Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season January-February 2018 | Page 23

CONCERTO FANTASY FOR TWO TIMPANISTS /IMPRESSIONIST MASTERWORKS concerto for him. Haas assembled a consortium of five ensembles—the American and Milwaukee symphony orchestras and the St. Louis and Phoenix symphonies, as well as Baltimore’s own Peabody Symphony Orchestra—to co- commission and perform the new work. It was premiered on November 19, 2000 by the American Symphony Orchestra at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall. To match the firepower of his soloists, Glass wrote this concerto for an exception- ally large orchestra boasting four percussion players of its own, as well as a pianist and a harpist. All of them attack the first movement’s ringing ten-note principal theme, punctuated by blows from the timpanists. This theme is developed before the woodwinds calm the proceedings with a gentler descending theme. The volume and intensity ebb and flow, but ultimately, the movement ends very quietly. Opening with a distant call on the solo trombone, the second movement maintains this quieter dynamic but infuses it with ominous drama. Reining in the volume, the soloists nevertheless project a mood of controlled menace. Though the tension gradually increases, the movement finally returns to the hush with which it began. This movement is linked to the last movement by a substantial cadenza for the soloists, which is nearly a movement in itself. Devised by Ian Finkel, it showcases the timpanists’ versatility and power, even asking them at one poi