New Worlds
Jennifer Higdon - Concerto for Orchestra Antonin Dvořák - Symphony No. 9 in e minor "From the New World" Guest Composer Jennifer Higdon 2010 Grammy Award Winner - "Best Contemporary Classical Composer."Higdon- Concerto for Orchestra Program Notes written by Jennifer Higdon The "Concerto for Orchestra" requires virtuosity from principal players, individual sections, and the entire orchestra. Built inside out, the third movement was written first, and it is the movement that allows each principal player a solo, before moving into section solis. The woodwinds are highlighted first, followed (after a tutti) by the strings, and then the brass. Each solo has its own unique material, some of which is utilized in the tutti sections of the movement. The second movement was written next and inspired by the string sound of The Philadelphia Orchestra. This movement is like a scherzo in character, written in a jaunty rhythm and tempo celebrating the joyous sound of strings. The movement begins with a pizzicato and then slowly integrates an arco sound first through soloists, and then with all of the players. It continues to romp through to the end, where a snap pizzicato closes out the movement. The fourth movement is a tribute to rhythm and the percussion section of the orchestra (harp, celesta, and piano are included in this movement). Since this piece was completed at the beginning of the 21st century, it seemed very fitting to have a movement highlighting the one section of the orchestra that has had the greatest amount of development during the 20th century. Ironically, the opening of this movement is the quietest and stillest part of the entire work, which is not what one might expect from percussion. The movement opens with bowed vibraphone and crotales. It opens this way so the percussion can move through many of its pitched instruments (as well as collaborating with the harpist and celesta player, who are percussive in their nature). Eventually, the musicians move to non-pitched percussion, which is emphasized by the tempo speeding up at key moments. This progression in the tempi will carry this movement from an extraordinarily slow start (quarter equals 42) to the fifth movement, which continues the progression of increasing tempi, until the end. of that movement. These tempo increases occur at specific moments, usually covering two measures, and are meant to resemble the effect of a victrola being wound up. The violins enter in the fifth movement and the entire orchestra is also highlighted. Its rhythm is set up through an ostinato in the percussion. The various sections of the orchestra converse in extensive musical interplay. Surprisingly, the first movement was the last to be composed. Writing the last four movements created a clear picture of what was needed to start this virtuosic tour-de-force. The opening of the piece begins with chimes and timpani, and then a quick entrance by the strings in energetic scale patterns (octatonic), next woodwinds and finally the brass in major chords, a major second apart. This movement is primarily tutti in its use of instruments, but there are small chamber moments, in recognition of the fact that it takes many individuals to make the whole orchestra. Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World” Dvořák started life the Bohemian countryside removed from the pace of European events in the last half of the 19th century. He enjoyed performing folk and gypsy songs with the village band and to passersby in the village inn, and was sent to Prague to study music at age 16 (organ, initially). The Bohemian capital was in the midst of a long, slow solidification of nationalistic aims in the arts, especially music. The first few Czech operas had been produced; Bedrich Smetana was writing symphonic poems based on Bohemian mythology; the National Theatre had gotten off to a rocky start but now seemed like it was in stable condition. Besides the organ, Dvořák’s instrument of choice was the viola, which he played in the Provisional Theatre under the direction of his close musical colleague Bedrich Smetana. He was married in 1874 and took a job as a church organist. As rich as the musical life of Prague may have been, it was considered a long way from Imperial Vienna. To encourage provincial composers an annual composition prize, was conceived. Dvořák sent in sheaves of entries, and the judges, especially their brightest star Johannes Brahms, took special notice. In December 1877 Brahms wrote to his publisher: For several years I have enjoyed works sent in by Antonín Dvořák (pronounced Dvorschak) of Prague. This year he has sent works including a volume of ten duets for two sopranos and piano, which seem to me very pretty, and a practical proposition for publishing. … Play them through and you will like them as much as I do. As a publisher, you will be particularly pleased with their piquancy. … Dvořák has written all manner of things: operas (Czech), symphonies, quartets, piano pieces. In any case, he is a very talented man. Moreover, he is poor! I ask you to think about it! This was the break Dvořák had needed, and within a few years his international reputation was secured. America at this time also aspired to claim artistic maturity. This was a goal that Janette Thurber, President of the National Conservatory of Music in New York wished to address when she invited Dvořák (by then, the most prominent exponent of nationalism in music anywhere) to be Artitistic Director beginning at 25 times his salary in Prague. He was so sad to leave his beloved homeland that he embarked on a 40-concert farewell tour of Bohemia performing with friends. The Symphony in E minor, which Dvořák designated his eighth but was actually his ninth, was completed by the end of May in his first year in New York. The composer himself inscribed the title “From the New World” on the title page before sending it to his publisher, having in mind perhaps an article in the New York Herald Tribune from October 1892 which reported the official ceremony welcoming him to the city. The headline was “Two New Worlds—The New World of Columbus and the New World of Music.” Expansive in scale and grand in its temper, the symphony handles many elements reflective of Native American folk music and African-American spirituals with remarkable ease and without sacrificing any of the sophistication of the symphonic tradition. We react to it with pleasure because it celebrates us, but we also feel a tang of wistful nostalgia since Dvořák is, after all, filtering our indigenous and inherited musical sources through his own homesickness. After a slow introduction, a bold theme from a pair of horns ushers in the allegro of the first movement. Soon another melody with the flavor and an authentic spiritual, is gracefully given by the solo flute. These materials intertwine in the central section and are reprised before the it reaches an exultant conclusion. In the second movement a solemn opening processional introduces the english horn’s incantation of a melody that has practically become an American folk hymn. Dvořák wrote a friend that the Scherzo movement was inspired by a scene in Longfellow’s poem, The Song of Hiawatha, which depicts Indians dancing at a feast. The horn call from the first movement makes an appearance at the close of the Scherzo before the rousing finale. Trombones and horns have the main theme in this broad and bright movement, but principal tunes from all the preceding movements reappear as well. After a series of clearly cadential chords in tremolo strings and blaring brass, Dvořák poetically pulls back with a medium-soft chord that fades away. |
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