Posts

Northern Lights by Valerie

Esenvalds’ Northern Lights: A sense of wonder through music

How can a composer evoke in music the sense of wonder, bewilderment and excitement one feels when they first see in person the elusive Aurora Borealis – the Northern Lights?  Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds did so by combining an ancient Latvian folk song imagining Kavi soldiers battling away in the skies with the diaries of explorers explorers Charles Francis Hall (1821-1871) and Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930).

Whenever, at night, far in the north / I saw the souls of the dead soldiers / having their battle up in the sky / I was afraid: what if they bring their war to my land, too?”  The solo sings in Latvian as the choir describes in the explorers’ words the silence of the cold, dark arctic night before the Northern Lights burst out.  Water-tuned glasses with their sometimes wobbly sound add to the mysterious atmosphere until the captain exclaimed: “come above, Hall!  The world is on fire!”

As the explorer rushed up the stairs and swung open the door, the music burst into constantly moving and shimmering melodies just as the awe inspiring Northern Lights light up the sky.  Between bouts of excitement the music calms down somewhat and the glasses return, now with the addition of chimes as the explorer muse on the beauty of the scene.  Eventually tranquility returns, again with the Latvian text – “Cik naksnīnas pret ziemeli / Redzēj’ kāvus karojam” as the music gradually fades out and floats away like the elusive northern lights.

* Photo by Valerie Liauw

Come hear us perform Ešenvalds’ addictively beautiful Northern Lights with soloist Sandy Leung, Arvo Pärt’s Credo with world-renowned pianist Warren Lee, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and more in the upcoming Learners concert on September 23, 2017!  Tickets now available at URBTIX outlets or online at http://www.urbtix.hk/internet/eventDetail/32901

Donations will be made to the Hong Kong Christian Council’s “School Building Project in Myanmar” to build a new middle school for graduates of the Mayangone Primary School.

 

Arvo Pärt’s Credo: A scandalous premiere

The premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Credo was, to say the least, scandalous.  It was 16 November 1968 in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic.  The law at the time required that all new scores must first be shown to the composers’ union before a premiere.  Knowing the sensitive nature of the piece and the likelihood that the premiere would have been cancelled had they shown the score to the officials, the conductor Neeme Järvi and the Estonian Philharmonic organization decided to not jump through the hoops and did the premiere without the Soviet officials’ blessing.

The story goes that had a certain official not been out of town at the time, the premiere would have been blocked.  In any case, the religious nature of the work was no favourite of the Soviet government.  From the initial proclamation of “Credo in Jesum Christum” (I believe in Jesus Christ) to the following text from Matthew 5:38 “Audivistis dictum: oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente” (Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth), the work was seen as politically provocative and the Soviet saw it as a manifesto of passive resistance.

That certainly didn’t play well with the officials.  Whilst Järvi was relatively fine as the officials couldn’t find anyone to replace him, quite a few were fired from the Estonian Philharmonic organization and official commission for Pärt dried up.  The work was promptly banned by the Soviets and Pärt went into an extended hiatus in composing in search for a new musical language.

Come hear us perform Arvo Pärt’s Credo with world-renowned pianist Warren Lee, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and more in the upcoming Learners concert on September 23, 2017!  Tickets now available at URBTIX outlets or online at http://www.urbtix.hk/internet/eventDetail/32901

Donations will be made to the Hong Kong Christian Council’s “School Building Project in Myanmar” to build a new middle school for graduates of the Mayangone Primary School.

Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang: Symphony No.2 or Not?

Symphony No.2 Lobgesang. It is easy to misunderstand that this is Mendelssohn’s second symphony, subtitled Lobgesang. This was not the case. If we look at when Mendelssohn’s symphonies were composed – No.3 Scottish was done in 1829-1842. No.4 Italian in 1833 and revised in 1834. Lobgesang? 1840. By timing alone Lobgesang couldn’t have been the 2nd symphony. What happened then?

Turns out that when Mendelssohn published his Scottish Symphony, he published it as No.3. Perhaps “No.2” was reserved for the Italian Symphony that eventually became his No.4 when it was published after the composer’s death. No.2 was left empty until an editor of the Mendelssohn complete edition entered Lobgesang as No.2. In the latest editions, however, it is no longer “Symphony No.2” – but it is already known as such!

Anyway, what’s in a name? Be it Symphony No.2 or Lobgesang, this is 70 minutes of pure vocal and orchestral bliss. Come hear us perform this monumental work in the upcoming Learners concert on September 23, 2017!

Come hear us perform Ešenvalds’ addictively beautiful Northern Lights with soloist Sandy Leung, Arvo Pärt’s Credo with world-renowned pianist Warren Lee, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and more in the upcoming Learners concert on September 23, 2017!  Tickets now available at URBTIX outlets or online at http://www.urbtix.hk/internet/eventDetail/32901

Donations will be made to the Hong Kong Christian Council’s “School Building Project in Myanmar” to build a new middle school for graduates of the Mayangone Primary School.