Sound of Light

Soloist: Katie Buckley, harp

Conductor: Richard Schwennicke

Programme

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Appalachian Spring suite (ballet for Martha)

Germaine Tailleferre(1892-1983): Concertino for Harp and Orchestra

Ottorino Respighi(1879-1936): Trittico Botticelliano

The roaring twenties were an age of glitter and glamor. Europe was recovering from the horrors of the first world war. The Americans who had just saved a continent so bent on destruction brought with them fresh musical influences and a new societal order. In this chaotic and magnificent time, three composers looked to define themselves and a new musical style. Aaron Copland studied in Paris of the early 20s and brought back to America a desire to find a new American style. His great breakthrough in this respect was to be the ballet Appalachian Spring, written for the choreographer Martha Graham.

Germaine Tailleferre took the reverse route across the Atlantic. In Paris, Tailleferre had been part of the pioneering group “les six”. Her American husband, who greatly disapproved of her composing, brought her with him to New York, where she composed the Harp Concertino that follows Copland. In it she combines influences from the “impressionist” French style with signature humor and wit.

Ottorino Respighi was a musicologist and poly-math. He studied and taught the history of music, adored Gregorian chant and popularized music by Monteverdi in the early 20th century. These influences are clearly heard in the “Trittico Botticelliano”, but Respighi recontextualizes these melodies in what might be called a futurist style: “Everything is movement transformation.”

Elja chamber orchestra is sponsored by the City of Reykjavík and Tónlistarsjóður.