Orchestra Wellington: Fanfare for the Common Man

Claire SCHOLES: Cuba on Cuba

Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas

The dedicated young string players from Arohanui Strings perform 'side-by-side' with the musicians of Orchestra Wellington conducted by Marc Taddei.

‘Cuba on Cuba’ was written especially for Arohanui Strings by New Zealand composer Claire Scholes.

It was inspired by Claire’s stepson, who was studying jazz bass at the New Zealand School of Music, a programme that includes Latin jazz. The attraction of those Afro-Cuban rhythms plus Harry’s talk of Cuba Street as a thriving party-zone made Cuba a recurring theme in the planning of this piece.

Arohanui Strings is a Sistema-inspired music education programme in Taita & Pomare in Lower Hutt. It was founded in 2010 by Director and Orchestra Wellington violinist Alison Eldredge and now works with more than 100 children from eight primary, intermediate, and secondary schools in the area.  They teach violin, viola, cello, double bass, singing and music literacy two afternoons a week

Recorded 19 October 2019 in Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington by RNZ Concert

Producer/Sound engineer: Darryl Stack

BARBER: Violin Concerto Op 14

Violinist Amalia Hall Photo: Supplied

American composer Samuel Barber, best known for his 'Adagio for Strings', wrote his concerto for violin just before war broke out in 1939 and completed it the year after. It includes all the trademark melody and lyricism that made him one the America's most popular composers.

At the time Barber was a professor of composition at the Curtis Institute of Music and the piece came out of a connection he’d made there. A businessman and successful soap manufacturer named Samuel Fels served on the board of Curtis and promptly offered the new professor a commission. He was to write a new concerto for Iso Briselli, a Curtis violin student Fels was interested in assisting.

Unfortunately, Briselli and his violin coach didn’t like what Barber had written for the finale, so Barber, unwilling to change his music, found a new recipient, the eminent Albert Spalding. Spalding was on the lookout for an American piece to add to his concerto repertoire and signed on instantly.

The first and second movements are lyrical and melodic. The finale is quite a contrast. It’s played at breakneck speed, never pauses for breath, utilises rhythmic complexities and accents that are brutal in their effect, and is about half the length of either of the first two movements. It’s also incredibly virtuosic, with the solo violin playing in a perpetual, continual motion with only two orchestral breaks.

Just like the composer, soloist Amalia Hall also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music. One of this country’s finest musicians, Amalia has been a guest performer with orchestras across the world. In 2016 she was appointed as Concert Master of Orchestra Wellington and became New Zealand’s youngest concert master in the process.

Recorded 19 October 2019 in Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington by RNZ Concert

Producer/Sound engineer: Darryl Stack

COPLAND: Symphony No 3

Marc Taddei Photo: Screenshot SOUNZ

Aaron Copland’s 'Symphony No 3' was completed in 1946.

This end-of-war piece expresses the euphoric spirit of America at the time and appealed to many through the themes he used from other contexts including moments from his ballet 'Appalachian Spring' (second movement). His popular 'Fanfare for the Common Man', written to boost morale in 1942, is hinted at throughout and appears more fully expressed in the final movement.

Copland had a knack for capturing the essence of the land and its people, from rural charm to the Wild West and for this reason, composer Virgil Thompson called Copland 'the president of American music'.

Recorded 19 October 2019 in Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington by RNZ Concert

Producer/Sound engineer: Darryl Stack