Looking to the past for modern inspiration

By Warren Cohen 

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Lera Auerbach: Sogno di Stabat Mater (2005)

Lera Auerbach was born in Chelyabinsk, a city in the Ural Mountains, in 1973. She received her first musical training from her mother, wrote her first opera at the age of twelve, published poems by the age of 18, and while performing in New York in 1991, spontaneously decided to remain in the United States. She graduated from Juilliard School in piano and composition, and in the years since has composed 180 works. Of the Sogno di Stabat Mater, she wrote:

This work is an experiment. On one hand, the goal was to transcribe selected movements from Pergolesi’s celebrated masterpiece into a concerto grosso for violin, viola and chamber orchestra while remaining truthful to the spirit of the original work, thus transcribing a sacred vocal work into an abstract instrumental one. On the other hand, I hoped to create a frame, a dialogue, an outlook from our own time on the same subject.

I based this dialogue not so much on the differences of cultural and harmonic aesthetics between the 18th and 21st centuries, but rather on their similarities, which was much more challenging. The image of the grieving mother is universal just as pain is universal, though its expressions may vary according to cultural or religious backgrounds. A dialogue can happen at different levels. Is it a dialogue between mother and child, a beginning and an end, musician and audience, soli and tutti, loneliness and understanding? Perhaps, after all, the difference is not that great between vocal and purely instrumental, sacred language and the vernacular, monologue and dialogue, reality and dream? Any prayer is a dialogue even though the addressee may not appear present. Whom am I addressing this to?

Giovanni Sollima: L.B. Files (2005)
Giovanni Sollima is an Italian cellist and composer whose eclectic persona reflects his curiosity and versatility as a musician. As a cellist often performs on Baroque cello using historically informed practice, collaborates in much avant-garde music, and has performed with rock and jazz musicians, especially Patti Smith, with whom he has worked on a number of projects. He brings this same eclecticism to his compositions, which juxtapose elements of minimalism, world music, and electronics in unique combinations.

L.B. Files reflects this eclecticism. The “L.B.” of the title is Luigi Boccherini, the 18th century virtuoso cellist and composer, whose experimental and audacious music was also reflected in his innovative approach to the cello. He pioneered the use of techniques such as playing near the bridge and greatly expanded the possibilities of the instrument by the use of thumb position to reach high notes. Sollima's tribute to Boccherini reflects this innovative spirit, as he uses advanced techniques that Boccherini could never have thought of, and weaves in an electronic component in the final two movements. The music simultaneously features extreme virtuosity and folklike simplicity. A passage in the last movement sounds like “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” while the second movement employs a simple tune that Boccherini himself could have written. The combination is a work very much of the 21st century, but also immediately attractive and accessible.

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: String Sinfonietta no. 2 (1996)

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson was another extraordinarily versatile musician. He composed for film, ballet and theatre; wrote for piano, chamber ensembles, and orchestra; and arranged charts for Marvin Gaye. He briefly played jazz piano in the Max Roach quartet. He also trained as a dancer and worked for many years in various academic positions. Of the Second String Sinfonietta, Perkinson wrote the following:

The inspiration for this composition, though non-programmatic, is somewhat autobiographical in that it represents my attempts at what were and are my relationships to members of my family — past and present. While each of the movements is without a strict “formal” mode, an informal analysis of their structures is as follows:

I. Misterioso and Allegro (to my daughter) is based on two motifs: the B-A-C-H idea (in German these letters represent the pitches B flat, A natural, C natural, and B natural), and the American folk tune “Mockingbird,” also known as “Hush Li’l Baby, Don’t Say a Word.”

II. Alla sarabande (sarabande, a 17th- and 18th-century dance in slow triple meter) is dedicated to the matriarchs of my immediate family (of which there were for me, three), each of whom contributed a unique form of guidance for life’s journey.

III. Alla Burletta (to my grandson). A burletta is an Italian term for a diminutive burlesca or burlesque-type work — a composition in a playful and jesting mood. Thematically, this movement is based on the pop tune “Li’l Brown Jug.”

IV. Allegro vivace. This movement is a loosely constructed third rondo which thematically begins with a fughetta (original melody), has a second theme (African in origin), and a third theme (“Mockingbird” paraphrased). Once again, the B-A-C-H idea from the first movement is the musical thread that ties these elements together. This movement is dedicated to the patriarchs of my family, known and unknown, past, present, and future, for generations.

Edvard Grieg: Holberg Suite (1884/1885)

Grieg wrote this work to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ludvig Holberg, considered the founder of Dano-Norwegian literature. The original was written for piano, but Grieg soon arranged it for string orchestra, and this version has become more popular than the original piano suite. The formal title of the work is “From Holberg's Time” and the music is arranged in the manner of a Baroque dance suite, beginning with a prelude. Each subsequent movement is based on dance forms from the early 18th century, with echoes of Baroque music in the melodies and rhythms. It is very much a 19th century take on Baroque music, in which the romantic lens is always present despite the superficial use of pseudo-Baroque devices. Much of it, especially the gavotte movement, sounds remarkably like Grieg's reinterpretations of Norwegian folk music.

It is interesting to compare this approach to re-examining old music with the contemporary works on this program. Lera Auerbach's polystylistic  take directly contrasts obvious modernisms with actual passages of Pergolesi's music; Perkinson explicitly contrasts Baroque dance forms with a modern idiom and folk materials; and Sollima's take on Boccherini combines elements of performance practice from the 18th century with modern devices in a starkly parallel picture. Each composer reflects the self-reflective, ironic, and self-conscious approach to music making that informs the present age. Grieg's easy naivety and instinctive approach is strikingly different and reflects a world and world view that is lost forever.

About the soloist

Armed with a versatility of creative interests ranging from literature to fashion, cellist Peter Eom has been hailed for his “flowing, lyrical quality of sound” and “agility, purity of intonation, and sureness of taste.”

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As soloist, Eom has performed with orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Denver Philharmonic, and MusicaNova Orchestra. He has given solo cello recitals of works ranging from pre-Baroque to the present day across three different continents.

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Eom is the cellist of the Rolston String Quartet, first prize winner of the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition and heralded as “one of the very best in a quartet-rich age,” and tof the genre-defying experimental music collective The Happenstancers, which gave five world premieres and performed 17 living composers this past season.

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Eom was the sole recipient of the 2023 Rockefeller Brothers Fund and YoungArts NYC Residency to produce PRIMORDIAL, an interdisciplinary performance-piece fusing contemporary classical cello, avant-garde fashion, and modern choreography. In addition to PRIMORDIAL, Eom’s recent projects include a surrealist solo cello program, cello concerti by Saariaho and Sollima, and an album collaboration between Rolston Quartet and the Canadian Chamber Orchestra.

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Eom is a 2013 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. He has taught at institutions including Yale, Duke, and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. He holds degrees from Colburn Conservatory and Northwestern University, and was a Rebanks Fellow at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

MusicaNova Orchestra

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Violin 1

Danny Yang, concertmaster

   John and Elizabeth McKinnon chair

Rebecca Bowen

Pamela Buck

Linda Quintero

Patricia Snyder

Chandra Susilo

Violin 2

Dasom Jeon, principal

   Robert Dixon chair

Lisa Eisenberg 

Joshua Lynch

Jamilyn Richardson

Giselle Sancez-Diaz

Patty Waxman

Viola

Megan Bender, principal

   Dominique Van Stadt & Octavio Pajaro chair

Vanessa Bisaha

Cynthia DuBrow

Elizabeth Hanson

Cello

    Ed and Cynthia DuBrow section

Maria Simiz, principal

Jennifer Cox

Cindy Leger

Maria Savarese

Bass

Sila Kuvanci, principal

Lauren Burchell

Percussion

Sonja Branch

   Dory & David Mawyer chair

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