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Home|Program Notes | Xian Zhang Conducts Marsalis & Dvořák

Program Notes | Xian Zhang Conducts Marsalis & Dvořák

Xian Zhang Conducts Marsalis & Dvořák
By Laurie Shulman ©2022
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Wynton Marsalis Herald, Holler and Hallelujah

Jazz superstar Wynton Marsalis is equally at home in the worlds of big band jazz, bebop, gospel, Afro-Caribbean and classical music. Initially known as a virtuoso trumpeter, he has branched out to teaching and composition, promoting both jazz and classical music to audiences of all ages. Marsalis began recording his original compositions in the 1980s with his various jazz ensembles. Since the 1990s he has expanded his composition diaspora, writing—among other works—The Octoroon Balls for string quartet; ballet scores for choreographers Peter Martins, Twyla Tharp and Judith Jamison; a violin concerto for Nicola Benedetti, and four symphonies. His latest work is a Fanfare for Brass and Percussion, a co-commission from the New Jersey Symphony and the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Germany’s WDR Symphonieorchester. The New Jersey Symphony is the lead commissioner, and this weekend’s performances are the world premiere.

Joan Tower Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1

In 1986, the Houston Symphony embarked on a new initiative in celebration of the sesquicentennial of Texas’ Declaration of Independence. They dubbed it The Fanfare Project. In collaboration with its then-composer-in-residence Tobias Picker, the orchestra commissioned 21 composers to write fanfares. The list of contributors read like a who’s who of American composers—but only included one woman: Joan Tower. She chose to model her Fanfare on Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, adopting the same instrumentation as Copland’s, and crafting her theme with similar contours to his. Her goal was independent, however: she dedicated it “to women who take risks and who are adventurous.” She has since written five additional fanfares, each one dedicated to a different woman.

Antonín Dvořák: Serenade for Wind Instruments in D Minor, Op. 44

The unusual scoring of this work—pairs of oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, plus contrabassoon, three horns, cello and double bass—emphasizes intimacy. The lovely colors of the woodwind instruments are enhanced by the warmth of lower strings. Dvořák took a nostalgic glance backward to the wind serenades of a century earlier. While the harmonic language of this cheerful serenade is entirely consistent with Dvořák’s other compositions in the 1870s, its spirit and form are strikingly akin to Mozart’s wind serenades from the late 18th century. Although Dvořák limits his serenade to four movements (classical-era serenades have as many as eight), three of them are dance movements.

Antonín Dvořák Carnival Overture, Op. 92

Eight of Dvořák’s nine symphonies precede the Carnival Overture. He developed a keen interest in programmatic music late in his career, delving into Bohemian folklore for subject matter. This overture, however, was one of a trio of concert overtures linked by a melody that Dvořák incorporated into each piece. (The other two are Othello, Op. 93, and In Nature’s Realm, Op. 91.) They were published simultaneously in Berlin in 1894, but Carnival has surpassed the other two in popularity. Carnival bursts with the giddy whirl of life lived to the fullest. Brilliant string and brass writing, compelling Bohemian dance rhythms, soaring themes and an overriding sense of well-being make this overture irresistible.

Aaron Copland: Lincoln Portrait

In 1942, less than a year after the United States entered the war, conductor André Kostelanetz asked several American composers to write a piece celebrating a great American. Aaron Copland — who knew a thing or two about infusing music with the spirit of Americana – chose Abraham Lincoln. His Lincoln Portrait for narrator and orchestra draws on Lincoln’s writings and speeches, supplemented by a bit of biographical background. The work is exclusively orchestral for nearly half its length, but focuses on the narrator for the balance, with the orchestra receding to a supporting role. The American flavor is enhanced by quotations from a couple of popular songs, including “Camptown Races,” but it is the power of Lincoln’s oratory that carries the work.

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