Sunday, September 15, 2013

Christopher Theofanidas: Symphony No.1 - Great American Symphony?

Recently NPR posted an article about the American Symphony and asked five different people involved with music to name the piece that spoke to them specifically as an American symphony. The pieces chosen basically represented two different branches of music, two coming out of minimalism, and the other three out of a more traditional idea of the symphony.  First up, chosen by composer Jennifer Higdon, was Christopher Theofanidas’ Symphony No. 1 in four movements. 


In my first two encounters of this work I was unimpressed with it as a whole; seemed too fragmented, not really adding up. But on my third listening my reaction was very different; I was totally engaged and thoroughly enjoyed my experience while still still hearing moments that didn’t really work for me. Of course, this just shows how important the listener’s frame of mind is while they are listening. In this instance I was in a state of emotional dissonance so perhaps I better connected to the overt drama of this music because of the state of my psyche. This is a big piece, full of dramatic gestures; hammer blows; long harmonic sequences building to thundering climaxes using the full orchestra to full effect. There are, though, some strange (interesting?) choices here; all the movements really have non-endings which I found a little off-putting. They all end softly with no sense of finality. 

Movement one begins with an angular, improvisatory sounding unison multi-clarinet wake up call that leads to the first of many immense, full orchestra statements, in this case reiterating the clarinet’s opening melody. The music is dramatic, exciting, pulsing, and fast. There is then a pastoral like melody in the strings, played in canon, building to another climax, which precedes, for me, the most interesting section of the first movement; low brass playing slowly rising clashing half and whole steps during which the percussion and high brass have short outbursts of fast, repeating notes and gestures.  This leads to a restatement of the first theme and then – the first non-ending; a solo piccolo playing the opening theme. While still ending with a sense of ‘wait, is there more?’,  there is more finality here then in the subsequent movements. The main gesture in the second movement is a five note rising figure. It’s beautiful harmonized and goes through many key changes. There is a contrasting central section. This movement is moderately paced. The general structure of a symphony is 4 movements; fast, slow, fast, fast. The third movement  easily fits into the usual scherzo spot; it’s lively and has an A-B-A form. The first movement also fits into the accepted scheme though it’s not in sonata-allegro form. The second and especially the fourth movement do not fit into the usual symphonic format. The fourth movement starts with ominous timpani rolls, then thunderous repetitive chords, building to two big unison notes, which were rather anti-climactic considering the build up to them. This movement is the least successful. It has an end-of-the world feeling to it and rather relentlessly stays threatening and tragic throughout. It is a slow movement overall and ends with soft timpani hits, fading out into an uncomfortable silence.

Theofanidis is not a melodist, rather he likes to take short fragments or motives and play around with them. The symphony is tonal and mostly of a dark shade, second movement excepted. If you need to listen to something to release some pent up energy this just might do the trick, but I don’t listen to music to fit my moods. I usually like to be as clear and calm as I can before listening. I found enough interest in this work and so will keep a lookout for more music by Mr. Theofanidis, but the last movement did not work for me as a companion to the other three and I probably will not return to this work.

Robert Spano is conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in this recording and they sound marvelous! 

Next up on the list is Decasia by Michael Gordon. I was blown away by this piece but that's for my next blog. It'll be up soon. In the meantime go listen to some music that you've never heard before!