The Singing Rooms

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The Singing Rooms is a concerto for solo violin, choir, and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was jointly commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra. It was first performed on January 17, 2008 in Philadelphia by the violinist Jennifer Koh, The Philadelphia Singers, and the Philadelphia Orchestra under the conductor Christoph Eschenbach. The text of the piece is set to poems by Jeanne Minahan. The piece was most recently done in March 2019 at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts in Philadelphia by the Temple University Choirs and Orchestra, with a featured violin soloist. [1] [2]

Contents

Composition

Text

When first commissioned to write a violin concerto with a choral element, Higdon began searching for poetry on which to set the composition. She wrote in the score program notes:

To create the best form for the piece, I needed a group of poems that would not be too long (because I wanted to create different moods within this large work), and that would fit together somehow thematically. I looked for a long time, through poetry from various countries and time periods. But I discovered that sometimes the answer is in your own backyard: walking through the faculty lounge at Curtis one day, I asked Jeanne Minahan, the head of the Liberal Arts Department (who happens to be a poet) if she had anything that I could read. When I got some books of her poetry in my hands, I knew I had found what I was looking for... a series of poems, that resonated with me, and would provide different emotional settings, as if they were lessons in life arranged like different rooms within a house. [1]

Structure

The Singing Rooms has a duration of roughly 37 minutes and is composed in seven movements set to the text of poems by Jeanne Minahan: [1]

  1. Three Windows: Two Versions of the Day
  2. Things Aren't Always
  3. The Interpretation of Dreams
  4. Confession
  5. History Lesson
  6. A Word with God
  7. Three Windows: Two Versions of the Day

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo violin, SATB chorus, and an orchestra comprising two flutes, two oboes (2nd doubling English horn), two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets (1st doubling piccolo trumpet), three trombones, tuba, harp, timpani, two percussionists, and strings. [1]

Reception

Howard Goldstein of BBC Music Magazine praised The Singing Rooms, writing, "Higdon [...] often lets the poems take a backseat to the concerto-like solo violin part (beautifully played by Jennifer Koh), resulting in a lavishness of musical gesture occasionally at odds with the intimate subject matter." [3] Bradley Bambarger of The Star-Ledger compared the work favorably to Higdon's Violin Concerto, despite noting that "it still tends to be melodically anodyne." [4]

See also

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The Oboe Concerto is a concerto for a solo oboe and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Minnesota Commissioning Club and was premiered on September 9, 2005 by the oboist Kathy Greenbank and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Higdon later reworked the piece into her Soprano Sax Concerto in 2007.

The Soprano Sax Concerto is a concerto for soprano saxophone and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was originally commissioned by the Minnesota Commissioning Club as Higdon's Oboe Concerto and was premiered by oboist Kathy Greenbank and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 2005. Higdon later reworked the composition, however, and the piece was premiered in its form as a saxophone concerto on August 3, 2007 at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music by the saxophonist Timothy McAllister and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra under the conductor Marin Alsop.

On the Death of the Righteous is a composition for choir and orchestra set to the text of John Donne by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Mendelssohn Club in 2009 to celebrate Alan Harler's 20th season as their music director. The piece was first performed on March 29, 2009 by the Mendelssohn Club orchestra and choir under the conductor Alan Harler.

The Low Brass Concerto is a concerto for four solo low brass instruments and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for their renowned low brass section and co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was composed in 2017 and was first performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Riccardo Muti on February 1, 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Higdon, Jennifer (2007). The Singing Rooms: Program Note. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  2. ↑ Di Nardo, Tom (January 11, 2008). "For composer Higdon, life is nicely in tune". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Retrieved August 8, 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. ↑ Goldstein, Howard (January 20, 2012). "Higdon: The Singing Rooms". BBC Music Magazine . Retrieved August 8, 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. ↑ Bambarger, Bradley (October 21, 2010). "CD Reviews: Brooke Fraser, Grinderman, David Bowie, others". The Star-Ledger . Advance Publications . Retrieved August 8, 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
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