American Symphony

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The American Symphony is a symphony for orchestra by the American composer Adam Schoenberg. The work was commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony and was completed in early 2011. It was first performed by the Kansas City Symphony under the direction of Michael Stern at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City on March 4, 2011.

Symphony extended musical composition

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often written by composers for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts.

Orchestra large instrumental ensemble

An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as the violin, viola, cello, and double bass, brass instruments such as the horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba, woodwinds such as the flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, and percussion instruments such as the timpani, bass drum, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, and mallet percussion instruments each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments.

Adam Schoenberg is one of the most performed living American composers. A member of the Atlanta School of Composers, his works have been performed by the Amarillo Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, New West Symphony, New World Symphony (orchestra), New York Philharmonic, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Pacific Symphony,Pasadena Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, among other ensembles. Schoenberg was the 2010-2012 guest composer for the Aspen Music Festival, the 2012-2013 composer-in-residence for the Kansas City Symphony, the 2013-2014 composer-in-residence for the Lexington Philharmonic, and the 2015-2017 composer-in-residence for the Fort Worth Symphony. Schoenberg's honors include a 2009 and 2010 MacDowell Colony fellowship, the 2007 Morton Gould Young Composer Award from ASCAP, and the 2006 Charles Ives Prize from the American Academy of Arts & Letters.

Contents

Composition

Background

Schoenberg was inspired to write the American Symphony by the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, about which he wrote, "...both parties asked the people to embrace change and make a difference. I was both excited and honored about ushering in this new era in our nation's history, and for the first time, I truly understood what it meant to be American." The composer cited Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3, which Schoenberg described as "the quintessential American symphony," as a musical influence on the work. He wrote, "Quite serendipitously, I heard Copland's 3rd three nights after President Obama was elected and, seeing that our country and world had needs similar to those of Copland's time, I was inspired to make a difference. I set out to write a modern American symphony that paid homage to our past and looked forward to a brighter future."

2008 United States presidential election 56th quadrennial presidential election in the United States

The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior Senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior Senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American ever to be elected as president.

Aaron Copland American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo, his Fanfare for the Common Man and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.

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, 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.

Despite this, Shoenberg described the American Symphony as "not a patriotic work," adding, "the symphony reflects a respect and responsibility for the great potential of our nation and a hunger to affect positive change. It is about our collective ability to restore hope within ourselves and our neighbors, both here and around the world." [1]

Structure

The symphony has a duration of approximately 24 minutes and is cast in five movements:

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession. A movement is a section, "a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena".

A unit of a larger work that may stand by itself as a complete composition. Such divisions are usually self-contained. Most often the sequence of movements is arranged fast-slow-fast or in some other order that provides contrast.

  1. Fanfare
  2. White on Blue
  3. Rondo
  4. Prayer
  5. Stars, Stripes, and Celebration

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a large orchestra consisting of three flutes (third doubling piccolo), three oboes (third doubling cor anglais), three clarinets (third doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (third doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, harp, piano (doubling celesta), timpani, four percussionists, 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, the music critic Timothy McDonald of The Kansas City Star highly praised the symphony, writing, "Schoenberg demonstrated a distinctive and exciting compositional voice. His American Symphony is bold and brilliant, and deserves to be a staple among orchestras in the U.S. and abroad." [2] Paul Horsley of Kansas City-based journal The Independent called it an "agreeable new piece" and wrote, "If the finale felt prolix in proportion to the overall length of the symphony, the piece revealed the soul of a strong musician with a natural sense of melody, a playful knack for rhythm and a serious approach to orchestration." [3]

<i>The Kansas City Star</i> newspaper in Kansas City

The Kansas City Star is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. The Star is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry Truman and as the newspaper where a young Ernest Hemingway honed his writing style. It was also central to government-mandated divestiture of radio and television outlets by newspaper concerns in the late 1950s.

Reviewing a later performance of the piece with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, George Day of The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier observed, "Its five movements are mostly brisk, sometimes noisy, but always engaging. The music speaks of the variety, vitality and optimism of the American spirit. Not exactly a patriotic work, it nevertheless conveys a respect, even a reverence, for the past and future of America." He added, "Schoenberg clearly knows how to orchestrate, and I am sure we have not heard the last of him." [4]

Recording

A recording of the American Symphony featuring the Kansas City Symphony under the direction of Michael Stern was released through Reference Recordings on January 20, 2017. The album also includes performances of Schoenberg's Finding Rothko (2006) and Picture Studies (2012). [5] [6] [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 Schoenberg, Adam (2011). Program Notes: American Symphony. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  2. ↑ McDonald, Timothy (March 5, 2011). "Review: Kansas City Symphony with guest pianist Jonathan Biss". The Kansas City Star . Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  3. ↑ Horsley, Paul (March 5, 2011). "Kansas City Symphony Presents Premiere of Appealing New Work". The Independent. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  4. ↑ Day, George (October 15, 2014). "Review: Contemporary Music Focus of Skillfully Performed WCFSymphony's Sounds American Festival Conclusion". The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier . Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  5. ↑ Neas, Patrick (June 7, 2014). "Kansas City Symphony prepares to record Adam Schoenberg's work". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  6. ↑ Neas, Patrick (July 1, 2017). "Four new classical CDs, including one by KC Symphony, worth a listen". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  7. ↑ Castillo, Patrick (February 27, 2017). "Rothko and Americana Inspire Orchestral Works of Adam Schoenberg". WQXR-FM . Retrieved August 28, 2017.
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