City Scape/Cto For Orch

Jennifer Higdon's concerto for Orchestra is one of the most exciting pieces of the 21st century. Her music is solidly crafted, colorful, energetic, brimming with enthusiasm and imagination. One can hear the influences of Bartok's masterwork of the same genre, but with equally great dramatic impact and instead of merely featuring sections in the style of concerto grosso, it is spotlights highly virtuosic passages for solo instruments throughout the orchestra, including both first chair as well as all other players in the section. This concerto is truly a celebration not only of the orchestra but of orchestra players, who seem to relish the considerable technical challenge her piece presents. Anyone who appreciates contemporary music will appreciate this, one of the first 21st century masterworks for orchestra.

I heard City Scape on the radio and was impressed enough by what I heard to order the CD. For me the music is hard to categorize as "who it sounds like." I think that Jennifer Higdon has her own voice and this is reflected in the works recorded here, a Grammy nominee.

The Concerto for Orchestra, written for the Philadelphia Orchestra, is structured after Bela Bartok's work of the same name. This Concerto begins with chimes and timpani and goes on to give the strings quite a workout with spiraling scales before moving onto the woodwinds and brass sections. The second movement is for strings alone and is a Scherzo in tempo. It starts with a pizzicato theme and gradually all of the players move to the bow beginning with the concertmaster. The middle movement turns to the entire orchestra with each principle player having a solo before the entire orchestra, moving from woodwinds to strings to brass and percussion. The fourth movement belongs to the percussion and is perhaps the most inventive music pitting the various drums and timpani in a battle against each other. The use of a harp, piano and celesta added a mysterious quality to their part of the movement but this music, for me, explored this section of the orchestra as completely as no other has. The final movement is for the full orchestra. It begins with strings alone but soon the orchestra is playing over the perfusion, carrying on their "battle" from the prior movement.

The same orchestration is reflected in City Scape. The first movement, representing downtown Atlanta, is heavy with percussion. It depicts the changing skyline of the city as it grows and become bolder. The middle movement, depicting nature is pastoral. It is a journey through the parks and green landscapes of Atlanta: a quite movement that slowly builds to the entire orchestra and resumes a quiet, meandering exploration. The find section recalls Peachtree Street, a main road in the city. The music recalls the busy nature of the street and the motion of those walking and those driving along. The music depicts the changing nature of the street with a quick, rhythmic theme played by the orchestra. The bustling nature of the music slows and becomes quieter for a brief section before returning to the busy, bustling theme.

I felt engaged by Ms. Higdon's music: it is not abstract, atonal music (like Luciano Berio, for example) but tonal and filled with interesting ideas. The Concerto for Orchestra allowed her to juxtapose the sections of the orchestra and present some interesting effects. City Scapes presents an interesting picture of a growing metropolis. Anyone curious about current day composers should find this CD of interest.

Jennifer Higdon is one of the most interesting and promising of today's American composers, I believe. This CD illustrates that view pretty well. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra plays well, under the able conducting of Robert Spano.

There are two works featured on this CD: "Concerto for Orchestra" and "City Scape," a paean to Higdon's years living in Atlanta. I'll briefly note my reaction to each of these works.

"Concerto for Orchestra": There are five movements to this piece, simply labeled as Roman Numerals I through V. Across the five movements, each section of the orchestra has a chance to "strut its stuff."

Movement I: It is infectious. There is a nice use of chimes and percussion. The liner notes aptly describe this movement as "whirlwind." The strings also play in an animated fashion here.

The second movement features strings; the third allows the different principal players and sections a chance to play; the fourth focuses on percussion. The fifth movement allows the full orchestra to shine. This movement begins at a quick tempo, with interesting musical effects. The piece moves toward an almost manic pace as it progresses.

All in all, this is a very nice orchestral piece and one that most listeners, I would think, would enjoy and appreciate. Very energetic.

The second part of this CD is a piece commissioned for Atlanta, "City Scape." There are three sections to this. I'll just mention the third, "Peachtree Street" (the other two are titled "Sky Line" and "River Sings a Song to Trees"). I'll focus on the third, simply because when I've been in Atlanta, I've enjoyed taking in Peachtree Street. Lots of energy! Again, this is an infectious piece. There is a nice use of percussion, as with the Concerto. The different parts of the orchestra have a chance to shine. The liner notes speak of the Peachtree artery as "so full of life and energy." This section of Higdon's composition surely fits that statement. The energy of the Street is portrayed exceedingly well.

In short, to my unsophisticated musical ear, Jennifer Higdon is one of our finest contemporary American composers. This CD, I think, will convince those not familiar with her work that this is the case. Lots of fun!!

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