Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Spring 2002

Jalbert Calls on Emotions in Composition - Arts
Spring 2002
VOL.58, NO.3
Jalbert Calls on Emotions in Composition
Some artistic disciplines are adept at transmitting ideas or purely visceral
responses. Others music perhaps most of all are capable of translating
powerful emotions in such a way that audience members can feel some
measure of the artist s hopes and joys, fears and pain.
When Pierre Jalbert s niece died at birth nearly 10 years ago, he, along with
his family, suffered from shock, grief, and despair. Jalbert, now 33, is an
assistant professor of composition and theory at the Shepherd School of
Music, so it is not surprising that those feelings would eventually emerge in
a composition. For me, Jalbert says, I needed a lot of time to absorb it and
be able to actually put something down. I think one needs time to absorb
the events of the past.
Time, though, tempers strong emotions. As Jalbert began writing In
Aeternam in memory of his niece, he found himself not only capturing the
sorrow of her death but also, with the memory of hearing his son Peter s
heartbeat for the first time, celebrating life. Jalbert finished composing the
piece last year when his son turned four.
Originally, In Aeternam was commissioned by Barry Jekowsky and the
California Symphony as part of the orchestra s Young American Composerin-Residence
program. Jalbert then entered it in the Masterprize
competition, considered one of the world s most important international
competitions for composers of classical music. In London on October 10,
the Dutchess of Kent announced that Jalbert had won the Masterprize,
which carries a $44,000 award.
The announcement was made following a performance of each of the five
finalists work by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre.
The competition and award ceremony was broadcast by the European
Broadcasting Union, BBC Radio 3, and BBC World Service, with an
estimated worldwide audience of 100 million. It also was broadcast
internationally via the competition s website.
Half of the final decision was based on a public vote, with the remainder
determined by recommendations from a live panel of distinguished judges
and a vote by London Symphony Orchestra members.
In Aeternam is composed in three sections. It opens with slow, soft lyrical
music, and listeners hear a short thematic fragment played by a solo piccolo
that is repeated again and again. The second section, with its force and
intensity, is dramatic in character. The piccolo is reprised, but now the
thematic fragment is transformed into something more aggressive by the
brass and percussion sections of the orchestra. The final section reprises the
opening mood of the first section. The piece was recorded for Masterprize
by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra of the Hungarian Radio, with Laszlo
Kovacs conducting.
The composer admits he was surprised at winning the award. I was very
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