Symphony Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen, Igor Stravinsky, Bohuslav Martinů, Roger Sessions, and Dmitri Shostakovich composed symphonies "extraordinary in scope, richness, originality, and urgency of expression" (Steinberg 1995, 404). One measure of the significance of a symphony is the degree to which it reflects conceptions of temporal form particular to the age in which it was created. Five composers from across the span of the 20th century who fulfil this measure are Sibelius, Stravinsky, Luciano Berio (in his Sinfonia, 1968–69), Elliott Carter (in his "Symphony of Three Orchestras", 1976), and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (in "Symphony/Antiphony", 1980). Beginning in the
Symphony No. 1 (Glazunov) ask about Glazunov. He is a very talented young man who studied for a year under Rimsky-Korsakov. When he composed his symphony, he did not need any help." Some months later, Tchaikovsky wrote that he had purchased and studied the score of Glazunov's First String Quartet, concluding that "Glazunov's talent is undeniable." Truth be told, Glazunov did have a little help from Balakirev, but on just one point. The composer wrote in his memoirs, "I composed and orchestrated the slow movement of the "First Symphony" in the summer of 1881. In addition I played that passage to Balakirev, who approved