A Far Cry

Johann Sebastian Bach, O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, BWV 622, arr. Max Reger
Johann Sebastian Bach was 23 years old and a newlywed when he was hired as court organist to the Duke of Weimar, where he remained for nine years. During this time, Bach wrote most of what would become the Orgelbüchlein, or Little Organ Book. It was intended as a teaching tool, as Bach described in the title page, “in which guidance is given to a beginning organist in how to arrange a chorale in all sorts of ways, and at the same time become proficient in the study of pedal playing.” Bach’s original goal was to write arrangements of 164 Lutheran chorales, covering the entire Lutheran church year (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Passiontide, Easter, etc.). In the end, he completed only 46, yet it remains an extraordinary achievement in both scope and thoroughness. 

The chorale arrangement of O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde groß (Oh Man, Bewail Thy Great Sin) comes the collection of chorales for the Lenten and Passiontide days leading up to Easter, and is based on a text and melody from the early 16th century. Bach emphasizes the sorrowful and reflective character of the penitential season through the minor harmonies and slight dissonances of his setting. Notably, Bach would return to the chorale later in his life, using it in his St. Matthew Passion. It is worth taking the time to listen to both versions to hear how Bach adapted the same music for students versus a dramatic movement for chorus. 

Anna Clyne, Within Her Arms 
British composer, Anna Clyne, studied at the University of Edinburgh, and the Manhattan School of Music. Her distinguished professional career has included commissions and performances by numerous esteemed institutions and ensembles around the world including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, MoMA, the Philharmonie de Paris, and the New York Philharmonic. In 2015 she was nominated for a Grammy Award. Clyne is inspired by the visual arts and dance and has collaborated with musicians from a broad variety of genres. As a Composer in Residence, she has worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and numerous orchestras in Europe. Clyne’s music is colorful, full of life, and deeply expressive. 

Within Her Arms, takes its name from a line in a poem by Vietnamese monk and author, Thich Nhat Hanh. Arguably her most personal work, it expresses the grief Clyne experience after the death of her mother. Commissioned by conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, it premiered in 2009 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. In his review of the work, Alex Ross (The New Yorker) noted the relationship of Within Her Arms to the tradition of Renaissance laments. Dotting the heart wrenching beauty of the music are designated moments in the score that instruct the musicians to inhale or exhale—a visceral reminder of embodied experience, the physicality of life and release. 

Clyne’s own program note follows.

Within Her Arms is music for my mother, Colleen Clyne, with all my love.

Earth will keep you tight within her arms dear one—
So that tomorrow you will be transformed into flowers—
This flower smiling quietly in this morning field—
This morning you will weep no more dear one—
For we have gone through too deep a night.
This morning, yes, this morning, I kneel down on the green grass—
And I notice your presence.
Flowers, that speak to me in silence.
The message of love and understanding has indeed come.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

(From “Message” in Call Me By My True Names, 1999, with permission of Parallax Press)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Souvenir de Florence; II. Adagio cantabile e con moto, arr. Rafael Popper Keizer
In June and July of 1890, shortly after returning from Florence, Tchaikovsky began work on a sextet for strings he had promised to write for the Saint Petersburg Chamber Music Society. It was slow-going, and in a letter to his younger brother, Modest, he lamented the challenges he faced: “I began it three days ago and am writing with difficulty, not for want of new ideas, but because of the novelty of the form. One requires six independent yet homogeneous voices. This is unimaginably difficult.” Tchaikovsky also wrote to violinist Eugen Albrecht, agonizing over numerous details. He wondered whether the six-part fugue envisioned for the finale would sound dissonant when played rapidly, debated legato or detaché articulation for specific passages, and discussed bow markings. He also vividly described wanting to elicit an extremely quiet sound, “the most improbable pppp,” that “should be just discernible, like summer lightning.” 

Confusion and complexity extended beyond the page and into Tchaikovsky’s private life as he worked through hurt and agitation due to the end of his long-term friendship with Madame von Meck (who was also an important patron). Ultimately, Tchaikovsky continued to tinker and revise large portions of the Souvenir de Florence for another two years, during which time he traveled to the United States to conduct the inaugural concert for Carnegie Hall in May 1891. When he finally completed the revisions in 1892, it became one of his last works before his death the following year.

One of Tchaikovsky’s indisputable talents was the ability to write some of the most sublime and tender melodies ever imagined. In the Adagio cantabile second movement of the Souvenir de Florence, a set of shimmering chords set the stage for a gorgeous and lilting tune to emerge over delicate pizzicato accompaniment. Soon, a conversation emerges between the various parts, and the hymn-like chords from the opening reemerge. In contrast, the whole ensemble is suddenly swept up in momentary agitation, rising and falling in waves. This is a temporary disturbance, as the music returns to the opening melody, which is explored even more intricately between the various voices, before tapering to its conclusion. 

Leoš Janáček, String Quartet No. 1 “Kreutzer Sonata,” arr. Zenas Hsu
Many years before joining Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák as one of the three most famous Czech composers in history, Leoš Janáček was an eleven-year-old being taken by his parents nearly 100 miles from his hometown of Hukvaldy to live at the Augustinian Abbey in Brno. He had been accepted there as a choral scholar (nicknamed “Bluebirds” for their light-blue uniforms) and would receive both a solid academic education and musical training, as well as relieve the financial strain on his large family. Coming from a family of teachers, Janáček eventually followed the same path and completed teacher training at age eighteen. Soon after, he embarked on a life and career that was continuously divided between teaching and music making. Incredibly industrious, he found pockets of time between obligations to study at the Prague Organ School, the Leipzig Conservatory, and the Vienna Conservatory. Ultimately, he would return to spend the majority of his life in Brno, where he made an indelible contribution to the cultural life of the town, and finally experienced fame later in life, when he was in his sixties. 

A fan of the author Leo Tolstoy, Janáček was particularly captivated by the novella, The Kreutzer Sonata. He composed two pieces inspired by it: a piano trio in 1908–09 (now lost) and the String Quartet No. 1 from 1923. A remarkable feat of storytelling without words, Janáček’s quartet simmers and pops as it evokes the intense emotions of desire and jealousy that pervade Tolstoy’s tragic tale of a husband who suspects his wife of having an affair with the violinist with whom she performs Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Violin Sonata. Interestingly, Janáček marked each movement some variation of “con moto” (with motion), as if to call “action” on each of the quartet’s gripping scenes. Those familiar with Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” sonata will pick up on occasional references, heightening the immersive experience of the narrative. 

Valerie Coleman, Tracing Visions
The American musical artist Valerie Coleman has enjoyed a distinguished and multifaceted career as a performer, composer, advocate, and leader. She is the founder and flutist of the renowned Imani Winds chamber ensemble, has collaborated with numerous celebrated performers, and has been commissioned to write works for a plethora of prominent orchestras and ensembles. As a champion and steward for the future of the arts, Coleman has served on many boards, including the Sphinx Organization’s Sphinx LEAD leadership program, which provides professional development for the next generation of Black and Latino executive arts leaders.

Coleman’s Tracing Visions is an ode to the grace and dignity of the human spirit as it encounters profound challenges throughout history. It was co-commissioned by the Sphinx Organization, New World Symphony, and Carnegie Hall Corporation. The Sphinx Virtuosi premiered the work in October 2022. Tracing Visions unfolds in two movements. Opening is Till, a heartfelt and deeply passionate expression of trauma and grief that are yearning for hope. Following is Amandla!, which the composer notes is written in the style of a juba—a dance that emerged as enslaved people of African descent found ways to preserve and express their cultural heritage in the face of forced erasure. It concludes the work in a radiant celebration of resilience. 

Coleman’s reflections on the music, follow.

Tracing Visions embodies the common threads of community and empathy, reminding us that we are one people. The first movement, TILL, is an elegy dedicated to parents of the Uvalde massacre, Emmett Till, and even Ruby Bridges mother, the latter who had to find strength enough to allow her child to face the dangerous climate of hate in the midst of desegregation. Written during the time of Uvalde, it began to expand itself to be a voice for the grief that we all continue to feel for the tragedy. There is a section within the music that personifies the ugliness of apathy and violence of domestic terrorism, which is met by an anthem of fierce parental statement—a battle cry that all children ARE human beings who have a right to exist within a safe environment, in order to for the genius blueprint seed to grow within each of them.

The 2nd movement, called Amandla! (Which means “power!” in Zulu) is a tour de force juba that celebrates the work of the Sphinx Organization. As a concert finale-style work in its own right, Amandla! personifies a vision of unity, with melodies and grooves that depict many cultures coming together into an empowered tapestry of voices. To the composer, this is the very definition of the ethos of Sphinx. At certain points within the music, small chamber configurations briefly emerge to recognize the breadth and depth of Sphinx’s work in developing future leaders within the arts industry. Featuring the morse code word, “Sphinx” at the beginning as the main motif throughout, this jubilation movement fills the stage with dancing rhythms that allow the “Familia” to cut loose with joy.