This week’s music, in the spirit of the approaching Easter celebration, is Miserere by the Scottish composer James MacMillan, performed by the Swedish choir Sofia Vokalensemble.
Miserere is an eight-part choral work. It is based on the text of Psalm 51, which is oriented around the phrase “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy great mercy.” The lyrics explore the progression from guilt and sin to the hope and redemption that is ultimately found in the resurrected Christ, and MacMillan’s harmonic genius enables him to reflect that progression in the tonal movement of the music. Notice how the piece opens with a sombre free-chanting section in E Minor but ends with a glowing, warm E Major cadence. Along the way, the voices search through a variety of different harmonic contexts and musical atmospheres, reaching a sensational peak that fades into a gentle resolution.
Today we will be listening to the first movement of a sonata for violin and piano that I composed this past winter. This is my first sonata for violin and piano, and it is also my first foray into chamber music. I’ve been composing for about five years now, but most of what I’ve done previously has been choral or orchestral music.
When I set out to write this sonata, I had two goals. First, I wanted to write tonal music. Since the middle of the 20th century, much of musical world has turned to the 12-tone method (also known as serialism) as the new frontier in music composition. This method, spearheaded by Arnold Schoenberg and theorists like Theodore Adorno, sought to discard the hierarchical structure of the octave in favor of a system in which all twelve semi-tones were equal. In my view, this was a bad development. It has led to a generation of unintelligible, ugly music that the ordinary listener cannot understand or appreciate. My goal is to join with composers like James MacMillan, David Matthews, David Conte, and others who are writing fresh, contemporary music that doesn’t abandon tonality but rather uses it in new and exciting ways.
Second, I wanted to write distinctly American music. While much of the musical academy operates on the assumption that anything European is better than anything American, I believe American music – including jazz, ragtime, film music, blues, fiddle, folk, and more – should be proudly incorporated into our concert halls. To that end, you will hear elements of jazz and ragtime, as well as some movie music elements, in the first movement of the sonata. (The second and third movements, which you won’t hear today, are similar. The second movement is based on an American hymn tune, and the third movement is a mash-up of several different American fiddle tunes). And throughout all of the movements are traces of the American classical music composers, most notably Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, and John Corigliano.
This Week's Music 