Utah Symphony | Utah Opera Blog » Composer Spotlight

Light in the Darkness

Emma Price — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:20:55 +0000

The extreme northern region of Europe, otherwise known as Scandinavia, is known for its peculiar Sun cycles. Being so far to the North at times the sun will only just barely dip below the horizon thus it is called the Land of the Midnight Sun. The unusual weather in Finland as well as the exceptional beauty of the landscape has influenced many artists over the years. This has produced a distinctly Finnish styling to their works. Jean Sibelius is no exception.

Sibelius reflected the influences of his time in many ways but there are two that are particularly evident in his music. The first was the political mood and kindled nationalism and the second was the haunting beauty of his native Finland.

The time in which Jean Sibelius wrote his only violin concerto was a period of great change. This late romantic period is also known for the rise of Finnish nationalism. The people were trying to identify what uniquely belongs to them. Sibelius became a dominant character in the development of the Finnish culture through his music. In fact it could be said that Sibelius epitomized the Finnish character in his music. He allowed the music to grow organically stripping away the unnecessary elements. Many of his works were also based on Finnish poetry and national sentiment. One particularly patriotic example is his work titled Finlandia.

The other influence that so colored Sibelius’ work was his overwhelming connection to nature and in particular his native landscape. Erik Tawaststjerna a biographer of the composer wrote of him:

“Even by Nordic standards, Sibelius responded with exceptional intensity to the moods of nature and the changes in the seasons: he scanned the skies with his binoculars for the geese flying over the lake ice, listened to the screech of the cranes, and heard the cries of the curlew echo over the marshy grounds just below Ainola. He savoured the spring blossoms every bit as much as he did autumnal scents and colours.” (Tawaststjerna, Erik; Robert Layton (Translator) (1976–1986). Sibelius)

Both of these influences can be seen, or rather heard, in the Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47 (1903/1905). But there is one final element that is perhaps more telling than the rest. Sibelius loved the violin. He studied long hours to become a violin soloist only to discover that he had embarked on this journey too late. The violin concerto with its virtuosic passion allowed Sibelius to live his dream vicariously.

Perhaps it is fitting that this concert that features a Finnish composer and a Finnish conductor be entitled Land of the Midnight Music.

Utah Symphony presents
Land of the Midnight Music
October 10 & 11, 2008 @ 8 PM
Abravanel Hall

Hannu Lintu, conductor
Henning Kraggerud, violin

Strauss ~ Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
Sibelius ~ Concerto for Violin in D minor
Schumann ~ Symphony No. 2 in C major

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19th Century Gossip – “Jolara” anyone?

Jon Miles — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:53:14 +0000

Today’s gossip rags highlight celebrity romances of “Bennifer” or “Brangelina,” but if you were alive during the mid to late 1800s, Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann (”Jolara,” perhaps?) might have graced the cover of the National Enquirer.

Clara, a respected pianist during the Romantic era, was the wife of composer Robert Schumann. When her husband attempted suicide and later died, it was Robert’s good friend Johannes Brahms who provided comfort and support to Clara and her family.

A close relationship between Brahms and Clara developed and became the source of speculation and gossip. But, to the deep dismay of Brahms, the relationship never advanced past that phrase that smitten men dread hearing – “just friends.”

It was at this time that Brahms composed his first piano concerto. This concerto, which Horacio Gutiérrez will perform with the Utah Symphony this weekend, reflects this stormy period in Brahms’s life.

Brahms Piano Concerto
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Horacio Gutiérrez, piano
Music Exposed: Thursday, April 17 @ 7:00 PM – More Details
Classical: Fri & Sat, April 18 & 19 @ 8:00 PM – More Details

Composer Spotlight: David Crumb

Jon Miles — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:05:54 +0000

Born in Boulder, Colorado, May 21, 1962; now living in Eugene, Oregon

David Crumb has no need to invoke his famous father to command respect and recognition, for he is a composer of the front rank with a raft of prestigious commissions, performances and awards to his credit. David’s musical education took place at the Eastman School of Music (B.M. in composition, 1985), and at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (M.A. in composition, 1991; Ph.D. in 1992). He spent the year 1989-90 at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, Israel, where he studied composition and conducting. Crumb is an accomplished cellist as well, having studied with members of both the Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony. In 1997 he joined the music faculty at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where he is still a member of the composition department. The following year he won a Guggenheim Fellowship.

September Elegy was Crumb’s intensely emotional response to 9/11 and is dedicated to the victims of that attack. “It reflects the underlying feelings of sadness and uncertainty that I experienced following that tragic event,” writes the composer. “I tend to experience the conceptualization and ultimate realization of my music as a nonlinear and rather mysterious process.”

David Crumb will join the Utah Symphony at Ancient Voices of Children on March 13.

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Composer Spotlight: George Crumb

Jon Miles — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:58:48 +0000

Born in Charleston, West Virginia, October 24, 1929; now living in Media, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia).

“Crumb has just about the most adventurous command of small, delicate shades of timbre of any composer around. I know of no other who has invented so many fascinating new things for singers and instrumentalists to do, or has used the older, familiar inventions . . . with such exquisite finesse.”

Thus did New Yorker critic Andrew Porter sum up his response to George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children. Porter, known as a fervid but highly discriminating champion of new music, based this opinion on repeated encounters with the work, admitting that at the first performance he was “bowled over, like just about everyone else,” but that familiarity deepened his admiration for “one of the most delicate, poetic and beautiful compositions of our day.”

The composer of Ancient Voices and Makrokosmos was born into a musical household (his father was a bandmaster) and went on to obtain his M.A. and D.M.A. at the Universities of Illinois and Michigan. He also studied composition with Boris Blacher at Tanglewood and at the Hochschule in Berlin. His first major teaching position was at the University of Colorado (1959-1965), following which he joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught for more than thirty years. Crumb has won most of the prestigious awards and grants available to American composers: Fulbright, Koussevitzky, Rockefeller, Guggenheim, Grammy and National Institute of Arts and Letters among them. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for Echoes of Time and the River, and Ancient Voices of Children won him both the International Rostrum of Composers Award and the Koussevitzky International Recording Award.

The Utah Symphony will be performing George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children and Makrokosmos on March 13 as part of its New Music @ The Rose Chamber Concert Series. David Crumb, George’s son, will attend the performance.

Ancient Voices of Children
New Music @ The Rose
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center
138 West 300 South, SLC
Thursday, March 13 @ 8:00 PM
Tickets: (801) 355-ARTS (2787)
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