program notes {
accessible music has been warmly received
in Baltimore on several occasions, notably
her Concerto 4-3 last season and her Violin
Concerto for Hilary Hahn.
Here is Jennifer Higdon’s own commentary on blue cathedral:
“Blue — like the sky. Where all possibilities soar. Cathedrals — a place of thought,
growth, spiritual expression, serving as
a symbolic doorway into and out of this
world. Blue represents all potential and the
beginning of journeys. Cathedrals represent
places of beginnings, endings, solitude,
fellowship, contemplation, knowledge, and
growth. As I was writing this piece, I found
myself imagining a journey through a glass
cathedral in the sky. Because the walls
would be transparent, I saw the image of
clouds and blueness permeating from the
outside of this church. In my mind’s eye,
the listener would enter from the back of
the sanctuary, floating along the corridor
amongst giant crystal pillars, moving in
a contemplative stance. The stained glass
windows’ figures would start moving with
song, singing a heavenly music. The listener
would float down the aisle, slowly moving
upward at first and then progressing at a
quicker pace, rising towards an immense
ceiling that would open to the sky. As the
journey progressed, the speed of the traveler would increase, rushing forward and
upward. I wanted to create the sensation
of contemplation and quiet peace at the
beginning, moving towards the feeling of
celebration and ecstatic expansion of the
soul, all the while singing along with that
heavenly music.
“These were my thoughts when the
Curtis Institute of Music commissioned
me to write a work to commemorate
its 75th anniversary. …In tribute to my
brother, I feature solos for the clarinet (the
instrument he played) and the flute (the
instrument I play). Because I am the older
sibling, it is the flute that appears first in
this dialogue. At the end of the work, the
two instruments continue their dialogue,
but it is the flute that drops out and the
clarinet that continues on in the upward
progressing journey.”
Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, oboe,
English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons,
four horns, three trumpets, three trombones,
tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celeste,
prepared piano, strings, crystal goblets
and Chinese bells.
Violin Concerto in D Major, opus 35
Erich Korngold
Born in Brno, now Czech Republic,
May 29, 1897; died in Hollywood, California,
November 29, 1957
Erich Korngold was one of the most gifted
composing prodigies in musical history.
The Snowman, the ballet he wrote when
he was 11 (he received some help in its
scoring from his teacher Alexander von
Zemlinsky), was produced at the Vienna
Court Opera in 1910. By the time he
reached 13, he was able to create his own
scoring for his concert overture for large
orchestra, Der Schauspiel Overture, which
was taken up by nearly all the major conductors in Europe including Furtwängler
and Mengelberg. None other than Gustav
Mahler pronounced him a genius.
But it was in opera that Korngold particularly shone. At 17, he astonished Vienna
with his lurid tale of lust and revenge
Violanta, which won Puccini’s praise. And
in his early 20s, he wrote his masterpiece,
the opera Die tote Stadt (“The Dead
City”), which is still in the repertoire.
However, Korngold’s subsequent career
did not lead to more triumphs in concert
hall and opera house. Instead, in 1934 it
sent him to Hollywood where his superb
orchestrating skills enhanced the Mendelssohn-based score for Max Reinhardt’s
legendary film of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. Then for the next decade, Korngold flourished as one of Hollywood’s
most sought-after score writers, specializing in romantic costume dramas (often
starring Errol Flynn) such as Captain
Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
(starring Flynn and Bette Davis). He won
two Oscars for his scores (Anthony Adverse
in 1936 and The Adventures of Robin
Hood in 1938). In fact, his popularity in
Hollywood saved his life, for the Jewish
Korngold was in California when his
native Vienna fell to the Nazis in 1938.
inspiring the best in every boy.
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September– October 2014 |
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