CLAMP Campus Adventures

Yesterday, Carl and I went to Tanglewood in Lenox, MA (about 2 hours from Boston) to watch the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform, conducted by John Williams. It was a good concert, and I’ve copied in the program below. It was raining when we left Boston, and we failed to remember sunscreen. So, when the sun can out and the temperature rose just as the concert was starting, the end result was a nasty sunburn for both myself and Carl. We’ll survive, but it’s annoying.

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John Williams, conductor
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
James Sommerville, horn

WILLIAMS               Soundings (2003)
      The Hall Awakens—
      The Hall Glistens—
      The Hall Responds—
      The Hall Sings—
      The Hall Rejoices

COPLAND                Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson
      Nature, the gentlest mother
      There came a wind like a bugle
      The world feels dusty
      Heart, we will forget him!
      Dear March, come in!
      Sleep is supposed to be Going to Heaven!
      The Chariot

INTERMISSION

WILLIAMS               Horn Concerto (2003)
     I.   Angelus
          “Far Far Away, Like Bells, at Evening Pealing”
     II.  The Battle of the Trees
           “Swift Oak… Stout Guardian of the Door”
     III. Pastorale
           “There Came a Day at Summer’s Full”
     IV.  The Hunt
           “The Hart Loves the Highwood”
     V.   Nocturne
           “The Crimson Day Withdraws”

WILLIAMS               “Immigration and Building,”
                                “Civil Rights and the Women’s Movement,” and
                                “Flight and Technology” from American Journey (1999)

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Soundings was a good piece, but in very much John Williams’s style, it was easy to identify his influences. Knowing Soundings was written for the opening of the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, gives an insight into the piece. The music cresendos into the halls “birth”. However, because of the progression, it’s very reminisient of Stravinsky’s The Rites of Spring. This also seemed to be an underlying theme to Horn Concerto. Both were good pieces, but I wouldn’t call them terribly memorable.

The Copland piece was rather boring. First of all, Emily Dickenson poetry is rather depressing. Putting it to music means it’s not going to be the most engaging piece. I felt bad for the soprano singing the poems. For example, here are the two shortest poems sung:

4. Heart, we will forget him!
Heart, we will forget him!
You and I tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me,
That I my thoughts may dim;
Haste! lest while you’re lagging
I may remember him!

6. Sleep is supposed to be
Sleep is supposed to be,
By souls of sanity
The shutting of the eye.

Sleep is the station grand
Down which on either hand
The hosts of witness stand!

Morn is supposed to be,
By people of degree,
The breaking of the day.

Morning has not occurred!
That shall Aurora be
East of Eternity

One with the banner gay,
One in the red array, —
That is the break of day.

The best piece of the afternoon were the three pieces Williams wrote for American Journey. This was a movie put together by Steven Spielburg at the request of the Clintons for the millenium celebration. There were, in total, seven separate pieces to the movie. John Williams choose three of them for the performance. I enjoyed Civil Rights the most. It had the strongest undertone. The one I enjoyed the least was Flight. For some reason, I don’t think the music captured the advancement of flight and how it was one of the most important achievements of the 20th century.

So, now I’ll heal the burn and get ready for my potential jury duty on Wednesday. I’m on standby, so I’ll find out if I’m going after 3 pm tomorrow afternoon.