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New York Philharmonic Presents Notes on the Program by Nadia Sirota, The Marie-Josée Kravis Creative Partner When it comes to expression, music age 30, she became the youngest recipient occupies a weird, slippery space; it’s of the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Partita not exactly a language, but it is commu- for Eight Voices, a piece composed for the nicative. Much of music is abstract, it Grammy-winning vocal ensemble, Roomful points toward emotions without naming of Teeth, of which she is a member. Soon them, transmits thoughts obliquely, and afterward she began working with rapper sketches circles around concepts other- Kanye West on some recordings, and joined wise inexpressible. But when music is him as a performer and writer for his Life of deployed programmatically, in response Pablo album and tour in 2016. Vaulted into to something specific, it has the ability the spotlight by these events, Shaw has re- to pull the listener into a super-verbal tained a clear, honest, and musician-friendly realm, a place where the object of a approach to writing and performing. Of First work can be illustrated in many glitter- Essay: Nimrod, she writes: ing dimensions at once. It began as a simple exercise in translating Today we’ll hear from five composers who the lilt and rhythm of one of my favorite au- have used music to reframe social, politi- thors, Marilynne Robinson, into music. She cal, and personal events. As this New York writes beautifully and bravely on notions Philharmonic season culminates with Mu- of the human soul, weaving delicately in sic of Conscience, “three weeks of unfor- and out various subjects (politics, religion, gettable music created in response to his- science) in each of her rich, methodical es- torical events, political unrest, and societal says. Usually my music is inspired by visual turmoil,” we contemplate how this type of art, or food, or some odd physics quirk, but writing can shine in classical music’s most this time I wanted to lunge into language, intimate theater: chamber music. with all its complex splintering and weld- ing of units and patterns! The piece begins Composer, violinist, and vocalist Caroline with a gentle lilt, like Robinson herself Shaw draws on five centuries of musical speaking, but soon begins to fray as the idiom to create moving works that feel half- familiar harmony unravels into tumbling remembered, and utterly new. In 2013, at fragments and unexpected repetitive First Essay: Nimrod Caroline Shaw Born: August 1, 1982, in Greenville, North Carolina Resides: in New York City Work composed: 2016 World premiere: November 6, 2016, at SOKA Performing Arts Center in Aliso Viejo, California, by the Calidore String Quartet New York Philharmonic Presents tunnels. These unexpected musical trap In a contemporary classical world that was doors lead to various worlds that are built deeply divided along aesthetic party lines, from the materials of the beginning, like they and their ensemble, the Bang on a Can the odd way dreams can transform one All-Stars, provided a benevolent blueprint for thing into another. The title refers to the generations of composers and ensembles to legendary biblical figure Nimrod, who come, through wide-ranging, genre-inclusive, oversaw the construction of the Tower of artist-forward programming. Babel — a city designed to be tall enough to reach heaven but which resulted in Lang began memory pieces in 1992, in re- confusion and scattering of language. sponse to the passing of friends and loved This image of chaos and fragmentation, ones. The selections performed here were but also of extraordinary creative energy, inspired by the composers and performers may serve as a framework for listening to Frank Wigglesworth (1918–96) and Yvar this musical essay. Mikhashoff (1941–93). He writes: One of the horrifying things about grow- David Lang’s economical, moving writing ing older is that your friends don’t all can take a simple idea and spin it into gold grow older with you. People grow sick — his pieces often achieve an almost de- and then they die. You watch, you try to votional alchemy, revealing landscapes of comfort them, and then you try to com- previously unimaginable beauty. Lang is a fort yourself. The true horror is that after a prolific composer who can adapt style to while your memories begin to fade. How context, but his music never loses its char- long can you hold on to the sound of a acteristic dramatic efficiency. voice, the memory of a strange event, a bittersweet feeling, a silly story? While still a student at Yale he co-founded the artist collective Bang on a Can with fellow I was friends with all the dedicatees of composers Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe. the enclosed set of pieces — some were wiggle (in memory of frank wigglesworth) and spartan arcs (in memory of yvar mikhashoff), from memory pieces David Lang Born: January 8, 1957, in Los Angeles, California Resides: in New York City Works composed: 1992 World premieres: wiggle, in 2000, by Andrew Zolinsky; spartan arcs, in 1995, by Anthony de Mare New York Philharmonic Presents Music of Conscience The New York Philharmonic concludes the final Kravis Nightcap Series program of the 2018–19 subscription season with Music of season, June 1, at the Stanley H. Kaplan Conscience, three weeks of concerts and Penthouse. Curated by the composer, and events exploring the ways in which com- hosted by The Marie-Josée Kravis Creative posers have used music to respond to the Partner Nadia Sirota, the program featured social and political issues of their times. music by composers whose lives were Music Director Jaap van Zweden conducts cut short by AIDS. Contemporary music of all three orchestral programs: the World conscience takes center stage in this af- Premiere of David Lang’s opera prisoner of ternoon’s GRoW @ Annenberg Sound ON the state, a retelling of Beethoven’s Fide- series program. lio; John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, his “personal response to the AIDS crisis”; Music of Conscience will conclude with the and Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony, fully staged World Premiere of David Lang’s about his struggles under Stalin, alongside opera prisoner of the state (co-commis- Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, dedicated to sioned by the Philharmonic in collaboration Napoleon until the composer angrily redacted with Rotterdam’s de Doelen and London’s the inscription. Barbican, Barcelona’s l’Auditori, Bochum Sym- phony Orchestra, and Bruges’s Concertge- Music of Conscience also features two bouw). With a libretto by the composer that new-music programs, an archival exhib- self-consciously refers to Beethoven’s opera, it, panels from The NAMES Project AIDS Fidelio, prisoner of the state tells the story of Memorial Quilt on display, and free public a woman who disguises herself as a prison discussions and performances. Partners guard to rescue her husband from unjust include The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Trans- political imprisonment. gender Community Center, the Interna- tional Rescue Committee, and Stonewall For information about Music of Conscience 50 Consortium. performances and related events, visit nyphil.org/conscience. Performances of John Corigliano’s Sym- phony No. 1 were complemented by the — The Editors Audience members viewing panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at the New York Premiere of John Corigliano’s Symphony No, 1, performed by the Philharmonic in 1992.

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