Where's The Love For Jennifer Higdon?

[JSngry]

Been discovering her work in bits and pieces, quite randomly, and liking it a lot. Also found out that I totally missed her stint as Composer-In-Resided with the Fort Worth Symphony, but willful ignorance comes at a price, no doubt.

Anyway, I like her stuff so far, and apparently she's having some fair success...am I wrong and/or is that wrong?

Feel free to gush and or vent, according to your wont.

[David Ayers]

I only know her Violin Concerto, and that from the recording by the formidable Hilary Hahn. If I have heard anything else of hers, I can't remember. The concerto did not really win me over, the ideas seemed a little too easy. I am pretty sure it would seem like a bigger deal in performance.

[David Ayers]

PS - we like HH

[JSngry]

How many of y'all are there?

This is the only CD I've got. Everything else has been on podcasts and streaming things. But it - the CD - has held up under a week's worth of close listening, and that's about as long a sustained play as I give anything these days.

[papsrus]

Yeah, I went over to amazon after reading your post and that's the one that caught my attention also. Not much there with the Fort Worth orchestra that I could see.

[A Lark Ascending]

I've enjoyed these three, alongside the violin concerto.

The fact that she wrote the last one for me hasn't influenced me in the least.

Edited February 16, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[JSngry]

Yeah, I thought the Lark thing would appeal to you, Bev.

Don't know how much FWSO recorded her stuff, but they had several commissions premiered in performance (this from a buddy of mine who's assistant principle bassist with them, but whom I have known for years now only as a jazz player. again, willful ignorance on my part, bad decision). Really don't know how much the FSO records anything, really, suppose I should find out.

[MomsMobley]

mmmmmmm... i dunno. while not dismissing Higdon, some of her pieces seemed too soft for me, an impression heightened back when by this unfortunate interview--

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB113096332918386569

and granted, you want to communicate to a general audience etc... let's say I'm agnostic but open; touting John Adams doesn't impress me but the deeper parts of Copland and Barber both do.

I suspect the Lark is already on it but I have, coincidentally-- not to compare women composers to only other women!-- been enjoying of Higdon's slightly older Brit contemporary, Sally Beamish.

And-- though Branford doesn't interest me, neither does he grossly offend & credit where due--

Will check out the Bridge/Lark/Higdon disc, thanks for head's up.

Edited February 16, 2015 by MomsMobley

[7/4]

2010 Pulitzer Prize winner.

.

Edited February 16, 2015 by 7/4

[David Ayers]

2010 Pulitzer Prize winner.

.

What is your opinion of the work which won that prize?

[7/4]

2010 Pulitzer Prize winner.

.

What is your opinion of the work which won that prize?

Not my usual thing, but it's great. Not difficult listening...I'm listening to it for the first time now. Down in that final movement now.

I'll have to yewTube more by JH when I get a chance.

[psu_13]

I first head Higdon when the Pittsburgh Symphony played a few of her pieces live. I think it was Cityscape that we heard. Made an impression.

[A Lark Ascending]

I'd say Higdon is worth listening to if you are interested in exploring contemporary 'classical' music but are a bit scared of it. She writes in a tonal language that won't appeal to the hard core avant-gardista but has lots of reference points for the ordinary listener.

Interview here gives some idea where she's coming from:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_12_2/feature-interview-jennifer-higdon-6-2005.html

[David Ayers]

2010 Pulitzer Prize winner.

.

What is your opinion of the work which won that prize?

Not my usual thing, but it's great. Not difficult listening...I'm listening to it for the first time now. Down in that final movement now.

I'll have to yewTube more by JH when I get a chance.

Cool. Prompted by Mr Sangrey I listened again to the CD. The violin part is pretty deft by any standard! I don't quite get the shape, very sectional. The Americana is not written as large as I remember. The final movement is a bit hoedown-y - interesting decision though. If you go for the traditional three movement concerto you are always going to have the finale problem. Revised conclusion: pleasures al the way through, not yet convinced by the shape or overall feeling.

Other big works of Higdon on the list, and which do seem to have been performed outside the US, the Concerto for Orchestra and the Percussion

Concerto.

Re. Lark's comment on tonality: I don't think the VC is as tonal as it seems. That may be part of her bag.

[A Lark Ascending]

Most neo-tonal composers (please treat that term as a huge generalisation) seem to also embrace the other possibilities; yet provide a general sense of tonality that will give the ordinary listener (who has probably been grounded in tonality by experience of music all their lives). In many respects Berg seems to be the model - uncertainty but with moments when safe landing grounds come briefly into view.

What I do sense is a reluctance in many of these composers to write a 'big tune' - as if that would be a revisionist step too far. Not saying they should - but it tends to be what still moves a classical piece from a specialised audience up to a broader one (well, either that or a heavy dose of 'spirituality'). It's why regional orchestral programmes in the UK are dominated by the 19thC/early 20thC repertoire.

Edited February 17, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[David Ayers]

No big tunes in Beethoven!

[A Lark Ascending]

Not sure what you are saying there, David.

'There are no big tunes in Beethoven' (If so, well I hear lots of them as does your average listener, I'd expect)

or

'But Beethoven has big tunes'. (If so, I can't work how that relates to late-20th/early 21st century music).

[David Ayers]

Beethoven is based on motivic development, not melody. Classical sonata form is all about that sort of logic. It is rational and clear and that is what the auditor is drawn in to. Think Beethoven 5. The big tune is a later romantic thing.

[A Lark Ascending]

Well, I understand about motivic development but would argue that the manipulation of motifs can generate big tunes - maybe memorable melodies would be a better term. Lots grow out of the seed in Beethoven 5. I know I enjoyed the symphony for a long time before I understood how far each movement owed to the generating motif.

The opening tune of 6 and the finale; the Ode to Joy tune. I think most ordinary listeners would recognise them as tunes. Along with lots of others.

I don't think the appeal of Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert to a wide enough audience to keep the regional orchestras in work is down to motivic development..though that might be something that those of us without a musical education might learn to enjoy once we've been drawn in by the tunes. And I doubt if they'd distinguish between the nature of the Ode to Joy or a Rachmaninov tune - whether one is or is not 'big' is an issue of musicological history. Interesting to the expert, but not central for the listener.

I suspect we're back to that grammar/architecture thing. How far the grammar/architecture is the point rather than what it constructs.

Edited February 17, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[David Ayers]

All I really mean is that there are other hooks in music and that it doesn't depend on the big tune. In any case, Higdon uses several types of hook to give the music a platform, and is certainly not short of tunes.

Doesn't some provincial orchestra programming really depend on the expected familiarity of a certain demographic with a certain recorded repertoire? And isn't the reason for doing a lot if Beethoven etc. that it is cheaper? Late romantic works are costly. In any case, there are plenty of regional orchestras with the resources to do adventurous programming - BBCPO, RLPO, for example.

[A Lark Ascending]

All I really mean is that there are other hooks in music and that it doesn't depend on the big tune. In any case, Higdon uses several types of hook to give the music a platform, and is certainly not short of tunes.

Of course there are.

But it's interesting that the 'memorable tune' is the thing that contemporary composers are most guarded about, even when they have restored a lot of the other time-tested hooks.

As for regional orchestras, if they do have the resources to do adventurous programming, they don't seem to do much about it. Birmingham used to be different - I'm not sure today.

The remaining Sheffield season goes no further than Nielsen/Bartok/Prokofiev...apart from a short Boccherini piece arranged by Berio.

As for Nottingham:

Wednesday 11 February 2015, 7.30pm

The Hallé

Nikolaj Znaider conductor; Jian Wang cello; Katherine Watson soprano; Gary Griffiths baritone

Grieg Peer Gynt (Selection); Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme; Nielsen Symphony No. 3 More Info

Friday 20 February 2015, 7.30pm

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Vasily Petrenko conductor

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2 'Little Russian'; Shostakovich Symphony No. 10

More Info

Thursday 12 March 2015, 7.30pm

BBC Philharmonic

Juanjo Mena conductor; Alexandra Soumm violin

Ginastera Estancia; Lalo Symphonie Espagnole; Bizet Carmen Suite No. 2: Ravel Bolero More Info

Friday 20 March 2015, 7.30pm

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Andris Nelsons conductor; Stephen Hough piano

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3; Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2 More Info

Tuesday 21 April 2015, 7.30pm

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Jiři Belohlavek conductor; Chloë Hanslip violin

Smetana Overture, Furiant and Skocna from The Bartered Bride; Mendelssohn Violin Concerto; Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending; Dvořák Symphony No. 7 More Info

Wednesday 13 May 2015, 7.30pm

Warsaw Philharmonic

Jacek Kaspzcyk conductor; Noriko Ogawa piano; April Fredrick soprano

Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1; Mahler Symphony No. 4 More Info

Tuesday 2 June 2015, 7.30pm

The Hallé

Sir Mark Elder conductor; Benjamin Grosvenor piano

Tchaikovsky Fantasy Overture: Romeo and Juliet; Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2; Janáček Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen; Britten The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra More Info

Saturday 13 June 2015, 7.30pm

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Enrique Mazzola conductor; Nicola Benedetti violin

Donizetti Overture: Il Poliuto; Brahms Violin Concerto; Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel) Pictures at an Exhibition More Info

Ginastera is about as daring as it gets, tucked in with more familiar exotica. I'm going to the Shosty (but wouldn't have even done that if it hadn't been half-term).

What I'd say that all those pieces have in common is memorable tunes (and familiarity). Which makes the season economically viable.

I understand London is different - it has such a huge population and a reputation as an international cultural centre to maintain. So it can get the audiences for more off-the-garden-path programming.

I would suspect that the 'tunes' in Higdon are not memorable enough to make it into Sheffield City Hall or the Royal Concert Hall...except, perhaps, in one of those short pieces that sometimes appear at the start of a concert (Adams' Short Ride and Chairman Dances seem to have found a slot as the modernist piece on such programmes! Not sure if they count as tunes but they certainly whirl round my brain after I've heard them).

Edited February 17, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[David Ayers]

Audience research shows that people come based on composer name. That is what I have been told by someone in the business. If people come for 'tunes' they are going to get a whole lot more passage-work than they bargained for! I think familiarity with the most famous pieces from recordings among a certain demographic is a factor - familiarity with the piece, though, not just the tune - and I also suspect people go to the name composers because they think they will feel comfortable with the idiom.

I have to admit there are few of the basic pieces even where I can remember the tunes until I hear them (then it all comes flooding back).

I am trying not to be over-familiar with core repertoire via recordings so that when I go to hear them there is more sense of occasion.

In any case, orchestral music for large audiences is only one aspect of music making.

Anyway, I keep telling you - go to the Bridgewater Hall!

[A Lark Ascending]

Had a look at the Bridgewater Hall. Seems mainly what I'd expect with a couple of things standing out:

BBC Philharmonic HK Gruber Presents…

HK Gruber conductor | Matthew Barley cello

David Matthews Symphony No. 8 (World Premiere, BBC Radio 3 Commission) | HK Gruber Cello Concerto | Weill Symphony No. 1 |Kurt Schwertsik Baumgesange

Friday 17 April 2015 7:30 PM The Bridgewater Hall

I actually went to the premier of the Matthews 7th at the Bridgewater some years back (along with Mahler 7).

Might go to that as it is during the Easter break.

The Hallé

Markus Stenz conductor | Lynsey Marsh clarinet | Gareth Small trumpet

Ives The Unanswered Question | Helen Grime Concerto for clarinet and trumpet | Walton Symphony No.1

Thursday 07 May 2015 7:30 PM The Bridgewater Hall

Now that's my kind of programme - something I know from record but would love to hear live, something totally new and then an old favourite that I've never heard live.

Sadly, out of the question within a work week - Manchester is a 3 hour round trip if the traffic is working in your favour.

But thanks for the reminder.

[David Ayers]

Both of those look pretty good. Sadly too far out for me too. I do aim to get to one of the Nielsen concerts at the end of the season, although with the Oramo and Järvi cycles in progress in London everyone is getting a bit Nielsen-ed out, I should think.

[7/4]

Listen: Jennifer Higdon's Civil Words World Premiere

"On February 9, baritone Thomas Hampson and pianist Wolfram Rieger delivered the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Civil Words, a song cycle set to texts from the American Civil War. The performance was recorded for WQXR's Carnegie Hall Live series."