Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, Orff's Carmina Burana ... Friday, April 11, 1986, Jesse Auditorium
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"The search for a musical language in the twentieth century has taken composers down a multitude of paths. The assumption that the conditions that had prevailed for approximately two-hundred years--specifically, the framework of functional harmony--had been effectively exhausted compelled the young composers of the century to seek out the "new." As a result, the modern era has witnessed the creation of a new sound-world and has enjoyed an unprecedented plurality of styles. In spite of such diversity, the great majority of modern compositional efforts have shared an important common foundation: a pervasive awareness of the past and the ingenious re-use of its achievements. The seeds for this development were well planted in the last few decades of the old century, although in terms of Romantic content. Part of this historical awareness manifested itself in the emphatic rejection of the aesthetic and the trappings of nineteenth-century Romanticism and in a reconsideration of musical practices predating it. Many composers espoused a "back-to-basics" approach. The hyper-emotional manipulations, the ultra-refined constructions, the monumental gestures, and the superficial "prettiness" of Romanticism were thrown out. The highly rational, the terse and ascetic, and even the mechanical were introduced as musical virtues alongside the primitive and the perverse. Many of the experiments, which on the surface sounded shockingly new, were fortified by the use of once-old-fashioned methods. Such "revolutionary" behavior was completely in keeping with the social and intellectual movements of the day and with corresponding re-evaluations occurring in the sister arts."--Program Notes.
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Symphony of Psalms -- Intermission -- Carmina Burana