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A3C1100E-D715-40A1-84A9-36CFDFF89CC2
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Update Title: A3C1100E-D715-40A1-84A9-36CFDFF89CC2
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Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Gustavo Dudamel, Hartke's fourth symphony is a strikingly powerful and emotionally charged work. The solo organ part was written for and actually sketched out on the one-of-a-kind grand concert organ at Walt Disney Hall. Though it was origininally conceived as a twenty minute piece without vocals, Hartke serrepticiosly came across the gorgeous translation of Lorca's poem, "The Sleepwalking Ballad" by late Irish Poet Michael Hartnett and masterfully set the text into a climactic finale with solo Soprano as composer Gustav Mahler had famously done in his own fourth symphony.
Instrumentation
Organ, Soprano Solos: 4(3,4dPicc).4(4dEH).4(3dEb Cl, 4dBCl).4(4dCbsn): 6.4.4.1: Timp.Perc(5).Pno.Hp: Str
Commission
Commissioned by Edward Halvajian (1935-2009) for the Los Angeles Philharmnic, Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County
Dedication
Dedicated to Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Program Notes
I have to wanted to compose a symphony for organ and orchestra since I first started to write music at the age of ten. Thanks to the kindness and support of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I was able not only to realize this dream but to sketch a good deal of the organ part at the console of the Disney Hall organ exploring its wonderful array of unique timbres. In casting the piece as a symphony with organ, it was my aim to use it as an integral part of the orchestral fabric, a fifth choir contributing its special colors in the way that only it can. Played as a single continuous whole, the symphony is nonetheless in three large sections, the first of which begins with a roiling progression of dark chords that brings a musical world into being. There follows a series of themes, the first presented by the organ, the second by two oboes, and the third by the cellos, which reappear in various guises throughout the work. The middle section begins with a high, quiet chorale for the strings and then yields to a scherzo-like movement featuring the organ in its highest register. Gradually new ideas enter that seek to push aside the initial theme. What has begun with a certain air of lightness and innocence, becomes more restive and even violent. A brief respite appears in a calm theme for the quartet of trumpets, but the growing upheaval reasserts itself and brings the section to a disruptive fortississimo conclusion. The final section is an aria for soprano, a setting of Federico García Lorca’s Sleepwalking Ballad in the beautiful English translation by the late Irish poet, Michael Hartnett. Lorca’s poetry is especially notable for its beguiling combination of vivid depiction and surreal imagery. This poem tells of desire, recklessness and loss. One commentator has interpreted it as a vision at the very instant of death. I have placed it here as both a commentary on and a working out of the drama set forth in the two previous sections. Stephen Hartke
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Inhouse Note
Expected pub date 11/20/15 (after LA Phil exclusive expires).
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"One of the reasons orchestras have a hard time constructing programs for organ is a lack of main course selections beyond Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3. We now have a worthy alternative...In three connected movements lasting about more than half an hour, Hartke masterfully wove the organ into a sumptous orchestral fabric; a powerful mixture of jazz, blues and tight harmonies...this is a work that deserves to be heard again." -Robert D. Thomas, The Pasadena Star-News
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