SYMPHONY No. 3 (Hurricane)
Symphony No. 3 was written in response to having lived through a major hurricane. The symphony (31') was recorded by the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra - Katowice. Available as a special internet CD release at http://www.mysteryparkarts.org
CD Liner Notes The
third symphony (of Carson Kievman) was written in 1993-5, the years following
Hurricane Andrew's devastating course through South Florida. Though clearly
inspired by the composer's experience of living within its path of destruction,
the work is as contemplative as it is dramatic or descriptive. Rather than
depicting the randomness or dissonance of an actual storm, the tone is translated
through the more complex--and poetical--responses of the individual. The three-part
structure is in fact a highly developed exploration of internal thoughts and
feelings: anticipating, absorbing, and finally adjusting to forces that lie
beyond our control. While the hurricane imagery is apparent, the human dimension
of the work might reflect any threat of powerful or violent confrontation.
The first movement expresses a heightened sense of both danger and beauty, evoking not simply fear but also an intoxicating excitement. The stillness of the atmosphere is charged with an impending destiny, enhanced by sforzando accents and by tense tremolos in the strings. The music builds in intensity and timbral complexity until coalescing in a climactic moment of syncopated tremolo, which fades to silence. A passage of strange beauty and lyricism is then announced by the flutes, complimented by oboe and clarinet, and is marked by a resonance in the strings. The lyric impulse suggests the allure of the new sensations, despite the possibility of catastrophe on the horizon.
The storm advances in waves of energy, offset by residuals of calm. With each ascent, the strings swirl gently upward in long crescendos, only to fall back upon new surges of foreboding, highlighted by glissandi in the trombones and flutes and by the reverberations of timpani or bells. A rolling rhythmic figure begins as a hypnotic background element, and becomes more prominent and compelling as the music builds to a crescendo of rolling energy. The strings then carry on slightly dissonant, offbeat rhythms, accented by solo pizzicato, with resounding echoes in the flutes and other wind instruments. The rhythmic formations--like patterns of gathering clouds or motion--softly taper off to a placid but deceptive clam, ending with brass chords that foreshadow the final movement.
The violent second movement begins attaca, without warning....
(c) 1995 Mark Needle
More to come...
See the companion solo
piano piece, Nuts
& Bolts,
from the
CRI
Emergency Music release: The
Temporary & Tentative Extended Piano