The Philadelphia Orchestra Riccardo Muti, conductor Gerard Schwarz, conductor Thomas Paul, bass
“More spontaneously and openly indeed than many of his contemporaries, Rands acknowledges the work of past composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Berg, Stravinsky, and Bartók as his indispensable meat and drink. Maybe it is to this acknowledgement and the security that goes with it that his own music, not really paradoxically, owes some of its unmistakable originality and sense of identity. But for the real reason, we must probably go back to that ultimate ground of humanness, of self, of communication which, as with any true creative artist unites Rands the man and Rands the musician.” — Bernard Jacobson
Le Tambourin is an unfinished opera about the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Completed in October 1984, each of the two suites, which may be performed separately, consists of three short movements, scored for large orchestra. Per the composer,
“The musical character of each of the individual movements was prompted by specific visual characteristics found in certain paintings and drawings by Van Gogh. Musical depiction of the paintings' subject matter was not a concern or a consideration. Rather, the relationship is confined to technique in matters of harmony and dissonance, of color and light, energy and intensity of brush stroke, shape, clarity, and focus of image, and their overall formal structural deployment. Nevertheless, Van Gogh painted and drew with such fervor and passion that often the technical aspects of his work are simultaneous translations of his own inner turmoil, anxiety, rage, joy, love, and depression.”
The last in a sequence of three cycles for solo voice and orchestra, Canti dell’Eclisse (Songs of the Eclipse) follows Canti Lunatici (Songs of the Moon) for soprano, completed in 1981, and Canti del Sole (Songs of the Sun) for tenor, which dates from 1983. The music explores a broad gamut of textures and timbres, the vocal part itself sometimes diverging from traditional song into a rhythmically notated pattern of speech.
The first work Rands wrote expressly for The Philadelphia Orchestra in his capacity as its composer in residence was Ceremonial 3. Rands offered the following comments on the third in his series of orchestral Ceremonials:
"The piece aims to show the virtuosity of The Philadelphia Orchestra both individually and collectively, blending the sound in ways that cover the spectrum from conventional to unconventional groupings. This is a form of virtuosity that I'm very much interested in. It's orchestras within orchestras－not necessarily spacing them, reseating or regrouping them (although I think that does have an enormous potential if its intelligently handled), but rather, thinking of the tracking of the sound through an orchestral layout in a different way from the nineteenth-century progression of a musical idea.”
Bernard Rands: Canti Dell Eclisse/Le Tambourin/Ceremonial 3
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A *.pdf of the notes may also be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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Le Tambourin, Suite 1: The Beach at Scheveningen
Bernard Rands
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Le Tambourin, Suite 1: Sorrow
Bernard Rands
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Le Tambourin, Suite 1: Au Tambourin
Bernard Rands
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Le Tambourin, Suite 2: The Night Cafe
Bernard Rands
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Le Tambourin, Suite 2: Dance at Arles
Bernard Rands
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Le Tambourin, Suite 2: The Church at Auvers
Bernard Rands
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Canti Dell'Eclisse
Bernard Rands
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Ceremonial 3
Bernard Rands
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