Symphonies still have subdivisions that can stand on their own, so a symphony is more like an album and not a single song. The movements of Beethoven's 9th Symphony range from slightly more than 10 minutes to slightly more than 20, for example.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, but a symphony is meant to be listened to as a whole much more than an album. It of course depends album to album, some have a tight through line, some don't as much. But there wasn't as much of a way to listen to just a single movement before recordings, so you would listen to the whole long thing moreso than the movements individually.

[–] jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are plenty of progressive Rock and Metal albums that are also supposed to be listened to as a whole.

And people have been playing Ode To Joy on its own long before there were recordings - single instrument renditions of symphonic pieces exist for a reason.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

I agree. It's just easier to split up nowadays.

I'm glad there is still long form music being made both inside and outside the classical world. I really appreciate when music builds a full world of it's own.