NEC Symphony + David Loebel: Big Questions
The pandemic has forced us to question many basic assumptions about both our everyday lives and the state of our country. Joan Tower’s Made in America—a 21st century take on America the Beautiful—is bracketed on this concert by two contrasting works of Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question asks the biggest question of all, while Variations on “America” harks back to an earlier time of bombastic, sentimental patriotism. Perhaps amid all these serious thoughts there’s still space for the humor of Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony. –David Loebel
This performance is open to in-person audiences, and can also be viewed below via livestream.
View livestream from Jordan Hall:
- NEC Symphony
Giuseppe Verdi | Overture to "La forza del destino"
Franz Joseph Haydn | Symphony No. 94 in G Major, Hob.1:94, "Surprise"
Adagio - Vivace assai
Andante
Menuet: Allegro molto
Finale: Allegro di moltoCharles Ives | The Unanswered Question
Joan Tower | Made in America (2004)
I crossed a fairly big bridge at the age of nine when my family moved to South America (La Paz, Bolivia), where we stayed for nine years. I had to learn a new language, a new culture, and how to live at 13,000 feet! It was a lively culture with many saints' days celebrated through music and dance, but the large Inca population in Bolivia was generally poor, and there was little chance of moving up in class or work position.
When I returned to the United States, I was proud to have free choices, upward mobility, and the chance to try to become who I wanted to be. I also enjoyed the basic luxuries of an American citizen that we so often take for granted: hot running water, blankets for the cold winters, floors that are not made of dirt, and easy modes of transportation, among many other things. So when I started composing this piece, the song "America the Beautiful" kept coming into my consciousness and eventually became the main theme for the work. The beauty of the song is undeniable, and I loved working with it as a musical idea. One can never take for granted, however, the strength of a musical idea — as Beethoven (one of my strongest influences) knew so well. This theme is challenged by other more aggressive and dissonant ideas that keep interrupting, unsettling it, but "America the Beautiful" keeps resurfacing in different guises (some small and tender, others big and magnanimous), as if to say, "I'm still here, ever changing, but holding my own." A musical struggle is heard throughout the work. Perhaps it was my unconscious reacting to the challenge of how do we keep America beautiful. —Joan TowerCharles Ives (arr. William Schuman) | Variations on "America"
Introduction and Theme
Variation I
Variation II
Interlude I
Variation III
Variation IV
Interlude II
Variation V
CodaNEC Symphony
First Violin
Masha Lakisova
Eunha Kim
Darwin Chang
Kitty Amaral
Chiung-Han Tsai
Caroline Smoak
Tsubasa Muramatsu
Gabriella Foster
Claire Byeol Kim
Shiyu Wang
Arun Ashtahgiri
Kristy Chen
Second Violin
Emma Boyd
Michael Fisher
Hila Dahari
Tiffany Yeung
Clayton Hancock
Sydney Scarlett
Sarah Campbell
Helena Hwang
Theresa Katz
Célina Bethoux
Viola
Asher Boorstin
Ru-Yao Van der Ploeg
Philip Rawlinson
Katherine Purcell
Jowen Hsu
Chloe Ehrmantraut
Nicolette Sullivan-Cozza
Nathan Emans
Cello
David You
Miruna Eynon
Lexine Feng
Lily Stern
Jonah Kernis
Max Zhenren Zhao
Bass
Luke Tsuchiya
Cailin Singleton
Colby Heimburger
Isabel Atkinson
Flute
Anne Chao*
Isabelle Evernham
Honor Hickman§
Subee Kim
Elizabeth Kleiber+
Subin Oh
Joon Park‡
Anna Ridenour
Dianne Seo^
Piccolo
Anna Chao
Elizabeth Kleiber*+
Joon Park
Anna Ridenour§
Oboe
Yuhsi Chang
Corinne Foley‡
Coleton Morgan*+§
Clarinet
Sarah Cho
Xianyi Ji+
Tao Ke§
Cole Turkel*Bassoon
Adam Chen
Garrett Comrie§
Seth Goldman
Carson Meritt+
Andrew Salaru‡
Wang Jialu*
French horn
Mattias Bengtsson*
Graham Lovely+
Mauricio Martinez§
Jenna Stokes‡
Xiaoran Xu
Trumpet
Matthew Mihalko+
Justin Park*
Alexandra Richmond‡
Caitlin Tay
Cody York^§
Trombone
Elias Canales
Noah Korenfeld§
Noah Nichilo*
Alex Russell+
Kevin Smith
Bass Trombone
Roger Dahlin*
Jason Sato§
Tuba
Jordan Jenifor*
Hayden Silvester§
Timpani
Isabella Butler§
Nga leng Lai‡
Mark Larrivee*
Eli Reisz+
Percussion
Isabella Butler
Nga leng Lai
Mark Larrivee+
Eli Reisz§
Rohan Zakaria*
Harp
Shaylen Joos
Zi Li*
Principal players
*Verdi
‡Haydn
^Ives Unanswered Question
+Tower
§Ives Variations