Honoring veterans and victims with music
Young Chang
After interviewing more than 35 veterans about the state of war, the
smell of it, the sounds, the touch, the taste and, most hauntingly, the
aftertaste, Richard Danielpour came up with one word to characterize life
on the front lines:
Extreme.
“Utterly extreme in every way,” the New York composer said. “Extreme
cold, heat, numbness, pain.”
His 60-minute orchestral piece “An American Requiem,” which receives
its world premiere Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center
in Costa Mesa, communicates the extremities of life and death.
Dedicated to the people who died on Sept. 11 and American soldiers of
the past, present and future, “Requiem” was started three years ago as a
conclusion to Danielpour’s residency with the Pacific Symphony.
Next week’s performances will involve more than 260 musicians, the
Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Chorale and soloists Stephanie
Blythe, Hugh Smith and Mark Oswald.
“There’s also something very consoling in the piece,” said the
Grammy-nominated Danielpour. “It attempts to be a real embrace. Maybe we
need a bit of that.”
The first half of the concert, titled “America Sings,” will highlight
a sampling of works by George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, William Schuman,
Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom and Frank Ticheli. John Forsyte,
president of Pacific Symphony, calls the musical compilation of American
styles a “tapestry.”
“With Bernstein and Gershwin it’s gonna end with a very rousing
conclusion,” he added.
Danielpour’s “Requiem” will make up the second half. The monumental
piece -- both extremely loud and extremely soft -- received its
dedication on the morning of Sept. 11 after two airplanes hit the World
Trade Centers.
Danielpour, whose recent projects include a cello concerto for Yo-Yo
Ma and the New York Philharmonic, had just gotten the close-to-final
draft of his score in the mail. All it needed was editing and a
dedication. He was on the phone with his New York editor at about 9 a.m.,
talking about how to preface the work. The planes struck, the composer
and his editor stayed on the phone each in states of shock, and suddenly
it became obvious to Danielpour that the dedication needed to be to the
victims.
“I think what has happened, oddly enough, has brought all of the
things I was researching into a very immediate and omnipresent
situation,” Danielpour said. “In many ways, the veterans gave the
emotional and intellectual resource to understand what’s going on right
now.”
“Requiem” started with conversations between Danielpour and friends
who had served in World War II, the Vietnam War and the Korean War.
Danielpour, 45, was born 11 years after World War II ended and the wars
in Asia didn’t directly affect him as a teen.
Conversations born out of curiosity soon became interviews. The scope
of Danielpour’s research widened, resulting in more than 35 talks with
veterans. He ended up with a story of war, hellishness, insanity and,
above all, integrity.
Forsyte said this is the message of “Requiem.”
“About the duality of war,” he said. “It represents both the worst
side of human endeavors and the best side.”
Danielpour said the thread of integrity wove through every veteran’s
story, regardless of the capacity in which they served.
“The integrity of these soldiers was awe-inspiring to me,” he said.
With an equal mix of American poetry (everything from Walt Whitman to
African-America spirituals) and texts sung in Latin from the Roman
Catholic Requiem Mass, Danielpour’s piece is performed by a chorus as
well as soloists to symbolize the personal and global personalities of
war. Mezzo-soprano Blythe represents the grieving mothers of fallen
soldiers. In interviews with the veterans, Danielpour learned that dying
soldiers most often asked for their mothers.
“It’s not just about the policemen and firemen,” he said, referring to
Sept. 11 as an analogy. “But it’s about family too. About survivors as
well as the lost.”
FYI
WHAT: “America Sings”
WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday
WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,
Costa Mesa
COST: $21-$56. Prices for veterans and current military, police, fire
and emergency personnel and their families will be $12 or $15.
CALL: (714) 755-5799
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