PROGRAM NOTES
DVOŘÁK CELLO CONCERTO
FROM THE PODIUM by Kwamé Ryan
I enjoy the contrast between Dvořâk ’ s Cello Concerto , which is very warm and earthy , and Adams ’ Become Ocean , which imagines a chilly waterworld that has submerged all land . The audience has an opportunity to musically experience what it might feel like to lose the planet ’ s balance and humanity ’ s best prospects for survival . I started my career conducting adventurous pieces like Become Ocean , which present some kind of spatial or acoustic challenge and allow me to take the audience on a journey .
I love pieces that immerse the listener in an evocative soundscape , stimulating imagination and fantasy . Become Ocean , like the watery expanse it depicts , is always in motion , changing texture , color , and contour . For me , it ’ s easy to stay focused on music that generates such powerful images , especially when they speak to the human condition . I think fans of epic earth documentaries will feel very at home with this piece !
I could hardly disagree more with Dvořâk ’ s reservations about the cello as a solo instrument ! Dvořâk was worried about the upper and lower extremes of the instrument , which can be piercing or woolly . As it turns out , he ended up writing a fabulous concerto that showcases all the instrument ’ s range and colors . This makes for a relatable solo protagonist who can speak , sing , or even groan to tell a captivating story .
Each of these pieces is like a course in a tasting menu with very distinctive flavors that must come through clearly . The sequence of the courses and how they interact with each other on the acoustic palette is also a critical element of the evening . Just like a chef in a restaurant , I love to come to the table to speak with the diners about the menu . I just might do that for this very special concert experience !
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
BY PAULA MAUST
John Luther Adams
Born January 23 , 1953 Meridian , Mississippi
BECOME OCEAN [ 2014 ]
American composer John Luther Adams ’ Become Ocean is the first of three pieces in what has now come to be known as the “ Become trilogy .” Adams reflects that he “ never set out to write [ a trilogy ] in the first place ,” but after the tremendous success of Become Ocean in 2013 , he wrote Become River in 2014 and Become Desert in 2018 . Become Ocean was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and draws inspiration from the looming impacts of climate change , as well as the following mesostic verse written by American composer John Cage :
LiStening to it
We becOme
oceaN .
The capital letters ( L . SON ) are a reference to the verse ’ s recipient , Lou Harrison , whose music Cage likened to a river delta . Adams also writes in the preface to the score that “ Life on this earth first emerged from the sea . As the polar ice melts and sea level rises , we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become ocean .”
Become Ocean is an experiential singlemovement work that is forty-two minutes in duration and scored for a particularly large orchestra . The ensemble is divided into three distinct groups that are placed in different locations on the stage . Woodwinds , percussion , and the first harp are placed upstage right , while brass , percussion , and the second harp play from upstage left . The piano , celesta , strings , and additional percussion form a wide arc across the front of the stage .
Much of Adams ’ music is influenced by nature , and the sonic landscape in Become Ocean was inspired by the oceans off the coasts of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest , where Adams lived from 1978 to 2014 . Each group in the orchestra plays repetitive passages that rise and fall like waves at different times . This results in an overlapping and ever-changing underlying rhythm . In particular , the piano , harps , celesta , and percussion create a rippling , shimmering watery effect . These repetitive passages are palindromic , reversing halfway through .
Become Ocean is constructed as a palindrome , and there are three important structural moments when all three groups of instrumentalists simultaneously reach a climax . The first of these moments occurs early in the piece , and the second is at the halfway point . After the second climax , the music is played in reverse , with the third moment of coming together occurring near the end of the work .
The critical reception for Become Ocean was mixed . Melinda Bargreen of The Seattle Times , for example , found that “ after the first 20 minutes or so , the musical ideas had pretty much run their course , and there were no further developments to justify sustaining the piece .” Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker , however , that Become Ocean “ might be the loveliest apocalypse in musical history .” Ross likens the work ’ s impact on listeners to the boundary-breaking ingenuity of Igor Stravinsky ’ s 1913 Rite of Spring . Become Ocean won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition .
Instrumentation Three flutes , three oboes including English horn , three clarinets including bass clarinet , three bassoons including contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , two harps , piano , celesta , and strings .
Antonin Dvořák
Born September 8 , 1841 in Nelahozeves , Austian Empire Died May 1 , 1904 in Prauge , Czech Republic ( 1896 )
CELLO CONCERTO [ 1895 ]
Although Czech composer Antonín Dvořák ’ s Cello Concerto is a beloved standard in the orchestral repertoire today , the composer himself was extremely dissatisfied with the piece . In fact , Dvořák told a student that “ As a solo instrument the cello isn ’ t much good . Its middle register is fine — that ’ s true — but the upper voice squeaks and the lower growls . The finest solo instrument , after all , is — and will
30 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org