America!
Monday
25.10.2021
19:30 — Victoria Hall
Programme
Oksana Lynivconductor
Paul Meyerclarinet
Samuel Barber
Adagio for strings
Aaron Copland
Concerto for clarinet and orchestra
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No 9 in E minor op. 95, ‘from the New World’
The music
Concert dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 attacks and their loved ones
Twenty years have passed since the trauma of 11 September 2001. In New York, the creation of the Garden of Remembrance at the site of the Twin Towers honours the memory of the 3,000 people who lost their lives that day. At the Victoria Hall, we will remember them in music, presenting three emblematic composers from the United States.
Eschewing the development of new forms in Western music, Samuel Barber turned to traditional harmonies and forms. On the advice of Arturo Toscanini, he arranged a movement of his String Quartet in B minor into the Adagio for Strings. The work gained well-deserved fame, eventually overshadowing the original work.
The son of immigrants of Lithuanian origin, Aaron Copland is a perfect example of someone integrated into his new homeland while at the same time fostering a link between Europe and North America through his studies in Paris and New York. Written for the "king of swing", Benny Goodman, his now famous Clarinet Concerto blends various musical styles through his great writing skill.
In his Symphony 'from the New World' , Antonín Dvořák expresses a palpable sense of attraction for this new country, as seen through the eyes of Europeans at the end of the 19th century.
Listen to an extract of this very work recorded on 24.12.2018 at the Victoria Hall with Marin Alsop conducting the OSR.