Symphony No. 4 (Kernis)

Last updated

Aaron Jay Kernis's Symphony No. 4 Chromelodeon was written in 2018 on a joint commission from the New England Conservatory of Music for the sesquicentennial anniversary of its founding, the Nashville Symphony, and the Bellingham Festival of Music. Its world premiere was given by the New England Conservatory of Music Philharmonia conducted by Hugh Wolff at the Symphony Hall, Boston, on April 18, 2018. [1]

Contents

Composition

The symphony has a duration of approximately 26 minutes and is cast in three movements:

  1. Out of Silence
  2. Thorn Rose | Weep Freedom (After Handel)
  3. Fanfare Chomelodia

Background

The title of the symphony "Chromelodeon" does not refer to the musical instrument by Harry Partch or any band of that name. Rather, as Kernis wrote in the score program note, "for me it has a particular meaning: Chroma-, relating to the chromatic scale of notes, or intensity of/or produced with color; Melodi-, melody, a succession of tones that produce a distinct phrase or idea; and -eon, one who performs. In other words, chromatic, colorful, melodic music performed by an orchestra." [1]

The first movement "Out of Silence" was inspired in part by two books named Silence: the first is a work about mindfulness written by the Thiền Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh and second is an essay collection written by the American composer John Cage. The second movement "Thorn Rose | Weep Freedom (After Handel)" is melodically influenced by the music of the Classical-era composer George Frideric Handel; its title is derived from the aria "Lascia ch'io pianga" used the operas Almira and Rinaldo . [1]

Instrumentation

The work is scored for an orchestra comprising three flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), three oboes (3rd doubling cor anglais), three clarinets (2nd doubling E-flat clarinet; 3rd doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, two trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, five percussionists, piano (doubling celesta), harp, and strings. [1]

Reception

Laurence Vittes of Gramophone gave the symphony a positive review, observing that "you can feel the times in the music by the influences (Nhat Hanh, John Cage and Handel) and the themes. The first movement begins with instruments that glow in the dark, the winds making like an organ, a sinuous cello assaulted by shrieks. The second movement reflects on the words of 'Lascia ch'io pianga' in Rinaldo, 'Let me weep over my cruel fate, and that I long for freedom'." [2] Joseph E. Morgan of the Music City Review also praised the piece, writing, "With his Fourth Symphony, entitled Chromelodeon, [Kernis] has created a world that is richly chromatic, marked by unease, contemplative intensity and, in the first movement particularly, obsessive rumination." [3]

Geoff Brown of BBC Music Magazine was more critical of the piece, however, remarking, "Kernis's energy and technical skills remain startling, but his struggle for symphonic significance exposes more limits than strengths in his use of the subtitle's constituent parts (chromatics, colour, melody). Notes pile up to a choking degree and the finale is empty chatter, while the central slow movement that chews over Handel's aria 'Laschia ch'io pianga' remains more meretricious than meaningful. Luckily, the fretful first movement, labelled 'Out of Silence' and opened with tinkling bell sounds, is satisfyingly intriguing." [4]

Recording

A recording of the symphony, performed by the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, was released on album together with Kernis's Color Wheel through Naxos in June 2020. [2] [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Rinaldo</i> (opera) 1711 opera by George Frideric Handel

Rinaldo is an opera by George Frideric Handel, composed in 1711, and was the first Italian language opera written specifically for the London stage. The libretto was prepared by Giacomo Rossi from a scenario provided by Aaron Hill, and the work was first performed at the Queen's Theatre in London's Haymarket on 24 February 1711. The story of love, war and redemption, set at the time of the First Crusade, is loosely based on Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata, and its staging involved many original and vivid effects. It was a great success with the public, despite negative reactions from literary critics hostile to the contemporary trend towards Italian entertainment in English theatres.

Aaron Jay Kernis is a Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning American composer serving as a member of the Yale School of Music faculty. Kernis spent 15 years as the music advisor to the Minnesota Orchestra and as Director of the Minnesota Orchestra's Composers' Institute, and is currently the Workshop Director of the Nashville Symphony Composer Lab. He has received numerous awards and honors throughout his thirty-five year career. He lives in New York City with his wife, pianist Evelyne Luest, and their two children.

Symphony No. 3 was Aaron Copland's final symphony. It was written between 1944 and 1946, and its first performance took place on October 18, 1946 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing under Serge Koussevitzky. If the early Dance Symphony is included in the count, it is actually Copland's fourth symphony.

Barbara Kolb is an American composer. Her music uses sound masses and often creates vertical structures through simultaneous rhythmic or melodic units. Kolb's musical style can be identified by her use of colorful textures, impressionistic touch, and atonal vocabulary, with influences stemming from literary and visual arts. She was the first American woman composer to win the Rome Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Albert</span> American composer (1941–1992)

Stephen Joel Albert was an American composer. He is best known for his Symphony No. 1 RiverRun (1983) and Cello Concerto (1990) written for Yo-Yo Ma, both of which won a Pulitzer Prize for Music. He died suddenly in a 1992 automobile accident, having just sketched out his Second Symphony. The work was subsequently completed by Sebastian Currier, and his death sparked musical tributes from composer colleagues such as Aaron Jay Kernis and Christopher Rouse.

<i>The Miraculous Mandarin</i> Pantomime ballet by Béla Bartók

The Miraculous Mandarin Op. 19, Sz. 73, is a one act pantomime ballet composed by Béla Bartók between 1918 and 1924, and based on the 1916 story by Melchior Lengyel. Premiered on 27 November 1926 conducted by Eugen Szenkar at the Cologne Opera, Germany, it caused a scandal and was subsequently banned on moral grounds. Although more successful at its Prague premiere, it was generally performed during the rest of Bartók's life in the form of a concert suite, which preserves about two-thirds of the original pantomime's music.

<i>The Triumph of Time and Truth</i>

The Triumph of Time and Truth is the final name of an oratorio by George Frideric Handel produced in three different versions across fifty years of the composer’s career:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lascia ch'io pianga</span> Soprano aria by composer George Frideric Handel

"Lascia ch'io pianga", originally "Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa", is an Italian-language soprano aria by composer George Frideric Handel that has become a popular concert piece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 3 (Penderecki)</span> Symphony by Krzysztof Penderecki

The Symphony No. 3 is a symphony in five movements composed between 1988 and 1995 by Krzysztof Penderecki. It was commissioned and completed for the centenary of the Munich Philharmonic. Its earliest version, Passacaglia and Rondo, premiered at the International Music Festival Week in Lucerne, Switzerland, on August 20, 1988. It was performed by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and conducted by Penderecki. The full symphony premiered in Munich on 8 December 1995, performed by the Munich Philharmonic, again conducted by the composer.

Notes on Light is a cello concerto by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and was first performed at Symphony Hall, Boston on February 22, 2007, by the cellist Anssi Karttunen and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

The Symphony No. 2 is an orchestral composition by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for its 75th anniversary. It was composed in 1987.

The Oboe Concerto is a composition for solo oboe and orchestra by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for its principal oboist William Bennett. It was completed on October 18, 1991, and was given its world premiere by Bennett and the San Francisco Symphony under the conductor Herbert Blomstedt in 1992.

The Flute Concerto is a composition for flute and orchestra by the American composer Aaron Jay Kernis. The work was jointly commissioned for the flautist Marina Piccinini by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chautauqua Institution, and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. It was first performed in Detroit on January 21, 2016, by Piccinini and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin. The piece is dedicated to Marina Piccinini "with warmth and admiration."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lark Quartet (ensemble)</span>

The Lark Quartet was a New York-based, all female string quartet that operated from 1985 to 2019. It is acknowledged for its distinguished contribution to the string quartet repertoire, commissioning new works from some of America's most celebrated composers. Most notably, Aaron Jay Kernis' two string quartets: Quartet no. 1 Musica celestis and Quartet no. 2 Musica instrumentalis, which received the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. The Lark Quartet served as Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 2004–08 and has recorded numerous albums on multiple labels including Decca/Argo, Arabesque, Bridge, ERI, Endeavor and Koch.

The Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 39, is the second piano concerto by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. The work was commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the pianist Hilde Somer, to whom the concerto is dedicated. It was first performed by Somer and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Izler Solomon on March 22, 1973.

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a musical composition by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work was commissioned by the conductor Serge Koussevitzky who was then music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was first performed on January 28, 1927, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Koussevitzky with the composer himself as the soloist. The piece is dedicated to Copland's patron Alma Morgenthau Wertheim.

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a piano concerto by the British composer Thomas Adès. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the pianist Kirill Gerstein and was completed in 2018. It was first performed by Gerstein and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer at Symphony Hall, Boston, on 7 March 2019. The piece is Adès's second piano concerto following In Seven Days in 2008.

Aaron Jay Kernis's Violin Concerto was written between 2016 and 2017 for the violinist James Ehnes on a joint commission from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, with support of the Norma and Don Stone Fund for New Music. Its world premiere was performed by Ehnes and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, on March 8, 2017. Kernis dedicated the piece to James Ehnes "with great admiration and friendship." The concerto later received the 2019 Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Classical Instrumental Solo.

Aaron Jay Kernis's Viola Concerto was composed between 2013 and 2014 for the violist Paul Neubauer on a commission from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, the Chautauqua Institution, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Its world premiere was given by Neubauer and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra conducted by Roberto Abbado in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on April 24, 2014. The score is dedicated to Neubauer "with deepest admiration."

Color Wheel is an orchestral composition written in 2001 by the American composer Aaron Jay Kernis. The work was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra for the opening concert at Verizon Hall in the newly constructed Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia and in celebration of the orchestra's centennial. Its world premiere was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch at Verizon Hall on December 15, 2001. Color Wheel is dedicated to the composer's wife Evelyne Luest.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kernis, Aaron Jay (2018). "Symphony No. 4 (Chromelodeon)". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Vittes, Laurence (August 2020). "KERNIS Color Wheel". Gramophone . Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  3. ↑ Morgan, Joseph E. (June 22, 2020). "Aaron Jay Kernis' Color Wheel and 4th Symphony, "Chromelodeon"". Music City Review. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Brown, Geoff (July 23, 2020). "Aaron Jay Kernis: Color Wheel; Symphony No. 4". BBC Music Magazine . Retrieved August 6, 2023.
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.