James Tobin wrote:

>...  What he said of the symphony as a whole, which he had evidently
>been proud of earlier, enough to have revised it about five years after
>its first completion, was that "It was composed during the years of the
>Second World War.  Such times of cataclysm are rarely conducive to the
>creation of good music, especially when the composer tries to say too
>much. ...

While there are often some "flag waving" pieces that don't seem to be
amongst the most significant, I tend to think that such cataclysms do
indeed foster significant creativity.  I believe the devastation of both
wars stimulated an immense amount of soul searching and sent much of
human expression to places it had not explored.

I would point to many works that were products, or perhaps, reactions
to the Second World War: Randall Thompson 3rd; Vaughan Williams: Symphony
No.6; Harris: Symphony No.5; Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem and War
Requiem; Diamond: Symphony No.2 (while the composer said he didn't have
the war on his mind...the first movement is a funeral march) Schuman:
Symphony No.6 (while Bill rarely commented on any extramusical significance
to his works, in an article I wrote about him, and edited by him, I
suggested that this work could be seen as a reflection on the war-Bill
left that note in, while he cut one or two other points I had made-the
inference to me was that indeed he did not reject the suggestion);Stravinsky:
Symphony in 3 movements; Shostakovich 7th; Messiaen: Quartet for the end
of time; etc.  For me, these are significant pieces.

Karl