Overture Magazine - 2018-19 Season BSO_Overture_MAR_APR | Page 16

SCHEHERAZADE
About the Concert
2018-19 SEASON
SCHEHERAZADE.2
John Adams
MAHLER
SYMPHONY NO. 9
FRI, JUNE 7, 8 PM MEYERHOFF
SAT, JUNE 8, 8 PM STRATHMORE
SUN, JUNE 9, 3 PM MEYERHOFF
MARIN ALSOP, CONDUCTOR
Mahler’s magnificent Ninth Symphony
depicts the composer’s epic battle
between his passionate love for life
and the dread of death, particularly on
Mahler’s mind since Beethoven,
Schubert and Bruckner had been
unable to survive past their ninth
symphonies. Marin Alsop conducts
this glorious work, a vivid testament to
the power of a live concert experience.
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Born in Worcester, MA, February 15, 1947;
now living in Berkeley, CA
Over the course of his career, there have
been two distinct characteristics of John
Adams’ music that set him apart from
other composers. The first is impossible
to ignore: Adams is thoroughly engaged
with the contemporary world and its
daily events and problems. His widely
performed opera Nixon in China (1987)
wittily engaged with a recently departed
U.S. President and his diplomatic
breakthrough in China in the 1970s,
while the controversial opera The Death
of Klinghoffer (1991) tackled terrorism
and anti-Semitism as seen in a real-life
fatal incident on an international cruise
ship. His On the Transmigration of Souls
(2002) was perhaps the most powerful
artistic response yet to 9/11.
The second characteristic is a purely
musical one: Adams has no fear of
tackling the big musical forms—
opera, oratorio, concerto and tone
poem—and of utilizing large numbers
of diverse performers to express them.
Rather than working exclusively with
abstract musical processes, he prefers to
create musical narratives to tell stories.
Scheherazade.2 powerfully embodies
all these characteristics. It uses a tale
from long ago to tell a contemporary
yet timeless story. It is in the form
of a “dramatic symphony” yet also
incorporates the qualities of a virtuoso
violin concerto. And it uses a very large
orchestra, as rich in colors as Rimsky-
Korsakov’s beloved 19 th -century tone
poem Scheherazade.
Written for Leila Josefowicz,
whom he calls his “muse,” Adams’
Scheherazade.2 was premiered by the
New York Philharmonic under Alan
Gilbert at Lincoln Center on March
26, 2015. It was co-commissioned by
ensembles from three continents: the
New York Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and
the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Josefowicz received a Grammy
nomination for “Best Classical
Instrumental Solo” for its recording
on Nonesuch Records.
Here is John Adams’ commentary
on Scheherazade.2: