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LJS&C Press Releases
From "Symphony of Psalms" to "Inner Voices,"
LJS&C Presents a Program of Introspection
La Jolla, Calif. (February 21, 2008) — In the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus's (LJS&C) fourth concert of the season, titled "The Inward Gaze," Music Director Steven Schick leads the ensemble in a program of unusual variety. The concert begins with UCSD composer Chinary Ung's Inner Voices followed by Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 6, and the Andante for Strings by American composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. The program concludes with chorus and orchestra in Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms.
Written in 1930, Symphony of Psalms was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A work for chorus and orchestra and composed during Stravinsky's neoclassical period, it derives its name from the use of Psalm texts in the choral parts. Unlike many pieces composed for chorus and orchestra, Stravinsky said that "it is not a symphony in which I have included Psalms to be sung. On the contrary, it is the singing of the Psalms that I am symphonizing."
Schubert's Symphony No. 6 (known as the "Little C-Major Symphony") is his final youthful symphonic venture. It suggests a composer looking for new directions, with hints of the 'Great' C-major, but with influences of Rossini—an influence that was apparent in other works Schubert wrote in the same period.
Ruth Crawford Seeger was a modernist composer and an American folk music specialist. Andante for Strings is a direct transcription of the Andante movement from her 1931 String Quartet, considered to be her finest work. Seeger described the movement as a study in dissonant dynamics, with crescendos and diminuendos carefully organized to be shaped through single pitches in each instrument.
Raised in Cambodia, composer Chinary Ung heard no Western classical music until his late teens. He was first attracted to 19th-century Romanticism and then to a wider spectrum of Western music. Ung's music is a blend of Asian aesthetics and contemporary Western techniques. Inner Voices was awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 1989.
When asked about this program and his reasons for titling it "The Inward Gaze," Maestro Schick offered the following remarks:
"Music is often about expression. We see in scores 'molto espressivo' and other such indications. And expression is usually something directed outwards—even the name means 'to press outward.' But there is another direction, and many composers have made introspective music. Sounds that look inward have been the main material for Cambodian-American Chinary Ung, for example."Following suit, both Schubert and Ruth Crawford Seeger have avoided ostentatious outward displays of emotion. Stravinsky was more diverse, but his masterpiece, Symphony of Psalms, is a reflective and inwardly directed piece."
The performances take place March 15–16, 2008 in Mandeville Auditorium at UCSD. Concert times are 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. Individual tickets are $26 general, $22 senior, and $15 student. Group discounts are available. Parking is free. A pre-concert lecture is offered one hour prior to concert times. To purchase tickets or for more information, call the LJS&C office at (858) 534-4637 or visit www.lajollasymphony.com.
The La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, San Diego's oldest and largest community orchestra and chorus, is a non-profit musical performing group dedicated to inspiring San Diego with the joy of music. Its 110-person orchestra and 130-person chorus perform groundbreaking orchestral and choral music along with traditional favorites from the classical repertoire. During the 53rd season, maestro Steven Schick shares the podium with David Chase, LJS&C choral director, performing works by Antonín Dvořák, Hector Berlioz, Igor Stravinsky, Philip Glass, Edgard Varèse, John Luther Adams, and more.
