Symphony No.1 (‘Boum')

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Aquarius and French Overture was performed by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Ritchie has composed film music in collaboration with Natural History New Zealand, including Southern Journeys in 2000. Nine albums of Ritchie’s music have been released in the last decade, including his album New Zealand Poets in Song (MANU5032), as well as chamber and orchestral albums. The album Remember Parihaka was released in 2009, including his widely performed Flute Concerto, written for Alexa Still. An album of Ritchie’s piano music, Expressions (MANU5098), was released in 2010 featuring pianist Tom McGrath. In 2012 the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra released a recording of Ritchie’s orchestral music, A Bugle Will Do: Symphony No.3 and Other Symphonic Works by Anthony Ritchie (ACD741), which was awarded Classical Album of the Year by the New Zealand Listener magazine and was a finalist at the New Zealand Music Awards. Reviewing this album for MusicWeb International, Nick Barnard wrote “Ritchie’s voice is both richly individual and utterly absorbing.” Further information about Ritchie can be found at: http://www.anthonyritchie.co.nz. Symphony No.1 (‘Boum’) (1993) I. Largo – allegro – moderato – allegro – largo II. Allegro energico III. Adagio (for the innocent of Bosnia) IV. Allegro Notes on the work Boum’s first movement opens with the hushed drama of a single tam-tam strike. From this, gently pulsing strings emerge, thick with gravitas, their material gradually bleeding to the woodwinds and brass, where it becomes momentarily emboldened. The pulse splits out into a polymetric foundation for a gently gliding and exotic violin melody, the movement building momentum and a sense of encroaching darkness before bursting into a triumphant brass-driven passage in triple meter. Poised woodwind solos float above the movement’s tranquil, yet somewhat puckish, midsection, with a cascade of solo lines eventually leading back to a march-like reimagining of the earlier brass-driven passage. A more fully orchestrated revisiting of the movement’s pulsed opening material guides us to to the end of the movement, the texture gradually thinning out to reveal the violins, their chords ascending skyward in muted breaths. The stillness is broken by the rhythmic jauntiness of the second movement. Initially dominated by woodwinds and propelled by log drum and tom-tom rhythms, space is then provided for the rest of the orchestra to play with the movement’s bouncy staccato motif. Ritchie coaxes an abundance of material out of this motif, its rhythmic character allowing the movement to maintain its exuberance. Dedicated to the victims of the Bosnian War, the third movement’s sorrowful opening figure is shared by high woodwinds and strings, its long descending tail rendered all the more downcast by the strings’ use of glissandi. Mortality imbues the movement, heard in the tolling of tubular bells and the subdued ruminations of muted strings. Later, swift wave-like contours dovetail between woodwind instruments, while accompanying surges of string tremolos accentuate a sense of uncertainty. A heartfelt, high-register violin solo leads the movement to its hushed conclusion. Several themes from the previous three movements are incorporated into Boum’s final movement. Kicking off with pizzicato double bass and celli, the movement opens up, becoming assertively rhythmic and dance-like. Polymetricism reminiscent of the first movement makes a return, underpinning soaring strings once again, now reinforced by piccolo and glockenspiel. A confident, striding downbeat underpins the interplay between choirs and configurations of instruments, passing themes and fragments of themes back and forth. Eventually this interplay becomes more spacious, the timpani and low strings holding down a piano subito pedal while solo instruments have the opportunity to make their final statements. Finally, the symphony is bookended with the return of the pulsing string material of its opening moments, with a tam-tam strike drawing Boum to a resonant close. Composer’s note Symphony No.1 (‘Boum’) was completed while I was Composer-in-Residence with the Dunedin Sinfonia in 1993, and first performed the following year, under the baton of Sir William Southgate. It has received numerous performances in New Zealand and has been performed in London. In 1998 it was recorded for Radio NZ Concert by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and this recording is available to listen to on the SOUNZ website, as part of the ReSound project at http://sounz.org.nz/ content/ARitchieSymphonies. In 2007 the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marc Taddei recorded the symphony on Kiwi Pacific Records, released UME14 – iv
! # ? ? ? ! under the title Anthony Ritchie Symphonies No.1 and 2 (CD SLD-115). The title Boum comes from a novel by E.M. Forster, entitled A Passage to India, and is represented in the music by an ominous tam-tam stroke. This is the first sound we hear in the symphony. The ‘boum’ represents a mysterious echo experienced by characters in A Passage to India, on a visit to the Marabar Caves. The echo comes to symbolize the mysteries of life and death, and is a starting point to a general theme of existentialism and human struggle that pervades the symphony. The tam-tam stroke recurs throughout the symphony, also acting as a unifying device in the music. The first movement opens with sonorous strings, and modal ambiguity that becomes a feature of the work. A languid, Eastern-sounding theme in the violins (after rehearsal mark C) is influenced by gamelan music, referencing the pelog scale. This theme also recurs in each movement of the symphony (see L1 in the second movement, the più mosso before T1 in the third movement, and the change to Fh in the fourth movement). ° poco accel. ppp mp ppp div. unis. ppp mp ppp non div. ppp mp ppp # - - - - - - - - > - - - - - - ? Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙. ¢ ppp mp ppp rit. ! ∑ ∑ ? B Œ Yœ- œ- œ- œ- œ- œ- œ- œ- œ > - œ- œ- œ- œ- œ - ˙. Œ Yœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ- - - - - - - œ - > - œ- œ- œ- œ- œ - ˙. Œ œ - œ - œ - œ - œ - œ - œ - œ œ œ œ œ œ œ - > - - - - - - ˙˙.. (Figure 1. String figure from the opening of Boum’s first movement, measures 2–3) ! Œ œ p Yœ œ Yœ œ Yœ œ A (Figure 2. Eastern-sounding violin theme from Boum’s first movement, measures 43–45) After a gradual build-up the first main theme of the sonata form appears in the brass at E, a theme that has a muscular, Brucknerian quality. This leads to a sinuous saxophone melody, related to the Eastern theme, which becomes significant in the central section of the movement. The saxophone in this symphony is associated with the human voice, plaintive and emotional. Also plaintive in sound is the lengthy oboe solo starting at M, the second main theme of the movement. Development of themes and motifs follows, culminating in a build-up over a D pedal note that betrays the influence of Philip Glass. The Cd meter gradually morphs into Fh at the climax and a crashing tam-tam stroke heralds the recapitulation of the opening chords. The recapitulation in fact turns out to be a coda, as the developmental energy of previous themes has been exhausted. The string passage from the opening returns with more emotional power, before evaporating into harmonics at the end (akin to spirits floating away), punctuated by a final tam-tam stroke. The second movement is a vigorous scherzo, outlining an A–B–A–C–A form. It is dominated by two basic elements: the sharp opening rhythm of three crotchet beats followed by a syncopated motif (m.3), and the sound of log drum and tom-toms combined. ° ! W Wœ œ œ Œ . . . W œ œ ‰ œ j Ó . . . mf a2 œ. œ. œ. . . . ¢ Œ œ œ ‰ œ J Ó mf (Figure 3. Opening rhythm from the second movement, oboes and clarinets, measures 2-3) I was inspired by performances of a local Dunedin group, Te Orana, which played Cook Island traditional music. Melodic lines repeat and expand from these simple rhythmic elements. The second section (starting at E1) features a string quartet playing a simple modal theme, built from the opening rhythmic elements which, along with the persistent log drum, helps create a link between sections A and B. In section C, the Easternsounding theme from the first movement returns, and here it is linked by a common rising motif: two notes up and down, forming an ostinato through this section. The theme is used canonically at the climax, before hurtling into the boisterous recapitulation of section A. The three crotchet beats from the start are elongated into a long stream of notes, and the movement roars to a conclusion. The third movement was written during the Bosnian war in 1993 and is a lament for its victims. The evocative opening was inspired by the wailing of a Māori karanga, with descending phrases and use of glissandi, while tolling bells imbue the music with a sense of tragedy. UME14 – v
Page 1: University Edition | New Zealand Se
Page 4 and 5: Symphony No.1 (‘Boum’)(UME14
Page 8 and 9: ! ! ! ! ° 3 4 solo 1 gliss. œ> œ
Page 10 and 11: Fl. 1 Fl. 2 7 h. = 52 poco accel. r
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Cl. 1 Cl. 2 Bn 1 Bn 2 Hn 1 Hn 3 263
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Symphony No.1 (‘Boum')

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