Symphony No. 5 (Harbison)

Last updated

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. [1] [2]

Contents

Composition

The symphony has a duration of roughly 35 minutes and is composed in four movements:

  1. Con fuoco
  2. Andante cantabile
  3. Grave
  4. Lento

Though it was originally conceived as a purely orchestral work, Harbison decided to add vocal parts to the symphony at the suggestion of James Levine. The first two movements are set to the text of Czesław Miłosz's Orpheus and Eurydice, while the third and fourth movements are set to Louise Glück's Relic and Rainer Maria Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus , respectively. [1]

Instrumentation

The work is composed for solo baritone and mezzo-soprano and a large orchestra comprising three flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), three oboes (3rd doubling English horn), three clarinets (2nd doubling E-flat clarinet; 3rd doubling bass clarinet), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, timpani, three percussionists, piano, harp, electric guitar, and strings. [1]

Reception

The symphony has received a positive response from music critics. Reviewing the world premiere, Jeremy Eichler of The Boston Globe called it "an accomplished four-movement work that has extremely prominent roles for baritone and mezzo-soprano." He continued:

The vocal writing is sensitive and compelling across all four movements, and Harbison's orchestra, spiked with an electric guitar (played by composer Michael Gandolfi), is lean and concise, full of imaginative sounds and percussion effects, but most of all, extremely responsive to the imagery suggested by the poetry at hand. When Milosz's Orpheus descends into a surreal underworld of endless corridors and elevators, the orchestra descends with him; when Eurydice begins her journey back, we hear a haunting passage full of dissociated, zombie-like string writing. The other movements show a similarly keen responsiveness to text, especially as rendered by last night's fine soloists, Nathan Gunn and Kate Lindsey. [2]

David Wright of the Boston Classical Review described the piece as "an arresting meditation on grief and the hereafter." [3] At a later performance of the piece, Jeremy Eichler called it "an artful and moving work" and wrote, "The movements based on Glück and Rilke fill out the picture, the latter set with the two vocal lines in vivid canon. No detail feels incidental, every gesture speaks." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Symphony Orchestra</span> American symphony orchestra in Boston

The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, the BSO performs most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at Tanglewood.

John Harris Harbison is an American composer and academic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Stucky</span> American composer

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

Richard Danielpour is an American composer and academic, currently affiliated with the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Peter Goddard Lieberson was an American composer of contemporary classical music. His song cycles include two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Music: Rilke Songs and Neruda Songs; the latter won the 2008 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition and both were written for his wife, the mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. His three piano concertos were each premiered by the pianist Peter Serkin, with the 1st and 3rd also being Pulitzer finalists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Levine</span> American conductor and pianist (1943–2021)

James Lawrence Levine was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 12, 2018, over sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied.

Daniel Steven Crafts is an American composer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, but has spent most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Onutė Narbutaitė is a Lithuanian composer.

Eric Moe is an American composer and pianist. He has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Charlotte Bray is a British composer. She was championed by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Sinfonietta and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, BBC Symphony Orchestra. Her music has been performed by many notable conductors such as: Sir Mark Elder, Oliver Knussen, Daniel Harding, and Jac van Steen.

The Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra is a composition for solo bassoon and orchestra in three movements by the American composer Marc Neikrug. The work was jointly commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. It was premiered in Boston November 21, 2013, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal bassoonist Richard Svoboda performing under conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Fussell</span> American classical composer

Charles Clement Fussell is an American composer and conductor of contemporary classical music. He has composed six symphonies and three operas. His symphony Wilde for solo baritone and orchestra, based on the life of Oscar Wilde and premiered by the Newton Symphony Orchestra and the baritone Sanford Sylvan in 1990, was a finalist for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He received a citation and award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1992.

Interventions is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was composed at the behest of the pianist Daniel Barenboim and the conductor James Levine to celebrate Carter's 100th birthday. The piece was completed on April 16, 2007 and was first performed in Symphony Hall, Boston on December 4, 2008 by Daniel Barenboim and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine.

The Symphony No. 6 is a composition for mezzo-soprano solo and orchestra by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor James Levine. It was composed in 2011 and was given its world premiere in Boston on January 12, 2012 by the mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Zinman. The piece is dedicated "in friendship and gratitude" to James Levine, who would have conducted the premiere had he not retired from his post as the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra due to health concerns.

The Symphony No. 4 is an orchestral composition by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony with contributions from the philanthropists Richard and Constance Albrecht. It was given its world premiere in Seattle on June 17, 2004 by the Seattle Symphony under the direction of Gerard Schwarz.

The Double Concerto for Violin and Cello is a double concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the Friends of Dresden Music Foundation for the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor James Levine. It was given its world premiere on April 8, 2010, by the spousal team of the violinist Mira Wang and the cellist Jan Vogler and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Carlos Kalmar. The piece was composed in honor of the violinist Roman Totenberg.

Milosz Songs is a composition for soprano and orchestra by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for the soprano Dawn Upshaw and is set to the poetry of the Polish writer Czesław Miłosz. It was given its world premiere in New York City on February 23, 2006 by Upshaw and the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Robert Spano.

Owls is a symphonic poem by the German-American composer André Previn. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine. The world premiere was given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Previn on October 2, 2008.

The Requiem is a composition for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, chorus, and orchestra by the American composer John Harbison. Composed over a period of seventeen years, the complete work was finished in 2002 on a commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Its world premiere was given by the soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore, tenor Paul Groves, baritone Jonathan Lemalu the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Bernard Haitink on March 6, 2003.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Harbison, John (2007). "Symphony No. 5". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Eichler, Jeremy (April 18, 2008). "Symphonies of songs: Harbison and Mahler at the BSO". The Boston Globe . Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  3. ↑ Wright, David (December 2, 2011). "BSO, Bělohlávek offer arresting Harbison, mixed Beethoven". Boston Classical Review. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  4. ↑ Eichler, Jeremy (December 2, 2011). "Harbison's Fifth returns to BSO". The Boston Globe . Retrieved April 30, 2016.
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.