January 10, 2010
“American Accents” Offers Dvorak, Charles Ives, and
Lou Harrison’s Pipa Concerto with Soloist Wu Man
La Jolla, Calif. (Jan. 13, 2010) — on February 6-7 presents a concert of perspectives on and about America: Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England, Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Pipa & String Orchestra with internationally renowned soloist Wu Man on pipa (Chinese lute), and Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor (New World). LJS&C Music Director Steven Schick conducts.
“One of the salient points about this concert is the idea of a “shrinking world,” says Schick. “We start the program with a piece by Charles Ives, the grandfather of American composition. Lou Harrison worked with Ives, but his path led towards the musical structures of Asia. In one of the last pieces before his death he sought out Wu Man and created Chinese music -- not as it would have or could have been heard in China, but really the music of Chinese-Americans. We conclude with the piece Dvorak wrote about his time in America.”
Charles Ives (1874–1954) is widely regarded as one of the first American composers of international significance. Though his music was largely ignored during his life, over time Ives came to be regarded as an “American Original.” He offers three snapshots of symbolic places in New England in Three Places in New England. It was composed across a long span of time (sketches date back to 1903 while the latest revisions were made in 1929); however the bulk was written between 1911 and 1914. Each movement is intended to make the listener feel the very place in New England, with hints of American folk tunes to enhance the effect.
California composer Lou Harrison (1917–2003) looked to China for inspiration in his Concerto for Pipa & String Orchestra, which blends West Coast and Far East. Harrison’s last large-scale work, the concerto places a single Asian instrument against the Western symphony orchestra, and is a surprising showpiece for the ancient Chinese lute. Our soloist is internationally renowned Wu Man, for whom the concerto was written. She was the first student to receive a master’s degree in pipa from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Since that time, she has gone on to be the most prominent performer on the instrument, performing compositions by Tan Dun, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass.
Popularly known as the New World Symphony, Dvořák wrote his ninth symphony in 1893 during his visit to the U.S. from 1892 to 1895, where he became interested in African-American spirituals and Native American music. However, it is generally considered that, like his other pieces, the work has more in common with folk music of his native Bohemia than with that of the U.S. Leonard Bernstein considered the work to be truly multinational in its foundation.
Performances take place February 6-7, 2010 in Mandeville Auditorium at UCSD. Concert times are 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday (note 1:00 pm is two hours earlier than our usual Sunday concert time). Individual tickets are $29 general, $26 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 at
(858) 534-4637
