Loco (composition)

Last updated

Loco is an orchestral composition in one movement by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Ravinia Festival of Highland Park, Illinois to commemorate the Ravinia train as part of the Train Commission Project. It was first performed on July 31, 2004, at the Ravinia Festival by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. [1] [2]

Contents

Composition

Loco has a duration of roughly 8 minutes and is composed in a single movement. Higdon described her inspiration for the piece in the score program notes, writing:

"Loco" celebrates the Centennial season of Ravinia, and the train that accompanies the orchestra. When thinking about what kind of piece to write, I saw in my imagination a locomotive. And in a truly ironic move for a composer, my brain subtracted the word "motive", leaving "loco", which means crazy. Being a composer, this appealed to me, so this piece is about locomotion as crazy movement! [1]

Instrumentation

The work is scored for an orchestra comprising two flutes, piccolo, three oboes, three clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four French horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, piano, timpani, three percussionists, and strings.

Reception

Jeremy Eichler of The Boston Globe described Loco as "a gleaming and rambunctious curtain-raiser". [3] Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News similarly called it "seven minutes of high-energy scurries, clatters, chatters, jabs, chugs and fanfares." [4] Andrew Druckenbrod of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, "This piece imitates a "fast-moving train," and it roared into the hall. The fanfare-like work filled every nook and cranny with rhythmic pulsing and walls of sound." He added:

The work is less technically descriptive than, say, Arthur Honegger's seminal Pacific 231 , but it metaphorically captures the thrill of both being on a powerful train and watching one go by, alternating between both views (complete with wonderful Doppler effect brass calls). It was another intriguing piece by the PSO's composer of the year (Higdon). [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.

Steven Stucky American composer

Steven Edward Stucky was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.

Jennifer Elaine Higdon is an American composer of contemporary classical music. She has received many awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto and three Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto in 2010, Viola Concerto in 2018, and Harp Concerto in 2020. Elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019, she was a professor of composition at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1994 to 2021.

Manfred Honeck

Manfred Honeck is an Austrian conductor and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, he was named Artist of the Year by the International Classical Music Awards. On 28 January 2018, Honeck and the PSO were awarded the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for their recording of Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 and Barber Adagio for Strings. The recording won a second Grammy for Best Engineered Album.

Rainbow Body is an orchestral composition by the American composer Christopher Theofanidis. It was commissioned by the Houston Symphony, which first performed the work in April 2000 under the conductor Robert Spano. The piece is dedicated to the Texas lawyer and philanthropist Glen Rosenbaum. Rainbow Body is one of Theofanidis's most-performed compositions and won the 2003 London Masterprize competition.

Jennifer Higdon's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was written in 2008. The work was jointly commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Curtis Institute of Music. It was composed for the violinist Hilary Hahn and was given its world premiere by Hahn and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Mario Venzano on February 6, 2009. The piece was later awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

The Percussion Concerto is a one-movement concerto for solo percussion and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was jointly commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, with contributions from the Philadelphia Music Project and the Lacy Foundation of LDI, Ltd. The piece was completed in 2005 and is dedicated to the percussionist Colin Currie, for whom the concerto was written. The piece won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. That same year, Higdon won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto (2008).

Silent Spring is a 2011 symphonic poem for orchestra by the American composer Steven Stucky. The piece was written to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the environmental science book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with the Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham University. The work was premiered in Pittsburgh on February 17, 2012, with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck.

The Violin Concerto is a concerto for violin and orchestra by the American composer Mason Bates. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. It was premiered December 7, 2012, with Meyers and the Pittsburgh Symphony performing under conductor Leonard Slatkin.

Mothership is a single-movement composition for orchestra and electronica by the American composer Mason Bates. The piece received its world premiere March 20, 2011 at the Sydney Opera House by the YouTube Symphony Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas, with featured improvisatorial soloists Paulo Calligopoulos on electric guitar, Ali Bello on violin, Su Chang on zheng, and John Burgess on bass guitar. The premiere was broadcast live on YouTube and garnered nearly two million viewers.

The Piano Concerto is a concerto for solo piano and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. It was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and was first performed December 3, 2009 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.. The premiere featured pianist Yuja Wang and the National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Andrew Litton.

Concerto 4-3 is a concerto for two violins, double bass, and orchestra in three movements by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned for the string trio Time for Three by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. It was first performed in Philadelphia on January 10, 2008, by Time for Three and the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.

Desert Transport is a symphonic poem by the American composer Mason Bates. The work was commissioned by the Arizona Music Festival and was completed in 2010. It was premiered in February 2011 by the Arizona Music Festival Orchestra under conductor Robert Moody.

Fanfare Ritmico is a single-movement orchestral composition by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by The Women's Philharmonic as part of The Fanfares Project. It was given its world premiere in March 2000 by conductor Apo Hsu and the Women's Philharmonic.

blue cathedral is an orchestral composition by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music in 1999 to commemorate the conservatory's 75th anniversary. It was first performed in 2000 by the Curtis Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra. The piece is dedicated to the memory of Higdon's brother and is one of the composer's most performed works.

Stroke is an orchestral composition by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and is dedicated to the composer's brother, who suffered from a debilitating stroke in 2008. It was first performed in Pittsburgh on May 13, 2011, by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Manfred Honeck.

Tambor is an orchestral composition in one movement by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and was composed between September 1997 and February 1998. It was first performed on May 7, 1998, by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Mariss Jansons. The piece is dedicated Robert Moir, then artistic director for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Machine is a single-movement orchestral encore piece by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned in 2003 by the National Symphony Orchestra through a grant from the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund for New Orchestra Works. It was first performed by the National Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Giancarlo Guerrero on March 6, 2003.

The Symphony No. 5 is a composition for baritone, mezzo-soprano, and orchestra by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor James Levine. It was given its world premiere in Boston on April 17, 2008 by the mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, the baritone Nathan Gunn, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra directed by James Levine. The text of the piece is set to Orpheus and Eurydice by Czesław Miłosz, Relic by Louise Glück, and the Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke.

The Tuba Concerto is a composition for solo tuba and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for their principal tubist Craig Knox. It was first performed by Knox and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Robert Spano on March 16, 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 Higdon, Jennifer (2004). Loco: Program Note. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ Rhein, John von (July 25, 2004). "Jennifer Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra, City Scape: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano, conductor (Telarc)". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  3. ↑ Eichler, Jeremy (July 12, 2011). "Berlioz's Requiem and a wide-screen BSO". The Boston Globe . Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ Cantrell, Scott (June 7, 2012). "Classical music review: The Fort Worth Symphony holds its own against Dallas". The Dallas Morning News . Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  5. ↑ Druckenbrod, Andrew (June 3, 2006). "Concert review: Midland's Lincoln Park center impressive venue for PSO". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved August 1, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.