I'll be there

Exciting news from eighth blackbird about a new concerto by Jennifer Higdon!
(and totally check out the video posting with Sarah Palin playing flute! on their blog as well!)

Five Things about Ten for Carter

Network for New Music presented Ten for Carter Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.

1. Composers were commissioned for piano works ni honor of Elliott Carter's upcoming 100th birthday in December 2008. They included Milton Babbitt, Uri Caine, Jeffery Cotton, Alvin Curran, Jennifer Higdon, Jeffrey Mumford, Augusta Read Thomas, Maurice Wright, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Jeremy Gill. Babbitt's was not completed and instead pianist Marilyn Nonken included Carter's Retrouvailles from 2000.

2. Most striking was Bells by Augusta Read Thomas, played by pianist Steven Gosling and inside the piano by Marilyn Nonken. The work was colorful and inventive, truly capturing the spirit of Carter.

3. Mumford's a celebration of Elliott was brilliant, with stellar and facile playing from Gosling.

4. Higdon's Mr. Carter's Notes and Zwilich's A Poem for Elliott were entertaining and fitting, with care and panache from Nonken's musical playing.

5. Thomas Kraines was passionate in his reading of Carter's Figment #2, and was joined by other members of Network for Con Leggerezza Pensosa (from 1990 - the oldest work on the program!) and played it not once, but twice, before intermission and at the end of the program.

Afterwards, a reception followed with a q&a with the pianists and composers. The concert was also played Friday night in NYC. Hear an interview with Jeremy Gill here about his Eliot Fragments.

Five Things about The Singing Rooms

I heard the second concert of week two for the Bernstein Festival with the Philadelphia Orchestra last night.

1. The concert began with a spirited reading of Bernstein's Symphony #1. Whenever I hear this work, I ask myself why I don't hear it more often. It is the excellent work of a young musician and a look at the potential of this great composer. Rinat Shaham was stunning, in her performance and in her passion! She couldn't keep still in her chair in front of the orchestra, swaying to the music and rhythm. When she finally did sing, it was exquisite.

2. Jennifer Higdon's The Singing Rooms followed. I died there in Verizon Hall, because Higdon's music and Jennifer Koh's playing were heavenly. The combination of solo violin, orchestra and chorus was perfectly set, with sections allowing each to shine, and to combine for the greatest music I have ever heard.

3. The Singing Rooms consists of seven movements played attaca (back to back without pause) and while they are seemless, they depict the action of walking around a house, starting in the morning, with singing going on in the rooms, and returning back to that first room at the end of the day. Higdon treats the lush poetry by Jeanne Minahan well, and the singing from the Philadelphia Singers Chorale was well done.

4. Jennifer Koh is my hero. She commissioned this work, and also Higdon's String Poetic (a work I am performing a movement this March for Composing Thoughts Live) and I've heard a solo violin work may be in the works for Koh by Higdon as well, making a Higdon violin trilogy (maybe it could be titled TRILLOGY? hahaha) for Koh. This is historic, like the collaboration between Joachim and Brahms, or Stravinsky and Dushkin. I'm so happy to have heard this first performance.

5. The variation and innovation of Higdon's work is tremendous, especially considering a week before, Concerto 4-3 was premiered, and that another Violin Concerto is being written for another former Curtis student, Hilary Hahn.
As for the Singing Rooms, rhythm, orchestration and musical taste were at highpoints. Never was there a moment that you weren't engaged, although there were two tiny moments where you had problems hearing the soloist with all the forces playing.
Performances of Hai-Ye Ni, principal cellist; and concertmasters David Kim and Juliette Kang accented lyric and virtuosic lines of Koh's solo parts. An extended section with Ni was out of this world.

I can't recommend highly enough that you go hear this work, and if you are anyone involved with programming orchestra repertoire, to put this work on your programs. The curtain calls had the audience wanting more!
Read my friend and coworker Dick Strawser's eloquent account of this premiere here.

Hear an interview with Jennifer Higdon here about this work, and learn about a chance to meet Higdon and learn more about her music here.

Neither Rain, nor sleet, nor snow...

Tuesday night I heard the Central Dauphin Middle School Choir and Orchestra, as I teach a co-worker's daughter violin, and it was their winter concert. It was fun to see her and her sister sing, and then to hear her play quite well with the orchestra. Just an hour and a half before the concert, she showed up with her mom, having broken her e string. I just happened to have a spare string at work, and put it on for her, and played a few scales to attempt to stretch it a bit before hand.
Wednesday night I was in Philadelphia, for a song recital with Network for New Music, part of the Bernstein Festival. There was a charming pre-program by Settlement School students in the lobby, where listening I was recognized by new music fans/composers that read this blog and the Composing Thoughts blog. (Indeed the world is getting smaller and smaller, I get recognized and run into friends in NYC these days!)
It was delightful to hear this group play new works by students as well as Jennifer Higdon's Bentley Roses, and David Rakowski's Sex Songs. Network was joined by two excellent singers, Susan Narucki and Randall Scarlatta, who were both stellar. To top it off, Network also had the poets on hand to read their works before the compositions. The entire recital was inspirational, and really fed my creative soul. I left wanting to write and express myself. These sort of recitals are very special and Narucki, Scarlatta, and the ensemble did a great service besides very high art for the community.
Notable was Melissa Dunphy's Black Thunder. Not only is she a friend, it turns out she is a delightful composer, writing very idoimatic for piano trio and baritone, but also with great sensitivity for the words and music.
Last night I was back in Philly to hear the world premiere of The Singing Rooms with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Unfortunately there was a snow storm and despite everything, Dick Strawser and I went - taking our time on the roads to get there. We had a quick bite of Italian food right next to the Kimmel and caught the first half of the concert, before braving the elements to get back to Harrisburg. I'll post a review later today, but the short of it is: I died last night hearing Jennifer Koh playing Jennifer Higdon's Singing Rooms - It was heavenly.
This weekend I'm in NYC to hear more music and see friends, as well as next weekend. Oh and I'm travelling next Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday for some exciting projects - stay tuned!

Five Things about Concerto 4 3

I heard the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Concerto 4 3 Thursday night in Philadelphia. Part of the Bernstein Festival continuing through February 2nd.

1. I was interviewing Jennifer during the first half (watch this space for updates and a posting of it!) so I only heard the first half of Tchaikovsky and Bernstein via speakers, and left after the concerto because I had worked that morning and had to go to work the next day as well. But the program was well varied and it didn't seem that anyone left the second half, which had the world premiere with Time For Three and Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini. Bassist Ranaan Meyer introduced the work briefly, giving the background of how the work came into being.

[The picture above left is at intermission, when we came into the hall - Jennifer was recognized by patrons, students and audience members, but we snapped this quick picture.]

2. The first movement of Concerto 4 3 is short, sweet and busy. It features the Trio prominently, with lots of extended blugrass techniques. Zachary DePue was stellar with his bow scraping in the right hand and bold leaps with his left. I was a little surprised that they didn't have stands or music, the trio played it from memory with flair, panache and let you know they were having fun. Maestro Eschenbach also seemed to be watching them alot and smiling.

3. The central slow movement is the longer of the concerto and certainly lets the orchestra blend with the trio, especially haunting and beautiful is a section with the oboes who melt your heart. Lines come and go, from the trio to the orchestra and back. The whole movement was seemless with the first and featured the trio in a cadenza that blew your mind. Meyer's bass was stunning in melodies, although often his movement seemed over the top.

4. The finale is wonderous and toe tapping. Again, Higdon's brilliant orchestration shines and allowed Time for Three to jam, where percussion leads to brass to the winds and strings, all while the soloists play the perfect mix of classical and bluegrass. Nick Kendall fiddled and swayed with timing just right with his comrades, often melding in unison lines.

5. The audience was on its feet, and shouts of "Bravo" echoed in the hall - you probably heard me whistle and hoot. While I thought perhaps "The Singing Rooms" will make the history books for its unique orchestration of Violin, Chorus and Orchetsra, I think Concerto 4 3 will long be remembered for its groundbreaking freedom of styles. I've never experienced such quality of music in varied styles, and with such tasteful, miraculous execution. Simply a masterpiece.

Stay tuned for a review of "The Singing Rooms" this next week and an interview to be posted at Composing Thoughts!

Read my previous posting about more of Jennifer's concerts here. Learn about her upcoming Composing Thoughts Live here.

Busy?

There's alot afoot in new music, especially for a dear friend of mine.

Coming up in January, the Philadelphia Orchestra is playing several new works by Jennifer Higdon:

January 10th is the World Premiere of Concerto 4-3, written for Time for Three

January 16th musicians will join for her Bentley Roses (from 2002) with Randall Scarlatta and Susan Narucki (also David Rakowski is on the program, Sex Songs)

January 17th is the World Premiere of The Singing Rooms, written for violinist Jennifer Koh - and maybe the first Violin Concerto with orchestra and chorus!

January 23rd you can hear BOTH Concerto 4-3 and The Singing Rooms and also on January 25th in the afternoon!

Jennifer's Percussion Concerto is being performed by the Harrisburg Symphony on March 8th & 9th. She'll be in attendance and is going to speak with me at WITF for a Composing Thoughts Live! on Saturday afternoon, March 8th, 2008. I just got word today that it will be supported by Meet The Composer, thanks!!!!

Jennifer is the very first composer ever featured on Composing Thoughts, and also had a followup episode earlier this year.

You can hear that episode online here.

Looking forward!

Hightech Higdon

Previously unreleased recordings of works by Higdon and Shostakovich added to Online Music Store
Several live recordings are newly available as downloads in The Philadelphia Orchestra's Online Music Store. In addition to the 70-plus items already in the Store, music lovers can purchase the world premiere performance of Jennifer Higdon's highly acclaimed Concerto for Orchestra written for The Philadelphia Orchestra.
The Store also includes downloads of three works by Shostakovich performed by rising classical music stars. Pianist Stewart Goodyear, a replacement for André Watts, performed Shostakovich's First and Second Piano Concertos in October 2006. Twenty-four-year-old American cellist Alisa Weilerstein stepped in for Truls Mørk in Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto last November. The Philadelphia Inquirer called Goodyear "combustible" and Weilerstein "intense," "impressive," and "daring."
In addition to these new releases, downloads of the Orchestra's live performances of all nine Beethoven symphonies under Christoph Eschenbach are now available as a package for a reduced price.
For more information, visit www.thephiladelphiaorchestra.com.