Program Notes: Acclaimed especially as a modern choral conductor and pianist, Ola Gjeilo composed Sinfonietta, the newest piece on today’s program, while still a graduate student in composition at Juilliard. Sinfonietta - literally, “little symphony”, is generally an animated, energetic work with lots of motion and technical demands for the performer. Organist Chelsea Chen has been one of the most frequent performers of the piece. In fact, Chen and Gjeilo were classmates at Juilliard at the time of its composition in 2002. Shaped by the composer’s lifelong eclectic musical tastes as a listener, Sinfonietta brings a 21st-century flair to passages reminiscent of ancient modal church music with interior chorale passages in the mixolydian mode. The opening section’s pedal cadenza was inspired directly by the pedal cadenza in Bach’s Toccata in C (BWV 564). Gjeilo was born Norwegian, but has been a proud New Yorker since 2001.
Performed by organist Dustin Tatro in live recital at St Paul United Methodist Church, Abilene, Texas, on November 17, 2019. Recital program - Triumph: Good over Evil.
5 окт 2024
