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Saturday, April 7, 2018, 8pm Zellerbach Hall Seattle Symphony Ludovic Morlot, conductor

PROGRAM

John Luther ADAMS (b. 1953) Become Desert (California Premiere) with the voices of Volti; Robert Geary, artistic director Become Desert was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony with the generous support of Dale and Leslie Chihuly. INTERMISSION Jean SIBELIUS (1865 –1957) Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43 Allegretto Tempo andante, ma rubato Vivacissimo— Finale: Allegro moderato

This project is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Cal Performances’ 2017 –18 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

 PROGRAM NOTES

Desert Music into sound. The music evolves slowly and Among the highlights of Ludovic Morlot’s seamlessly, without episodic events or drama. It tenure as music director of the Seattle Sym- requires, and induces, a contemplative form of phony was the 2013 premiere of John Luther listening. Adams’ Become Ocean . Com missioned by the orchestra, this composition presented a large- John Luther Adams scale sonic environment inspired by and mod - Become Desert (California Premiere) eled on patterns of oceanic tides, currents, Scored for five separate ensembles: Choir I – four and waves. The piece gained quick recognition flutes; four oboes; four clarinets; four bassoons; for its accomplished craftsmanship and novel crotales. Choir II – eight horns; chimes. Choir III – premise. “The music unfolds in the sonic four trumpets; four trombones; chimes. Choir IV – equivalent of waves,” wrote Anthony Tomma - mixed chorus; handbells. Choir V – percussion; sini, head music critic of the New York Times , four harps; strings. after the orchestra performed it at Carnegie Among the paradoxes that define civilization Hall, “with … oscillating figures, rippling riffs, in the early 21st century, perhaps none is more spiraling motifs, pulsating rhythms.” Tom ma - striking than the growing reverence for the sini added that a listener “must enter into a ru - natural world, and acknowledgement of our minative state to experience this work on its dependence on it, even as environmental crises own terms.” deepen across the planet. Nearly half a century The Seattle Symphony will perform Become has passed since the first Earth Day observance Ocean in Zellerbach Hall tomorrow afternoon. marked the beginning of modern ecological This evening, we hear the California premiere consciousness and activism. Today, as nature is of a sequel to that work. Become Desert com - relentlessly degraded by human activity, three pletes a trilogy with Become River and Become in four Americans say that environmental pro - Ocean . (Adams composed Become River in tection is an important issue for them. 2010 for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The new environmental awareness has, in - interrupting his work on Become Ocean to do evitably, found its way into the arts. British so.) The composer, who spent four decades sculptor Richard Long, for instance, has turned in Alaska before relocating to the desert of from conventional sculptural materials and Mexico, has declared himself “highly suspicious procedures in favor of rearranging branches, of political art.” Nevertheless, he writes in a stones, and other natural substances found in preface to Become Desert : “Living in Alaska for situ to form temporary outdoor sculptures. much of my life, I’ve experienced first-hand the Seattle-based photographer Chris Jordan has accelerating effects of anthropogenic climate created disturbing images that bring home the change on the tundra, the forest, the glaciers, reality and cost of nature’s despoiling. the plants, animals, and people of the Far Among today’s creative musicians, none em - North. Living in this desert by the sea, I’ve pon - bodies the new environmental consciousness dered from a new perspective the melting of the more than John Luther Adams. For some four polar ice and the rising of the seas. And now decades, this American composer has made the I’m considering more deeply Chateaubriand’s sounds and processes of nature the source and observation: ‘Forests precede civilizations, and subject of his work. Birdsongs, winds, the boom deserts follow…. ’” of ice breaking in the Alaskan wilderness, the Anyone who has spent time in a southern electrical fields that produce the aurora bore - desert knows that light is a constant and alis—these and much more have found their imposing presence throughout the day. It shim - way into his music. A milestone in Adams’ ca - mers, glares, sometimes softens. It can reveal reer came in 2013, when the Seattle Symphony, the beauty of wide vistas and small details; under the direction of Ludovic Morlot, gave the it can be nearly blinding. And it is constantly first performances of Become Ocean , a large changing. Become Desert renders desert light orchestral piece it had commissioned. The work

B PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES attracted widespread notice and garnered the rhetoric—or, more accurately, lack of it. The Pulitzer Prize for music composition in 2014. composition is neither a picturesque tone paint - With the success of Become Ocean , the or - ing of a desert scene nor a musical narrative chestra commissioned Adams to write another of a desert journey. Nor does it offer vivid composition, one that turns out to be a com - epi sodes, dramatic gestures, or intimations of panion piece of sorts. This commission, which human tragedy, triumph, or jest. Rather, it pres - the New York Philharmonic and San Diego ents a sonic environment in which to immerse Symphony have joined in tendering, coincided oneself. From the start, that environment is with a major alteration in the composer’s cir - enveloped by sustained tones, played by the on - cumstances. Since the 1970s Adams had lived stage string section, that expand from a single in Alaska, where the landscape and weather pitch to form open, widely spaced chords, a provided a frequent source of inspiration for his luminous wash of sound at volumes that range music. But having entered his seventh decade, from quiet to barely audible. Gradually the he felt ready for a change. Accordingly, he left other ensembles join in, altering and enriching his adopted home state and now divides his the sonic hue, much as daylight changes with time between New York and the Sonoran desert the rising position of the sun. No less gradually, of northwest Mexico. the music expands in volume and harmonic The latter location inspired his second com - complexion, becoming a dense roar midway position written for the Seattle Symphony. “I through its 40-minute duration. Then, in near- used to say that if I ever left the tundra it would palindromic fashion, it reverses direction, slowly be for the desert,” Adams observes. “Now, some thinning and subsiding until it reaches the sin - 40 years after first coming to Alaska, I’ve finally gle tone on which it began. made that move. As I’ve begun to learn the Clearly, such music requires a different kind landforms, the light, the weather, the plants, and of attention than that we usually bring to the the birds, I’ve dreamed of music that echoes concert hall. A hint as to what this might be lies this extraordinary landscape.” The music thus in a short poem by the Mexican writer Octavio dreamed is Become Desert . Paz, which Adams has inscribed as a preface to Though sonically quite different from the the score of Become Desert . One line reads, in earlier work, Become Desert shares two impor - English translation: “Close your eyes and listen tant traits with Become Ocean . First is its con - to the singing of the light.” ception as music for several ensembles that are distinct yet part of a larger whole. Adams has Jean Sibelius divided the orchestra for Become Desert into Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43 five ensembles, each with its own palette of Scored for pairs of woodwinds; four horns; three sounds, and each stationed in a separate loca - trumpets; three trombones; tuba; timpani; strings. tion. (The composer notes that the physical The music of Jean Sibelius has waxed and placement of instruments is a fundamental waned in popularity over the last century. element of this piece.) One ensemble, made up Although he worked through the 1920s, Fin- of strings, harps, and percussion, is stationed on land’s great composer never adopted the inno - stage. The remaining four groups are placed vations or the spirit of the modernist revolution at different spots around the auditorium. One that reshaped music after 1900. As a result, his of these ensembles consists largely of voices, work inevitably was caught up in the polemical which Adams, following a modern tradition battles over modernism versus Romanticism that is now more than a century old, uses as that raged for much of the 20th century. During though they were instruments rather than to his lifetime, Sibelius enjoyed inter national ac - convey a text. Their singing intones just one claim amounting, in some quarters, to adula - single-syllable word: luz , Spanish for “light.” tion. But following his death, in 1957, his star The other unusual aspect Become Desert was partially eclipsed by the growing apprecia - shares with Become Ocean concerns its musical tion of the early modernists, and the frequency

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with which his compositions were performed noted that he composed his Second Symphony fell sharply. not by some nordic fjord but in Italy, during Today it is possible to view Sibelius in a more a sojourn there in the winter of 1901–02. objective light, and the past three decades The symphony opens with eight measures of have seen a significant revival of interest in his throbbing chords. These function as a motivic music: new recorded cycles of the complete thread binding the first movement: they ac - symphonies, increasingly frequent perform - company both the pastoral first theme, an - ances of his works, and praise from a new gen - nounced by the oboes and clarinets (and eration of composers. Sibelius’ ultimate place echoed by the horns), and a contrasting second in the history of music will surely be as neither theme consisting of a sustained high note fol - the savior his partisans hailed nor the arch- lowed by a sudden descent. The latter merits reactionary derided by his detractors. Rather, careful attention, since it will appear in several he may best be understood as a 19th-century transformations later in the work. composer whose hearty constitution allowed A drum roll announces the second move - him to live and work well into the 20th century, ment. Sibelius sketched the initial theme for this continuing to use the rich tonal language of the part of the symphony while considering writ - late-Romantic era to create a powerful and per - ing a tone poem on the Don Juan legend, and sonal body of music. much of the music that follows has an intensely Sibelius’ Second Symphony can serve to dramatic character that seems suited to that dispel two other misconceptions surrounding story. Some of the most stirring moments his music. Because the moods presented by his involve variations of the second theme of the compositions are often intensely subjective, preceding movement. it has been assumed that their creation was Distant echoes of the series of chords that guided by expressive rather than formal con - opened the symphony can be heard through - siderations. In fact, Sibelius achieved a remark - out the scherzo third movement: in the re - able mastery of tonal architecture. The Second peated notes that start both the violin runs at Symphony reveals a four-movement structure the beginning of the movement and the limpid in the classical mold: a strong opening in sonata oboe melody later on, as well as in the trom - form followed by a slow movement, scherzo, bone chords that accompany a triumphant and rapid finale. theme that appears near the movement’s end. Then there is the notion that Sibelius was a This latter passage leads without pause into the nationalist composer whose music invariably last movement, which begins modestly but reflected the rugged landscapes and spirited builds to one of the most exultant finales in the people of Finland. While Sibelius certainly drew symphonic literature. inspiration from these sources, it should be —© 2018 Paul Schiavo

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

The Seattle Symphony , under the leadership of recognized community engagement programs, music director Ludovic Morlot, is a vital part of bring music to nearly 65,000 people of all ages Pacific Northwest culture and is recognized for each year. In 2016, in response to a city and its extraordinary performances, programming, county “state of emergency” due to the home - recordings, and community engagement. With lessness crisis, the Seattle Symphony launched a dedicated subscriber base of more than 20,000 Simple Gifts, a multi-year initiative to bring the patrons, the orchestra performs or presents healing power of music to those who are expe - nearly 200 performances annually to an audi - riencing homelessness. ence of 300,000 people. The organization’s In 1998 the Seattle Symphony inaugurated its edu cation programs, along with its nationally new home, Benaroya Hall, noted for its archi -

6B PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS tectural and acoustical splendor. Three years program—hailed by the New York Times as “a later the orchestra opened Soundbridge Seattle model of fresh artistic thinking”—featured Symphony Music Discovery Center, where peo - works by Varèse and Debussy, as well as John ple of all ages explore the world of symphonic Luther Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Become music through exhibits, classes, and live music Ocean , which was commissioned and recorded presentations. by the Seattle Symphony and received a Grammy In 2014 the orchestra launched its in-house Award. Last week, the orchestra gave the world recording label, Seattle Symphony Media, which premiere of Adams’ Become Desert . Additional has released 17 discs and garnered rave reviews highlights this season include explorations of from critics, as well as several awards. The sig - the music of Berlioz, Stravinsky, and Bernstein; nature recording project of the orchestral works world premieres by David Lang and Andrew of French composer Henri Dutilleux resulted in Norman; and a residency with composer Alex - three discs released individually over the course andra Gardner. of three years and in a 3-disc box set, coinciding with the composer’s centenary in 2016. In total, French conductor Ludovic Morlo t has been these releases received nine Grammy nomina - music director of the Seattle Symphony since tions and two Grammy Awards, Best Instru - 2011. During his tenure, the orchestra has won mental Performance (Augustin Hadelich, violin) three Grammy Awards and gave an exhilarating for Volume 2 in 2016 and Best Surround Sound performance at Carnegie Hall in 2014, as re - Album for Volume 3 in 2017. ported in the New York Times : “The performance Since its first performance on December 29, Mr. Morlot coaxed from his players was rich with 1903, the Seattle Symphony has held a unique shimmering colors and tremulous energy.” place in the world of symphonic music. During During the 2017–18 season Morlot and the its formative years, it was the charismatic Sir Seattle Symphony continue on their musical Thomas Beecham who most developed the or - partnership, focusing particularly on the music chestra’s skill and reputation. In 1954 Milton of Berlioz, Stravinsky, and Bernstein. In addi - Katims began his 22-year tenure as music direc - ti on, they will present exciting new works by tor, greatly expanding the symphony’s education John Luther Adams, David Lang, and Andrew programs. Rainer Miedél, music director from Norman, and welcome Alexandra Gardner for 1976 until his death in 1983, led the orchestra a residency. The orchestra has many successful on its first European tour in 1980. Gerard recordings available on its own label, Seattle Schwarz was appointed music advisor in 1983, Symphony Media. A box set of music by Dutil - and music director in 1985. During his 26-year leux was recently released to mark the 100th an - tenure, the Seattle Symphony made more than niversary of the composer’s birth. 140 recordings and garnered 12 Grammy nom - Also this season Morlot conducts at Seattle inations and two Emmy Awards. Opera for the first time (Berlioz’s Béatrice et The Seattle Symphony is now in its seventh Bénédict ), makes his debut with the Orchestra season under the artistic leadership of Ludovic of St. Luke’s, and returns to the symphony or - Morlot. During his inaugural season in 2011– chestras of Atlanta and Houston. He has ongo - 12, the orchestra enjoyed critical acclaim for its ing relationships with the Chicago Symphony performances of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring Or ches tra and New York and Los Angeles phil - and Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust , as well harmonics. Morlot also has a particularly strong as a season-long exploration of the music of connection with the Boston Symphony Orches - Dutil leux. Morlot’s second season was marked tra, having been the BSO’s Seiji Ozawa Fellow - with further critical success, including Britten’s ship Conductor in 2001 at Tanglewood and War Requiem and the orchestra’s first-ever per - subsequently assistant conductor for the or - formance of Messiaen’s Turangalîla . chestra and their music director James Levine The 2013–14 season included Morlot’s first (2004–07). Since then he has conducted the tour with the orchestra to Carnegie Hall. The BSO in subscription concerts in Boston, at

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Tanglewood, and on a tour to the west coast of Trained as a violinist, Morlot studied con - the United States. ducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Lon - Outside North America, recent and future don and then at the Royal College of Music as a debuts include the Berliner Philharmoniker, recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Vienna Symphony (closing concert of the pres - Fellowship. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal tigious Wien Modern Festival), Yomiuri Nippon Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of Symphony, MDR Leipzig, and Bergen Philhar - his significant contribution to music. monic orchestras. Morlot has conducted the Ludovic Mor lot is Chair of Orchestral Con - London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal ducting Studies at the University of Washington Festival Hall in London and on tour in Ger - School of Music in Seattle. many. Other recent notable performances have included the Royal Concertgebouw, Czech Phil - Volti ’s professional singers, under the direction harmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Tonhalle, of founder and artistic director Robert Geary, Buda pest Festival, Orchestre National de France, are dedicated to the discovery, creation, and per - Helsinki Philharmonic, City of Birmingham formance of new vocal music. The ensemble’s Sym phony, Danish National Symphony Orches- mission is to foster and showcase contemporary tra, and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Morlot American music and composers, and to intro - also served as conductor-in-residence with duce contemporary vocal music from around the Orches tre National de Lyon under David the world to local audiences. The group has Robertson (2002–04). commissioned nearly 100 new works, by emerg - Morlot was chief conductor of La Monnaie in ing as well as established composers. Belgium for three years (2012–14). During this A six-time winner of the prestigious ASCAP time he conducted several new productions, in - Award for Adventurous Programming of Con - cluding La Clemenza di Tito , Jenůfa, and Pelléas temporary Music, Volti boasts a 39-year track et Mélisande . Concert performances, both in record of performing some of the most imagi - Brussels and Aix-en-Provence, included reper - native and innovative repertoire yet composed. toire by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Britten, Webern, Next concerts: May 4 at Noe Valley Ministry in and Bruneau. San Francisco; May 6 at BAMPFA in Berkeley.

Volti Robert Geary, artistic director • Barbara Heroux, executive director Volti is a professional vocal ensemble usually comprising 16 to 24 singers, depending on the repertoire of any given concert. For this concert, because Become Desert has 16 chorus parts, 32 singers are participating, two on a part. — www.VoltiSF.org —

Soprano Stacey Helley Tim Silva Lindsey McLennan Burdick Emily Kusnadi Jacob Thompson Yuhi Aizawa Combatti Sharmila G. Lash Robert Vann Alice Del Simone Deborah Rosengaus Shauna Fallihee Rachel Rush Bass Amy Foote Celeste Winant Jeff Bennett Gabrielle Haigh Joel Chapman Andrea Mich Tenor Sidney Chen Phoebe J. Rosquist Ben Barr Peter Dennis Will Betts Paul Flynn Alto Julian Kusnadi Nathan Halbur Monica Frame Ben Laboy Chris Lewis Tina Harrington Matthew Perkins Philip Saunders

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Robert Geary , founding artistic director of Geary’s dedication to today’s choral music has Volti, the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, fostered the careers of several leading composers and the Golden Gate International Choral and has led to nearly 200 new works. He has Festival, also serves as artistic director of the conducted and served as a clinician in dozens of San Francisco Choral Society. His multi-dimen - countries. His choirs can be heard on recordings sional commitment to the choral arts over with many labels and have performed for radio, nearly 40 years has led him and his choirs to television, opera, orchestras, and music festivals national and international prominence. Under nationally and internationally. Geary also has his direction for 39 seasons, Volti has become prepared his choirs for some of the world’s lead - recognized as one of the most important and ing conductors, including Helmuth Rilling, accomplished new-music ensembles in the Robert Shaw, Kurt Herbert Adler, Edo de Waart, United States. Krzysztof Penderecki, Herbert Blomstedt, Dale Warland, Kent Nagano, Michael Morgan, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Sunday, April 8, 2018, 3pm Zellerbach Hall Seattle Symphony Ludovic Morlot, conductor

PROGRAM

Jean SIBELIUS (1865 –1957) The Oceanides , Op. 73 Benjamin BRITTEN (1913 –1976) Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes , Op. 33a and 33b Dawn: Lento e tranquillo— Sunday Morning: Allegro spiritoso— Moonlight: Andante comodo e rubato— Passacaglia: Andante moderato— Storm: Presto con fuoco INTERMISSION John Luther ADAMS (b. 1953) Become Ocean Become Ocean was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony with the generous support of the Lynn and Brian Grant family.

This project is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Cal Performances’ 2017 –18 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

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To the Sea in classical Greek literature, we can imagine Within the orchestral literature is a group of them as something like mermaids. compositions inspired by the sea and endeav - These sea nymphs are the subject of the tone- oring to evoke it through various musical poem, by Jean Sibelius, that begins our concert. devices. Probably the earliest is a concerto by The Finnish composer wrote The Oceanides in Antonio Vivaldi titled La tempesta di mare 1914 for a music festival in Norfolk, Connecti - (“The Storm at Sea”). Other notable examples cut, and he conducted the work’s first perform - include Felix Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, ance during his only visit to America. At this with its own vivid sea storm, and Claude De - time Olin Downes, longtime music critic of the bussy’s symphonic seascape La mer . Boston Post and New York Times , thought it It is not surprising that the sea should have “the finest evocation of the sea ever produced inspired these and other composers. The rise in music.” He went on to describe “free sonori - and fall of waves finds parallel in the rising and ties which reflect natural phenomena” and the falling pitch of melodic lines. The varied move - music’s “picture of limitless and eternal power.” ment of water produces rhythms that music It is curious, however, that Downes missed readily can represent. Basses and low brass can what seem to be fairly clear evocations of the suggest oceanic depths, violins and woodwinds Oceanides themselves. The work’s opening intimate spray and foam. measures, with their gently rising and falling Our concert presents further instances of string figures, may convey the irregular motion music inspired by the sea. Jean Sibelius’ The of a calm sea, wide and empty. But the more Oceanides paints a musical portrait not only of sprightly phrases, presented moments later by the ocean but of mythological water nymphs the flutes, sound like vocal calls, then expand to who reside within it. Benjamin Britten’s Sea evoke movement that is both playful and grace - Inter ludes, from his opera Peter Grimes , are ful. Here are the Oceanides, singing, swimming, tonal pictures of sea and shore that double as and frolicking in their natural element. Sibelius expressions of mood and psychological state of recalls their theme from time to time, weaving the opera’s characters. it through the sea music, as the composition The second half of our concert brings a mu - unfolds. Our final glimpse of Oceanus’ daugh - sical seascape as large in scope and ambition ters comes with a closely harmonized phrase for as La mer , but radically different from it: John clarinets shortly before the end. A widely spaced Luther Adams’ Become Ocean , which the Seattle chord leaves us with an intimation of the infi - Symphony commissioned and premiered, and nite space and eternal presence of the sea. which won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2014. Benjamin Britten Jean Sibelius Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia The Oceanides , Op. 73 from Peter Grimes , Op. 33a and 33b Scored for two flutes and piccolo; two oboes and Scored for two flutes and piccolo (the 2nd flute English horn; two clarinets and bass clarinet; two doubling the 2nd piccolo); two oboes; two clar - bassoons and contrabassoon; four horns; three inets (the 2nd clarinet doubling the E-flat clar i- trumpets; three trombones; two timpani and per - net); two bassoons and contrabassoon; four horns; cussion; two harps; strings. two trumpets and piccolo trumpet; three trom - In ancient Greek legend, the Oceanides were bones; tuba; timpani and percussion; harp; daughters of Oceanus, god of the primordial celeste; strings. water that encircled the world from its begin - Benjamin Britten was among the great com - ning, and Tethys, his wife and sister. Aeschylus, posers of opera active during the last century. in his drama Prometheus Bound , describes them His combination of an instinctively lyrical ap - as “children of teeming Tethys and of him/who proach to music and keen sense of drama pro - girdles all the world with stream unsleeping,/ duced a series of deeply eloquent works for the Father Ocean….” Although descriptions are few theater, the first being Peter Grimes .

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Based on a story by the English poet George cussion, and harp tones. The final piece, Storm , Crabbe, Peter Grimes tells of a rough fisherman prefaces the opera’s second scene. Here rising whose sullen and unsociable demeanor leads to wind and turbulent waters indicate not only his persecution by the suspicious inhabitants of a meteorological event but the state of Grimes’ his isolated fishing village. The sea and bleak soul. Britten’s violent music suggests his pro - East Anglian shoreline provide an evocative tagonist’s tortured existence as much as the sea background. Britten knew this coast well. He lashed by a gale. had grown up within sight of the North Sea and In addition to the four interludes, Britten subsequently built a studio in an abandoned wrote a more extensive piece, a passacaglia, to windmill near the coastal town of Aldeburgh. bridge the two scenes of the opera’s second act. It was here, in 1944, that he composed Peter A centuries-old compositional procedure, pas - Grimes , and he vividly captured the atmosphere sacaglia entails a melodic idea, usually intro - of the place in four “sea interludes” that link duced in a low register, that repeats continu ously various scenes in the opera. through the course of the piece. Against this re - Dawn serves as a prelude to Act I. It is based curring theme, the composer weaves an ever- on three motifs: an ethereal melody heard high changing contrapuntal fabric. in the violins and flute; a running figure that Britten establishes the recurring theme of suggests the flight of birds; and a chorale-like his Peter Grimes passacaglia at the outset, scor - theme for the brass. Sunday Morning , the sec - ing it for low strings (playing pizzicato) and ond piece, juxtaposes pealing church bells— timpani. The immediate restatement of this heard at the outset as horn calls and rhythmic idea brings with it a lamenting soliloquy for figures in the woodwinds—with a broad melody solo viola, and most of the ensuing develop - assigned to the low strings and embroidered ments are related to its melody. Subsequent with elaborate figuration by the flute. elaborations of the passacaglia subject are re - The third interlude, Moonlight , paints a noc - markably varied and shaped so that the music turnal picture, its somber phrases for the strings builds inexorably to a climax marked by thun - and low winds flecked with flute, piccolo, per - dering tim pani strokes and a great tam-tam

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crash. From this emerges a haunting reprise of Listening to it, we become ocean.” That phrase the viola melody (now with an atmospheric could not have failed to resonate for Adams, for accompaniment by celeste), then a final state - it crystallizes the goal of blending music and ment of the passacaglia theme, sounding as natural processes. stark and unadorned as when we first heard it. The title also speaks specifically to the un - usual nature of Become Ocean and how we, as John Luther Adams listeners, might experience it. This is not an im - Become Ocean pressionistic seascape in the way that Debussy’s Scored for three flutes; three oboes; three clarinets, La mer is. It gives almost no hint of the kind of the 3rd clarinet doubling on bass clarinet; three linear structure of most Western music—no bassoons, the 2nd and 3rd bassoons doubling clearly defined episodes, no building of tension on contrabassoon; four horns; three trumpets; leading to moments of resolution, no sense of a three trombones; tuba; timpani and percussion; narrative or journey with beginning, middle, two harps; piano; celeste; strings. and end. It is not even a piece with themes and “Deep within the human imagination we developments in any usual sense. As Ludovic sense that nature itself is our deepest source of Morlot observes, “It’s not about storytelling; it’s creative forms and energy.” about landscape.” The author of that observation, composer Rather, Become Ocean is a sonic environment John Luther Adams, has made nature the source in which to immerse oneself. It affords an op - and subject of his music for some four decades. portunity to experience through sound the rise One of his earliest pieces consists entirely of in - and fall of waves, the pull of tides, the ceaseless strumental renditions of birdsong, and the im - motion of an environment that is ever present pact of the natural world on his music deepened yet ever changing. As such, it fulfills Adams’ greatly after the composer moved to Alaska, intention that in “all of my music, what I hope in 1978. There Adams composed impressions to do is create a strange, beautiful, overwhelm - of the northern wilderness with titles such as ing, sometimes even frightening landscape, and Dream of White on White and In a Treeless invite you to get lost in it, find your own way Place, Only Snow . through it, and have your own experience.” But in recent years Adams has moved be - The musical substance of Become Ocean takes yond writing musical impressions of his envi - the form of waves of sound, both large and ronment to incorporating natural processes small. The orchestra is divided into three spa - into the structure of his compositions. He has tially separated ensembles—strings, woodwind, done so by devising musical analogies to natu - and brass—each with a contingent of percus - ral phenomena such as wind, the forming sion, piano, and/or harp. Each ensemble plays and melting of ice, and the change of seasons. consistently at its own speed throughout the As Adams says, “my music has led me beyond piece, with slowly changing chords sustained by landscape painting with tones into the larger the winds and rapid, rhythmically unchanging, territory of ‘sonic geography’—a region that lies repetitive figures for the other instruments. The somewhere between place and culture, between combination of these events, unfolding in their human imagination and the world around us.” respective tempi, produces pulsating fields of Or, as he stated on another occasion, “My music sound that change aural color as different in - is going inexorably from being about place to struments are deployed and the range of notes becoming place.” they sound expands and contracts. Become Ocean ’s title comes from a poem by Moreover, the music of each ensemble rides the American composer John Cage, written to different dynamic arcs, crescendoing or fading his colleague Lou Harrison. Speaking of Harri - in their own time, thereby forming long, slow son’s music, Cage concluded that its breadth waves of changing volume. The interaction of and variety “make it resemble a river in delta. these dynamic waves causes the three instru -

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John Luther Adams mental groups to come to the fore or recede Ultimately, the workings of the musical at different rates, thereby continually altering processes that shape Become Ocean need not be the music’s composite timbre. Occasionally, analyzed or even noticed but, rather, simply ex - the waves crest together, creating powerful perienced. Like all music, and more than most, climaxes. Those moments, however, carry none this piece invites us to lose ourselves in a sonic of the metaphysical import of climactic mo - world. To that end, it is worth considering the ments in, for example, a Beethoven sonata or words of Uvavnuk, an Igliuk shaman, words Tchaikovsky symphony. Rather than rhetorical Adams has quoted in another context but that gestures signifying triumph or passion, they are relevant here: seem simply the result of impersonal forces at work—as when a particular alignment of moon The great sea and sun causes an exceptionally high tide. The has set me adrift. music begins quietly, in the lowest registers of It moves me like the weed in a great river. the pianos, harps, and strings. Some three- Earth and the great weather move me, quarters on an hour later, it recedes back to the have carried me away, quiet, low rumble from which it emerged. That and move my inward parts with joy. return to the beginning is perhaps the only way Become Ocean resembles any previous compo - —© 2018 Paul Schiavo sition in the orchestral literature.

For background on the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot , please see pp. 16B –17B.

 Seattle Symphony Ludovic Morlot, Harriet Overton Stimson Music Director Thomas Dausgaard, Principal Guest Conductor Joseph Crnko, Associate Conductor for Choral Activities Pablo Rus Broseta, Douglas F. King Associate Conductor Gerard Schwarz, Rebecca & Jack Benaroya Conductor Laureate

FIRST VIOLIN CELLO CLARINET TIMPANI Open Position Efe Baltacıgil Benjamin Lulich Open Position David & Amy Fulton Marks Family Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Paul R. Smith Principal Concertmaster Principal Cello Principal Clarinet Matthew Decker Open Position Meeka Quan DiLorenzo Emil Khudyev Assistant Principal Clowes Family Associate Assistant Principal Associate Principal PERCUSSION Concertmaster Nathan Chan Laura DeLuca Michael A. Werner Cordula Merks ^ Eric Han Dr. Robert Wallace Clarinet Principal Assistant Concertmaster Bruce Bailey ^ Eric Jacobs Michael Clark Simon James Roberta Hansen Downey Matthew Decker Second Assistant Walter Gray E-FLAT CLARINET Matt Drumm ~ Concertmaster Vivian Gu ^ Laura DeLuca Gunnar Folsom ~ Jennifer Bai Joy Payton-Stevens Matt Grady ~ Mariel Bailey David Sabee BASS CLARINET Blaine Inafuku ~ Cecilia Poellein Buss Theresa Benshoof ~ Eric Jacobs Rob Tucker ~ Ayako Gamo Emily Hu ~ Timothy Garland Charles Jacot ~ BASSOON HARP Leonid Keylin Page Smith-Bilski ~ Seth Krimsky Valerie Muzzolini Gordon Mae Lin Principal Principal Mikhail Shmidt BASS Paul Rafanelli Sophie Baird-Daniel ~ Clark Story Jordan Anderson Mike Gamburg ^ John Carrington ~ John Weller Mr. & Mrs. Harold H. Heath Edward Burns ~ Matthew Tutsky ~ Jeannie Wells Yablonsky Principal String Bass Stefanie Przybylska ~ Arthur Zadinsky Joseph Kaufman KEYBOARD Blayne Barnes ~ Assistant Principal CONTRABASSOON Joseph Adam +, celeste Ted Botsford ^ Mike Gamburg ^ Jessica Choe, piano ~ SECOND VIOLIN Jonathan Burnstein ^ Stefanie Przybylska ~ Elisa Barston # Brendan Fitzgerald * Principal Jennifer Godfrey ^ HORN PERSONNEL MANAGER Michael Miropolsky ^ Travis Gore ^ Jeffrey Fair Scott Wilson John & Carmen Delo Jonathan Green Charles Simonyi Assistant Principal Sam Casseday ~ Principal Horn ASSISTANT PERSONNEL Second Violin Nina DeCesare ~ Mark Robbins MANAGER Kathleen Boyer ± Braizahn Jones ~ Associate Principal Keith Higgins Gennady Filimonov Todd Larsen ~ Jonathan Karschney Evan Anderson Assistant Principal LIBRARY Natasha Bazhanov FLUTE Jenna Breen Patricia Takahashi-Blayney Brittany Boulding Breeden Demarre McGill ^ John Turman Principal Librarian Stephen Bryant Principal Danielle Kuhlmann Robert Olivia Linda Cole Supported by David J. Matthew Berliner ~ Associate Librarian Xiao-po Fei and Shelley Hovind Rodger Burnett ~ Jeanne Case Artur Girsky Jeffrey Barker Librarian Andy Liang Associate Principal TRUMPET Rachel Swerdlow Andrew Yeung Judy Washburn Kriewall David Gordon Assistant Librarian Caitlin Kelley ~ Zartouhi Dombourian-Eby The Boeing Company Elizabeth Phelps ~ Robin Peery ~ Principal Trumpet TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Alexander White Joseph E. Cook VIOLA PICCOLO Assistant Principal Susan Gulkis Assadi Zartouhi Dombourian-Eby Christopher Stingle ARTIST IN ASSOCIATION PONCHO Principal Viola Robert & Clodagh Ash Piccolo Michael Myers Dale Chihuly Arie Schächter ^ Assistant Principal OBOE TROMBONE 2017–18 SEASON Mara Gearman Mary Lynch Ko-ichiro Yamamoto COMPOSER Timothy Hale Principal Principal IN RESIDENCE Penelope Crane Supported by anonymous David Lawrence Ritt Alexandra Gardner Wes Dyring donors Stephen Fissel Sayaka Kokubo Ben Hausmann Carson Keeble ~ HONORARY MEMBER Rachel Swerdlow Associate Principal Cyril M. Harris † Julie Whitton ^ Chengwen Winnie Lai BASS TROMBONE Amber Archibald-Sesek ~ Stefan Farkas ^ Stephen Fissel + Resident Alexander Baldock ~ Dan Williams ~ † In Memoriam Sue Jane Bryant ~ TUBA ^ On leave Aaron Conitz ~ ENGLISH HORN John DiCesare * Temporary musician Joseph Gottesman ~ Stefan Farkas ^ Principal for 2017–18 Season Ben Hausmann # Concertmaster for this performance ± Principal for this performance  ~ Extra musician PLAYBILL