As a part of the FILM-HARMONY series, the Norwegian conductor Torodd Wigum will guide us through the musical worlds of Aaron Copland and Karl Jenkins.
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The evening program, which combines the music of Copland and Jenkins, is like a musical provocation. On the one hand, the most American composer from the United States, reaching for jazz, Mexican rhythms, modernism, on the other – a contemporary artist who returns to classical forms to prove the topicality of music, based on canons established centuries ago
Karl Jenkins – Palladio
Karl Jenkins' songs can be heard in commercials, films, TV series and concert halls. Although he is best known for his project "Adiemus", in which he combined Western musical styles with the ethnic sounds of Africa, drums and imaginary language, the recognition and admiration of music lovers also gained a composition inspired by the figure of Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), master of "art of fantasy and stone" (Z. Herbert). In the works of a Renaissance architect, the Welsh composer appreciated not only the "celebration of harmony and order", but also the vision of the world and man borrowed from Greco-Roman philosophy.
The three part construction of the concert (allegretto-largo- vivace) resembles the Palladian rhythm of rows and windows, the middle of which is larger than the flanking windows. Jenkins was not content with the musiacl reproduction of the cold mathematical construct based on the rules established by the ancient Greeks, and then, by Witruvius and the long string of generations, passed down to Palladio. The thought of organizing the piece equally touches the mystified dreams of the power of harmony, which sooths the human soul and lift sit towards the ecstatic contemplation of Beauty and Goodness.
The composer used the threads of classical music, but -peri-turn- did not draw on the works of the Renaissance masters, but on the music of the Baroque. He did so both through form, concerto grosso for string orchestra, and sounds directly referring to Albinioni and Vivaldi.
Aaron Copland – Music for the Theatre and Music for Movie
Copland's music (1900-1990) reflects all the trends and fashions of the century in which he lived. He was fascinated by jazz, then by the neoclassicism of Igor Stravinsky, the avant-garde Sergei Prokofiev and the group "Les Six". Quite quickly he began to look for his own way, convinced that the audience shaped by new media, radio, film, gramophone, expects new music. He discovered for music the endless prairie, the theme of life in the Wild West, the world of Indians and pioneers, great dramas and big dreams of small towns inhabitants, pulsating nightlife clubs of great metropolises. He developed a style that, according to admirers, best reflected the American spirit and American identity. For many, songs such as "Fanfare for the Ordinary Man" and "Appalachian Spring" are musical symbols of America. Copland's "Americanism" also spawned his most recognizable and highest-rated compositions, including the soundtracks of "Mice and Men" (1939, based on the novel by John Steinbeck); "Our City" (1940, based on the play by Thornton Wilder); "Red Pony" (1948, according to the prose of John Steinbeck); "Heiress" (1948, according to the novel by Henry James).
Copland died on December 2, 1990, a few days after his 90th birthday.
As part of the FILM-HARMONY series, we will hear the music he created for stage and film works, collected in a suite entitled "Music for the Theatre and Music for Movie".
Torodd Wigum – the conductor
Torodd Wigum (born 1970 in Trondheim) has collaborated with all of Norway's most outstanding symphony orchestras. He conducted the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Stavanger, Trondheim and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestras, the Leipzig MDR Sinfonieorchester, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Copenhagen Philharmonic, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. He currently serves as Conductor in Residence in the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of Trondheim Sinfonietta. He is a versatile artist, valued for his craftsmanship and a wide range of repertoire, from classical to film and popular music.