Al largo

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Al largo is a composition for orchestra by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic while Lindberg served as the orchestra's composer-in-residence. Its world premiere was given by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Alan Gilbert at Avery Fisher Hall on June 23, 2010. [1] [2] [3]

Orchestra large instrumental ensemble

An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which mixes instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as violin, viola, cello, and double bass, as well as brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments.

Magnus Lindberg Finnish composer and pianist

Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was the New York Philharmonic's composer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 and has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra's composer-in-residence since the beginning of the 2014–15 season.

New York Philharmonic symphony orchestra in New York City, United States

The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is one of the leading American orchestras popularly referred to as the "Big Five". The Philharmonic's home is David Geffen Hall, located in New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Contents

Composition

Background

Al largo is composed in a single movement and has a duration of roughly 25 minutes. The composer described the piece in the score program notes, writing, "This is the fastest music I've ever written, yet somewhere deep down there is a feeling of a very slow undertone and a very slow momentum, something large and wide in terms of expression. For a long time I already had an idea that I should call the work something contradictory—not something indicating a fast piece but, rather, something like Adagio or Largo." The title, which Lindberg described as "unusual," ultimately came at the suggestion of his friend and fellow composer Luca Francesconi. Lindberg recalled, "He suggested that I use the Italian expression 'Al largo,' which means being offshore, specifically referring to that moment when you reach the open sea and you don't see the coast anymore and what is before you is vast."

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession. A movement is a section, "a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena".

A unit of a larger work that may stand by itself as a complete composition. Such divisions are usually self-contained. Most often the sequence of movements is arranged fast-slow-fast or in some other order that provides contrast.

Luca Francesconi Italian composer

Luca Francesconi is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, then with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio.

He continued, "Al Largo is full of fanfares and joyous noises, but somehow its main structure falls into two halves, both of them starting very energetically and ending up as slow music. I like the sound of the word largo and I like the historical ballast of the word largo; even when you put it into the context of the Italian meaning of its name context, the piece remains abstract, musically."

Lindberg cited Maurice Ravel's ballet Ma mère l'Oye and Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht for string sextet as deciding influence in the piece's orchestration and composition. He wrote, "One of my earliest ideas with regard to this project was to create a big piece, but I didn't want to use a huge orchestra since I had done that many times in the past; I wanted the work to be more constrained, played by a smaller ensemble, and a perfect masterpiece in that category is Ravel's Ma Mère l'oye (Mother Goose), which is a gorgeous piece, particularly in the way that Ravel builds up tremendous expression with smaller resources." The composer added, "For me, the most beautiful moment in music history occurs at the end of [Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht]. I actually worked in a one-bar quote from Verklärte Nacht at the end of Al largo. I use my own melodic material on top of it, but there is a real, small gesture toward Schoenberg. I'm still fascinated by that moment in music history, when tonality somehow collapsed." [1]

Maurice Ravel French composer

Joseph Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.

<i>Ma mère lOye</i> musical composition four piano four hands by Maurice Ravel

Ma mère l'Oye is a suite by French composer Maurice Ravel. The piece was originally written as a five-movement piano duet in 1910. In 1911, Ravel orchestrated the work.

Arnold Schoenberg Austrian-American composer

Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg was an Austrian, and later American, composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School. With the rise of the Nazi Party, Schoenberg's works were labeled degenerate music, because they were modernist and atonal. He immigrated to the United States in 1934.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for an orchestra consisting of two flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), oboe, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons (2nd doubling contrabassoon), two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, two percussionists, harp, piano, and strings. [1]

Western concert flute transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood

The Western concert flute is a transverse (side-blown) woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, flute player, or (rarely) fluter.

Piccolo small flute musical instrument

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. This gave rise to the name ottavino, which the instrument is called in the scores of Italian composers. It is also called flauto piccolo or flautino.

Oboe musical instrument of the woodwind family

Oboes are a family of double reed woodwind instruments. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. Oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. A soprano oboe measures roughly 65 cm long, with metal keys, a conical bore and a flared bell. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed at a sufficient air pressure, causing it to vibrate with the air column. The distinctive tone is versatile and has been described as "bright". When oboe is used alone, it is generally taken to mean the treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglais, or oboe d'amore

Reception

Al largo has been praised by music critics. Reviewing the world premiere, Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times described Al largo as a "a lushly colorful, brilliantly orchestrated, teeming, intriguing yet baffling work." Tommasini wrote, "The piece is basically an essay for orchestra, full of restless, swirling figures, eerie fanfares, solo flights and harmonies that stack up, note by note, to create thick, pungent masses of sound: a Lindberg trademark." He nevertheless added, "There were arresting moments in Al largo. I was never bored. But the piece did not earn its length. The flow of events sounded arbitrary, like hearing a fragmented film score without seeing the film. Still, Mr. Lindberg writes brilliantly for orchestra, and Mr. Gilbert and the Philharmonic made the most of it in this glittering, virtuosic performance." [3] Andrew Clark of the Financial Times similarly called the work "an attractively upbeat symphonic essay." [4] Richard Whitehouse of Gramophone favorably compared the piece to Lindberg's EXPO , remarking, "More complex in content and evolution, Al largo (2010) falls into two continuous parts – the first as dense and eventful as the second is luminous and thoughtful – with a climactic burst of energy spilling over into a Sibelian string threnody redolent of those found in numerous Lindberg orchestral works these past two decades." [5]

Anthony "Tony" Tommasini is chief music critic for The New York Times, and has authored three books.

<i>The New York Times</i> Daily broadsheet newspaper based in New York City

The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. Founded in 1851, the paper has won 125 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. The Times is ranked 17th in the world by circulation and 2nd in the U.S.

<i>Financial Times</i> Daily broadsheet business newspaper owned by Nikkei Inc. and based in London

The Financial Times (FT) is an English-language international daily newspaper owned by Nikkei Inc, headquartered in London, with a special emphasis on business and economic news.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Lindberg, Magnus (2010). "Al largo". Boosey & Hawkes . Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ Mermelstein, David (October 7, 2010). "Lindberg Makes His Mark on the N.Y. Philharmonic". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Tommasini, Anthony (June 24, 2010). "Solemn, Strange and Demanding Sounds". The New York Times . Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  4. ↑ Clark, Andrew (June 21, 2013). "Magnus Lindberg: EXPO, Piano Concerto No 2, Al largo". Financial Times . Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  5. ↑ Whitehouse, Richard (September 2013). "LINDBERG Piaco Concerto No 2. EXPO. Al largo". Gramophone . Retrieved July 9, 2016.
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