CHARLES COLEMAN Streetscape JENNIFER HIGDON

CSO-5747 American CD Booklet
10/26/10
5:15 PM
Page 1
CHARLES COLEMAN
Streetscape
[20:27]
JENNIFER HIGDON
Fanfare Ritmico
[7:04]
CARTER PANN
Slalom
[9:10]
JONATHAN BAILEY HOLLAND
Halcyon Sun
[17:24]
CHARLES COLEMAN
Deep Woods
[15:33]
KEVIN PUTS
Network
[6:34]
Total Playing Time [76:18]
This recording is made possible by a generous gift from Farah and John Palmer.
CSOM-945
HIGDON I COLEMAN I HOLLAND I PANN I PUTS
CSO-5747 American CD Booklet
10/26/10
5:15 PM
Page 2
CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PAAVO JÄRVI
CHARLES COLEMAN (b. 1968)
Streetscape
Deep Woods
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Paavo Järvi
commissioned both Streetscape and Deep Woods. Coleman began
Streetscape late in 2000 and completed the work in late May of 2001;
he dedicated this work to Maestro Järvi and the CSO. Streetscape had its world premiere
at Cincinnati’s Music Hall on September 14, 2001, Järvi’s inaugural concert as CSO Music
Director. Coleman composed Deep Woods five years later in 2006 and Maestro Järvi led the
CSO in the work’s world premiere on May 3, 2007.
Of Streetscape, Coleman wrote: “The title Streetscape had been in my mind for a number of
years since hearing the word used in a speech by former New York mayor David Dinkins. The
work was also influenced by my experiences as a proud pedestrian in my native city of New
York…. Over the years, the sheer size and multi-faceted aspects of city life seemed naturally
to inspire musical ideas, which found their way into this piece. Later, visits to other cities
confirmed my liking for the unique urban spirit—the sights and sounds and creative energy.
Still, when I started to work I felt the need of a role model, a piece from the past to use as
a way to determine the form of my piece. In my case, it was Ottorino Respighi’s The Pines of
Rome…which for me is the best symphonic work of its kind written in the 20th century.”
Credits:
This recording is made possible by a generous gift from Farah and John Palmer.
The CSO is also grateful to Lois Jolson and John Palmer, co-chairs of Paavo Järvi’s
farewell season initiatives.
Original Broadcast Recording Producers and Engineers:
Alexander Kosiorek and Chelsea VandeDrink for Cincinnati Public Radio
Mastering Engineer: Michael Bishop for Five/Four Productions, Ltd.
Editors: Chelsea VandeDrink, Thomas C. Moore
Compilation Producer: Thomas C. Moore for Five/Four Productions, Ltd.
Production Assistance: Vince Lee
Cover Photo: Ventre Photography
Designer & Photo Illustration: Trish Carmichael
Charles Coleman—Streetscape
Recorded in Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio:
September 14-15, 2001 and October 30–November 1, 2003
Recording Engineer: Alexander Kosiorek
Jennifer Higdon—Fanfare Ritmico
Recorded in Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio: May 6–7, 2005
Recording Engineer: Alexander Kosiorek
Carter Pann—Slalom
Recorded in Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio: January 31–February 1, 2003
Recording Engineer: Alexander Kosiorek
Jonathan Bailey Holland—Halcyon Sun
Recorded in Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio: April 30–May 2, 2004
Recording Engineer: Alexander Kosiorek
Charles Coleman—Deep Woods
Recorded in Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio: May 3–5, 2007
Recording Engineer: Chelsea VandeDrink
Kevin Puts—Network
Recorded in Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio: March 10–12, 2005
Recording Engineer: Alexander Kosiorek
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CSO-5747 American CD Booklet
10/26/10
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Page 3
PAAVO JÄRVI
Grammy® Award winner Paavo Järvi has served as Music Director of the
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 2001. His inaugural concert was broadcast nationally on PBS, and during his tenure the CSO has toured throughout
America, Europe and Japan. A 2009 tour included two concerts at Tokyo’s
famed Suntory Hall and the CSO’s first-ever nationally televised concert in
Japan at NHK Hall. In February of 2010, Maestro Järvi and the CSO returned to New York’s
Carnegie Hall, the Orchestra’s 47th time performing at that world-famous concert venue since
its debut there in 1917. He concludes his highly successful tenure as the Orchestra’s 12th Music
Director at the end of the 2010–2011 season.
He began his tenure as the seventh Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris in September
of 2010, and also serves as the Music Director of Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and
Artistic Director of Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Coleman often turns to visual art for inspiration, and his Deep
Woods is a musical reaction to a painting by New York painter
Charles Yoder. Coleman recalls: “In 2000, I visited a show of
Charles’ work at the Woodward Gallery in SoHo. As I walked in,
this Deep Woods painting was the first work I saw, and I was
knocked sideways…. The painting depicts a wide shot of a
massive chorus of mountainous black trees. The visual is almost
completely dark except for the image showing bits of light from
above as well as eerie light shining through the lower portions
of these trees.… I knew immediately that I would write a piece
about [this painting] someday.”
JENNIFER HIGDON (b. 1962)
Fanfare Ritmico
Jennifer Higdon wrote Fanfare Ritmico in 2000, and The Women’s
Philharmonic in San Francisco, which commissioned the work, gave the
premiere on March 25, 2000 with Apo Hsu conducting.
CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is a dynamic ensemble of some of the world’s finest
musicians. The fifth oldest symphony orchestra in the United States and the oldest orchestra
in Ohio, the CSO has played a leading role in the cultural life of Greater Cincinnati and the
Midwest since its founding in 1895.
Over the years, the CSO has built a reputation as one of the world’s foremost orchestras and a
champion of the new music of its day. The CSO has been home to the American premieres of
works by such composers as Debussy, Ravel and Bartók, and has commissioned works that have
since become mainstays of the classical repertoire, including Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the
Common Man. The CSO was the first orchestra to be broadcast to a national radio audience
(1921) and the third orchestra to record (1917). Today, the Orchestra continues to commission
new works and to program an impressive array of music.
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Higdon wrote: “Fanfare Ritmico celebrates the rhythm and speed (tempo)
of life. Writing this work on the eve of the move into the new Millennium, I found myself
reflecting on how all things have quickened as time has progressed. Our lives now move at
speeds much greater than what I believe anyone would have ever imagined in years past.
Everyone follows the beat of their own drummer, and those drummers are beating faster and
faster on many different levels. As we move along day to day, rhythm plays an integral part of
our lives, from the individual heartbeat to the lightning speed of our computers. This fanfare
celebrates that rhythmic motion, of man and machine, and the energy which permeates every
moment of our being in the new century.”
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CSO-5747 American CD Booklet
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CARTER PANN (b. 1972)
JONATHAN BAILEY HOLLAND (b. 1974)
Slalom
Halcyon Sun
Carter Pann completed Slalom in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 12, 1999.
The American Composers Orchestra first sightread Slalom at a public reading,
and the Haddonfield Symphony gave its official premiere on March 18, 2000
under Daniel Hege. The London Symphony subsequently performed Slalom
under Daniel Harding at the 2001 Masterprize Finals, and the work has since
been widely performed throughout the United States and Europe and showcased on NPR’s
Performance Today.
According to the composer: “Slalom is a taste of the thrill of downhill skiing. The work is
performed at a severe tempo throughout, showcasing the orchestra’s volatility and endurance
and is…presented as a collection of scenes and events one might come by on the slopes. The
score is peppered with phrase headings for the different sections.… In this way Slalom shares
its programmatic feature with that of Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony. The similarities end
there, however, for Slalom lasts ten minutes—precisely the amount of time I need to get from
Storm Peak (the peak of Mount Werner, Steamboat Springs) to the mountain base.”
Its sections are: First Run; Out of Bounds, No One in Sight; Snaking the Terrain; Scent of Pine;
Jumps!; Helicopter; Spread-Eagle; Daffy; On One Ski, Gyrating; Straight Down, TUCK; Open
Meadow, Champagne Powder; Approaching Vistas; Valley View, EPOCHAL; Second Run, to
the Bottom; Mountain Base in Sight; Gliding All the Way In.
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Holland composed Halcyon Sun in 2003. The Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra commissioned the work in honor of the opening of the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center and gave its world premiere on
April 30, 2004 with Paavo Järvi conducting.
Holland said, “For me, the Underground Railroad has always sparked visions of dark tunnels
and pathways, with people moving from desolation to an unknown new life. The end of a
journey is often symbolized by an image of light. For those traveling through the Underground
Railroad, the light at the end of the tunnel was freedom and a new life…. I chose to focus on
the end result of that journey as a starting point for my composition.”
KEVIN PUTS (b. 1972)
Network
Kevin Puts wrote Network in 1997 and the California Symphony, led by Barry
Jekowsky, premiered the work on April 6, 1997 in Walnut Creek, California.
Network is among Puts’ earlier works, written while he was still completing
graduate work, though commissioned by the California Symphony. The piece,
he wrote, reflected his interest at that time in “so-called post-minimalists like John Adams,
Michael Torke, etc. It is metallic, driving and rhythmic, but it also relies heavily on contrasts in
texture.” More recently he has turned to a more Romantic, atmospheric style with “rich,
impressionist textures and a great deal of lyricism.... I am also interested these days in creating
a kind of vast cosmic sense and my desire to do this has, interestingly, connected my music to
that of Sibelius in the ears of some.” What Network does have in common with this more
recent music is a highly coloristic use of the orchestra and the fluid use of diverse instruments
to create unusual textures.
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