturally into the other in the Tchaik 5 in a way that most symphonies don't and I wish I could hear it this way more often by blanking out the pauses from a CD.

An attacca from the penultimate movement into the finale in symphonic performance is fairly common practise and can heighten the excitement as in Tchaikovsky 4 and Beethoven 7. I think this is a quite different matter from joining two separate works together as one and agree with Roslynmuse that it is 'disrespectful, even arrogant'.

However, having said that, coming back to Rattle again (who seems to do this kind of thing more than you'd think) his Prom of a few years back playing together the Schoenberg 5, Webern 6 and Berg 3 Orchestral Pieces without applause between them (though not of course as a continuous whole and with short pauses between them) was a revelation and, I remember, an absolute sensation in the hall. He has also done the Fidelio and Leonore 1,2 & 3 Overtures as a 'symphony'.

[Alain Maréchal]

My thanks to Pulcinella. I wonder if English will ever have spelling and grammar reforms except by attrition, for example in the case of the "grocer's apostrophe"* and "should of". I try to avoid neologisms as I avoid slang; sticking to the formal avoids possible unintended** misunderstandings.

* grocers' apostrophe?
**or "possibly unintended".
Its a minefield.

[BBMmk2]

Why not throw Tapiola in for good measure?
Or, to extend the concept further, why stop at Sibelius? Since all Brahm's Symphonies 'share the same sound world' let's program all 16 movements consecutively? Or Beethoven's 37 Symphonic movements? Or for a real value packed evening, let's do Haydn?

Is BBMish catchy?

[Serial_Apologist]

Attacca: does the term refer to when a performance proceeds without a break from a quiet ending to a loud opening, as indicated in the score? Or is there a different meaning?