March 2013 - Queensland Symphony Orchestra

The second movement shows the tuba’s
lyrical capability. Its opening theme,
however, is interrupted by a fearful outburst
in the brass, to which the soloist on each
subsequent statement of the theme must
react and ultimately accommodate.
The third movement, in homage to Jim
Crowder, a Boeing aeronautical engineer,
is inspired by a wind tunnel. One can clearly
hear its acceleration as it groans toward its
predestined speed. Once there, the tuba
enters with a perpetuum mobile theme,
illustrating musically the same swirls of air
along a wing’s surface that Mr. Crowder
illustrated visually in his work. But some
turbulences need to be smoothed, so
we hear the wind tunnel decelerate, and
the aeronautical engineer returns to the
basement workshop in his home and listens
to his favorite music – Wagner’s Ring –
while he mulls over ways to improve the
smoothness of the flow, forging new tools,
like Siegfried, in the process.
I am indebted to Winfried Feifel for
graciously taking time from his work at the
University of Washington’s Kirsten Wind
Tunnel to explain its mysteries.
Adapted from a note by Samuel Jones © 2006
PAUL STANHOPE
(BORN 1969, AUSTRALIA)
Jet-stream
The term ‘jet-stream’ is used to describe
fast-flowing, relatively narrow currents of air
and is also sometimes applied to fast-moving
ocean currents. In using the same term
for this orchestral fanfare I am suggesting
musical notions of swirling, fast-flowing
passages of turbulent energy and perhaps
also the exhilaration of motion itself.
As befits a fanfare, the piece begins with
passages dominated by brass and percussion,
which feature prominently throughout.
A second section begins with harp and
interleaved woodwind lines and a much
slower descending counter-melody. The
high woodwinds, which initially take up
the fanfare theme in this section, are later
subsumed by the brass and then the whole
orchestra, bringing the piece to a huge
climax. The following reflective section
allows a brief moment of contemplation
before the material plunges headlong into the
brass figures heard at the start of the work.
Paul Stanhope © 2004
SIEGFRIED MATTHUS
(BORN 1934, GERMANY)
Timpani Concerto Der Wald
In three movements
Tim Corkeron, Timpani
I am rapt to be doing this piece…It tells a
story and explores the more subtle sounds
that timpani can make. The accompanying
orchestral colours and interjections are well
crafted by Matthus.
Tim Corkeron
Siegfried Matthus is a composer notable
for the broad spectrum of his musical
output. Apart from writing works for the
stage he has given special attention to
pieces for solo voices and instruments
over the past twenty years or so. Unusual
combinations are an intriguing feature, as
in the Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra
Der Wald (‘The Forest’) dating from
1984. Commissioned by the Dresden
Staatskapelle, it was intended for the
orchestra’s principal timpanist, Peter
Sondermann. As the title of the concerto
indicates, this is a musical discourse on our
dying forests – a taboo subject in what was
the Germany Democratic Republic. By way
of introduction the score contains a passage
from Hölderlin’s Hyperion: ‘O tree of life,
if only I could turn green with you again
and share the fragrance of your canopy
and all your budding twigs, peaceably and
fervently, for we all have grown out of the
same golden seed.’ The concerto comprises
three movements played without a break,
the orchestra consisting only of brass, harp
and strings. The relationship between the
soloist and the various orchestral sections
is marked by ‘growing mutual affection’
rather than ‘adversity’. The first movement,
proceeding largely at a gentle, unhurried
pace, recalls a romantic forest in its
evocative texture. In the second movement,
images of its destruction in modern times
call forth expressions of grief and mourning.
This contrasts sharply with the mood of the
final movement in which the soloist moves
into action in a forceful cadenza. The whole
orchestra rallies behind him in the furious
finale, which ends on a note of passionate
resolve and protest.
Frank Schneider, Breitkopf & Härtel © 1991
6 2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM
2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM 7