Piano Concerto No. 3 (MacMillan)

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The Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra "The Mysteries of Light" is the third piano concerto by the Scottish composer James MacMillan. The work was commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra and was first performed on April 14, 2011 in Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, by the pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Minnesota Orchestra under the conductor Osmo Vänskä. [1] [2] [3]

Piano concerto musical composition for piano and orchestra

A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the Classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpieces which require an advanced level of technique on the instrument, including melodic lines interspersed with rapid scales, arpeggios, chords, complex contrapuntal parts and other challenging material. When piano concertos are performed by a professional concert pianist, a large grand piano is almost always used, as the grand piano has a fuller tone and more projection than an upright piano. Piano concertos are typically written out in music notation, including sheet music for the pianist, orchestra parts for the orchestra members, and a full score for the conductor, who leads the orchestra in the accompaniment of the soloist.

Sir James Loy MacMillan, CBE is a Scottish classical composer and conductor.

Minnesota Orchestra symphonic orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall.

Contents

Composition

Background

MacMillan described the conception of the piece in the score program notes, writing:

My 3rd Piano Concerto, The Mysteries of Light, attempts to revive the ancient practice of writing music based on the structure of the Rosary. The most famous example of this is the collection of the Rosary (or Mystery) Sonatas for violin by Heinrich Biber, written in the late 17th century. These consist of 15 movements based on the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries. In 2002 another set of meditations were introduced by John Paul II, the Luminous Mysteries, and these are the basis of the five sections of this concerto. [1]

Structure

The Piano Concerto No. 3 has a duration of roughly 25 minutes and is composed in five connected sections:

  1. Baptisma Iesu Christi
  2. Miraculum in Cana
  3. Proclamatio Regni Dei
  4. Transfiguratio Domini Nostri
  5. Institutio Eucharistiae

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo piano and an orchestra comprising three flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), two oboes, cor anglais, three clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones (3rd on bass trombone), tuba, timpani, three percussionists, harp, 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 musical instrument of the flute family

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 belong to the classification of double reed woodwind instruments. Oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. 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 the word 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

Reviewing the world premiere, Larry Fuchsberg of the Star Tribune praised the concerto, writing, "The work, all 25 minutes of it, is a wild ride, overflowing with color and incident -- turbulent, incantatory and, at moments, luminous." [2] Reviewing a 2013 performance of the work with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Mark Gresham of ArtsATL described the piece as "virtuosic for both pianist and orchestra" and described the audience's overall reaction, remarking:

<i>Star Tribune</i> Minneapolis newspaper

The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the Minneapolis Tribune in 1867 and the competing Minneapolis Daily Star in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolidated, with the Tribune published in the morning and the Star in the evening. They merged in 1982, creating the Star Tribune. After a tumultuous period in which the newspaper was sold and re-sold and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, it was purchased by local businessman Glen Taylor in 2014.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Robert Spano has been its music director since 2001. The ASO's main concert venue is Atlanta Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center.

At the end, the audience seemed as divided as Congress. About one-third stood fairly quickly to applaud Thibaudet: those who came to hear him regardless of what he was playing. Others rose slowly in their wake, to add to accolades for Spano and the orchestra. But a significant minority of the audience decidedly did not stand; some near me quietly expressed to one another their dismay at MacMillan's music. It is in many ways a perplexing piece, demanding much of a listener despite all its fulgurant orchestration and expressive immediacy. One might suggest that it calls for emotional multitasking — and we know how difficult that can be in everyday life, much less in a concert hall. [4]

Jay Nordlinger of The New Criterion also lauded the piece, writing, "Though only twenty-five minutes, the concerto felt a little long to me. Does it have a 'heavenly length,' as would befit a religious concerto? I'm not sure. I look forward to hearing the concerto again. What is beyond doubt is that James MacMillan is a serious composer who loves music and has important things to say. He does not write frivolously—except when frivolity is called for!—and he writes well." [5]

<i>The New Criterion</i> magazine

The New Criterion is a New York-based monthly literary magazine and journal of artistic and cultural criticism, edited by Roger Kimball and James Panero. It has sections for criticism of poetry, theater, art, music, the media, and books. It was founded in 1982 by Hilton Kramer, former art critic for The New York Times, and Samuel Lipman, a pianist and music critic. The name is a reference to The Criterion, a British literary magazine edited by T. S. Eliot from 1922 to 1939.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 MacMillan, James (2008). "MacMillan, James: Piano Concerto No. 3". Boosey & Hawkes . Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Fuchsberg, Larry (April 15, 2011). "MacMillan piece rooted in rosary". Star Tribune . Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ MacMillan, James (April 18, 2011). "Why I wrote a piano concerto based on the Rosary". The Daily Telegraph . Telegraph Media Group . Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  4. ↑ Gresham, Mark (June 1, 2013). "ASO review: Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, orchestra rise to challenge of James MacMillan". ArtsATL. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ Nordlinger, Jay (April 2015). "New York chronicle". The New Criterion . Retrieved November 5, 2015.
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