It was a make-or-break moment.
When some 1,200 managers, musicians and other influential figures gathered in 2002 for the American Symphony Orchestra League’s national conference, the world premiere of one of
Jennifer Higdon’s most ambitious works took center stage.
“My life was either going to go down the tubes as a composer with that one performance, or it was going to take off,” the composer said from her Philadelphia studio. “Thank goodness, it was the take-off option.”
The Colorado Symphony will perform Higdon’s 35-minute Concerto for Orchestra as part of an eclectic all-American program today and Saturday in Boettcher Concert Hall. The CSO joins the ranks of 25 other orchestras that have presented the milestone piece to date.
Higdon, 44, has not yet achieved the name recognition of such veteran composers as John Adams or Philip Glass, but more than 200 performances of her works take place each year. Her most popular composition, a 12-minute tone poem titled “blue cathedral,” has been presented by more than 100 orchestras since its premiere in 2000.
In addition, some of the field’s top artists have sought new works from her. Violinist Jennifer Koh commissioned a concerto she is premiering with a consortium of five orchestras, and the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., is set in May to premiere another one created for pianist Lang Lang.
Although it is tough to carve out a distinct identity among the hundreds of composers attempting to sustain careers in classical music, Higdon never has made a conscious effort to write music that would differentiate her from her peers.
“You just sit down and write,” she said. “I think you have to write what is a sincere expression for you, and I don’t know if you can really worry about what makes you stand out.”
At the same time, Higdon never has done much in the way of marketing, preferring to let word of mouth whet demand for her compositions.
“I noticed from an early start when I was in graduate school that I didn’t have the stomach for selling my music,” she said. “I realized that the music would have to sell itself. I figure that if the musicians enjoy the music, they’re going to perform it. If it speaks to people, hopefully, that would be enough.”
Looking back, she realizes she took a “pretty horrific gamble” with such a laissez-faire tack, but it has paid off.
Unlike composers such as Adams, Christopher Rouse or Elliott Carter – all with readily identifiable albeit different styles – pinning down
Higdon’s sound is far more difficult. It can change substantially from work to work.
“Some people say they can hear my sound, but I’m hard put as to explain what is that sound,” Higdon said. “I know my music is frequently described as very American-sounding, but then critics usually compare it to such a wide variety of composers that it’s amazing to try to figure out. It kind of cracks me up.”
Jeffrey Kahane, music director of the Colorado Symphony, praised Higdon’s ear for color and sense of rhythm. He also emphasized the superb craftsmanship of her works, one of the few qualities Higdon acknowledged as well.
Unlike many other composers,
Kahane said, her works always are rooted in music history, especially her Concerto for Orchestra.
“At the same time it is very new and, like a lot of great music, has its own unique voice, but it’s also very deeply rooted in tradition,” he said.
Just as a violin concerto spotlights a violin soloist, a concerto for orchestra, a relatively rare form, attempts to showcase the entire orchestra.
The most famous such work is Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra (1943), one of the great works of the 20th century. Quickly gaining in stature is another written 11 years later by Witold Lutoslawski.
“When I got the commission,” Higdon said, “because I love both of those pieces so much, I actually stopped listening to those two works, because I was afraid I would not be able to write my own work.
“It was so terrifying. I thought, ‘Oh no, I won’t be able to get out from under that Lutoslawski, that opening with the cellos and that great timpani.’
“Those two pieces I adore, and I didn’t listen to them for four years. The week after (the debut of) my Concerto for Orchestra, I literally put them on and sat down and went ‘Ah!”‘
The first and last sections of her five-movement concerto employ the full orchestra. The third movement provides solos for the orchestra’s principal musicians, the fourth targets percussion and keyboards and the second focuses on the strings.
“I had originally planned to do a slow, lyrical movement, but my head had other ideas,” she said of the second section. “It really just wasn’t going to let me do that. It just went off on its own, so it’s kind of like a scherzo just for the strings.”
The concerto is part of a diverse program, which includes Michael Daugherty’s “UFO,” with percussion soloist Evelyn Glennie, as well as William Billings’ original 18th-century vocal works, “Chester” and “When Jesus Wept,” and William Schuman’s modern reworkings of them.
“I love this program,” Kahane said. “I love the fact that there’s nothing standard about it.”
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra (2002)
Colorado Symphony program|Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets; 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday|$15-$67.50| 303-623-7876 or coloradosymphony.org.
