Tonight Orange County’s Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale present a special concert honoring the Greatest Generation. This unique concert event includes the much loved “Fanfare for the Common Man” (Copland), a world premiere commissioned by Pacific Symphony, and a sublime patriotic adaptation of “America the Beautiful.” Tickets can set you back as much as $125, but www.OC180NEWS will tell how some lucky groups can get in for as little as $20.00, or even for free.
According to a press release from Pacific Symphony, “As the Great Recession of 2009 resulted in unprecedented challenges for the nation, Pacific Symphony’s 2010 American Composers Festival (ACF) takes on greater relevance and meaning as it explores “The Greatest Generation”—a look back at a time that was in large part defined by The Great Depression.”
The term “The Greatest Generation,” coined by Tom Brokaw in his book by the same name, refers to those who grew up in the United States during this time of extreme deprivation and then went on to fight in World War II or contribute to the effort on the home front—eventually rebuilding America into a superpower. Historically, periods of adversity tend to inspire artists to great creativity. This year’s festival, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, delves into the turbulent period of the 1930s and ’40s and the music that could not have been composed without the somber impetus of The Great Depression.
The concert opens with the much loved and well known work by Aaron Copland, America’s iconic mid-20th century concert composer. As the Depression deepened, Copland responded as so many other artists did by becoming politicized. He developed a compassionate need to side with the challenged and dispossessed. His “Fanfare for the Common Man” was originally commissioned by the Cincinnati Orchestra, which sought 18 wartime fanfares for brass and percussion that offered “stirring and significant contributions to the war effort.” Copland’s work—while just one of the 18 commissioned works that were chosen—was the one that endured.
“It was…the common man, after all, who was doing all the dirty work in the war and the army. He deserved a fanfare,” Copland said.
Next up is “For the Fallen”, by Bernard Herrmann. He was an American film and concert composer born in New York in 1911 and dying in Los Angeles in 1975. His “For the Fallen” was composed for the New York Philharmonic during World War II, as one of a series of 1943 League of Composers commissions for pieces based on the theme of war. Herrmann called it “a berceuse (a lullaby) for those who lie asleep on the many alien battlefields of the war.” In the opinion of Herrmann’s biographer, Steven C. Smith, it is the composer’s “most moving and evocative concert work.” This work will be presented with images from World War II and The Great Depression projected onto the giant screen.
“Musically I count myself an individualist,” said Herrmann, “I believe that only music which springs out of genuine personal emotion is alive and important.”
Following “For the Fallen” is “Walt Whitman Songs (1942, 1947)”, a West Coast premiere of the orchestrated version. Baritone Douglas Webster joins the orchestra for this selection.
This setting of four of Whitman’s Civil War poems were (and remain) undeservedly neglected,” says Joseph Horowitz, the Symphony’s artistic advisor. “Three were composed in 1942 in direct response to Pearl Harbor. The fourth, ‘Come Up from the Fields, Father,’ in which a mother receives news of her son’s death in combat—was added in 1947. Weill died in 1950, at the age of 50, his American career tragically unfinished. “He had intended to set additional Whitman war poems, but the four that we have comprise a felicitous cycle.”
“Oh Captain, My Captain!,” Whitman’s emotional response to Lincoln’s assassination, became a Broadway ballad. Another song in the set, “Beat! Beat! Drums,” was performed by Helen Hayes as “spoken song” on an RCA Victor war-benefit recording. Weill looked forward to other performances of the Whitman songs—but it never happened.
Next on the program is “Amber Waves” by Morton Gould. This work is part of the patriotic set, “American Ballads,” composed in 1976. “This memorably sublime seven-minute adaptation of ‘America the Beautiful’ is the second of Gould’s six Ballads,” says Horowitz.
The final work on the program is the world premiere of “Mount Rushmore for Chorus and Orchestra” by Michael Daugherty. One of the most commissioned, performed and recorded composers on the international concert music scene, Daugherty is also the only living composer to be included in this year’s ACF. Commissioned by Pacific Symphony to write a work for the festival, Daugherty’s choice adds an intriguing layer and contrast to the composers of the past by writing a work based on the iconic monument that was carved during the Depression and left unfinished in 1941. The piece allows each movement to draw from text of the related Presidents: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). Daugherty says the work is “very American” and inspired by the Greatest Generation notion of overcoming challenge and preserving democratic values.
“Drawn from American musical sources, my composition echoes the resonance and dissonance of Mount Rushmore as a complex icon of American history. Like Mount Rushmore, my libretto is carved out of the words of each President.”
“Sometimes art needs a cause,” says Horowitz. “The Great Depression and World War II inflicted trauma and hardship. They also galvanized music that would not otherwise have been composed.”
The tickets are $25-$105. But, for students and seniors (65 and older), there is a $20.00 rush starting at 6:45 on the evening of each concert. This is a cash only offer. Another way to reduce the cost is to go with a veteran—they get in free and their guests get in for $20.00, but for this offer, you must make a reservation in advance. Just call the box office and tell them you are a veteran. Call (714) 755-5799 (Mon-Fri, 9am to 5pm.)
The Greatest Generation
Thu-Sat • February 4-6, 2010 • 8:00pm
Festival Prelude at 7pm
Orange County Performing Arts Center
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
Click here to go to the web site.
