Learning to compose by listening to other composers

By -

At TimesUnion.com, Joseph Dalton reports on an upcoming concert in Philadelphia which will feature a piece by Jennifer Higdon, Concerto 4-3, a 30-minute work for string trio (soli of two violins and double bass) and orchestra, completed in 2007. It was intitially premiered by Time for Three and The Philadelphia Orchestra on January 10, 2008. The trio, Time for Three, is typically considered pop performers, with the players coming from Jazz, Bluegrass, folk and hip hop. This concert gives them the chance to blend their style in a classical venue.

Higdon was the teacher in theory and composition at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia when Time for Three were students. So, there was already a relationship established when she began the composition. The piece was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra and the musical director, Christopher Eschenbach, specifically for Time for Three. While I have not heard the piece yet (it is available for download) and you can hear portions of it here.


Jennifer Higdon

This is not the first concerto Higdon has written. She also has a Trombone Concerto and speaks about the process of composing it here, on YouTube. She makes an interesting point about writing concertos for instruments that aren't typically done. There is a clammering from musicians to perform these pieces. Another video talks about Time for Three and the Concerto 4-3 with snatches of the music. It's fast and tonal (in her own words). She is concerned about writing interesting music, and that is utilitarian - more functional than just the one concert where it premiers or the initial performer for whom it's written (video of Higdon discussing her techniques with a portion of the Percussion Concerto).

Higdon is currently working on a Violin Concerto for Hilary Hahn. Both are very fortunate.

If you'd like to hear more from Time for Three, you can do so here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more