Where has the time gone? Has it really been been 17 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001? On the one hand, we should definitely be thankful that the catastrophe hasn’t been repeated. On the other, it sure does seem like yesterday.
Not surprisingly, September 11 has inspired a lot of music, and this afternoon on The Classical Network, I thought we’d listen to just some of it.
Wojciech Kilar is probably best known in this country for his film scores, including those for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “Portrait of a Lady,” and “The Pianist.” He was more prolific in Polish cinema, but his concert output has been equally fruitful, if not more so. Kilar emerged from the Polish avant-garde movement of the 1960s. He is of the same generation as Henryk Gorecki and Krzysztof Penderecki. Like those composers, he eventually reconciled his experimental impulses with a more accessible language.
Kilar emphasizes that his musical response to 9/11, his “September Symphony,” was not an act of opportunism, but a heartfelt response written for a country he has always loved. In the finale, he draws on familiar quotations from Gershwin and “America the Beautiful,” as well as gospel, blues, and American westerns.
Closer to home, Philadelphia composer Robert Moran’s “Trinity Requiem” was named for Trinity Wall Street, the so-called “Ground Zero” church in Lower Manhattan. Moran’s approach to the Requiem Mass is akin to that of Gabriel Fauré, a work of solace and consolation. The substantial role sung by children’s chorus only lends to the work’s innocent and ethereal qualities.
New York composer and Juilliard professor Eric Ewazen’s “A Hymn for the Lost and the Living” was originally composed for the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band, but has since widely circulated in a version for trumpet and piano. Ewazen writes, “It is intended to be a memorial for those lost souls, gone from this life, but who are forever cherished in our memories.” Even so, I think you’ll find a lot of resilience in this music.
Along the way, we’ll also hear works by Fauré and Aaron Copland. David Osenberg will include further 9/11 reflections as part of his programming, later in the day.
The afternoon will begin with a Noontime Concert, brought to us from indomitable New York by Gotham Early Music Scene, or GEMS. The duo Hollingshead & Bass (mezzo-soprano Barbara Hollingshead and lutenist Howard Bass) will present “Time, Cruell Time!” Selections by John Dowland and his contemporaries will be performed as sets organized into subcategories such as “Passing Time,” “Crabbed Age and Youth,” “ Earthly Folly,” and “Time and the Court.” The program took place on January 11 at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 50th Street and Park Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan.
GEMS is a non-profit corporation that supports and promotes artists and organizations in New York City devoted to early music – music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical periods. For more information about St. Bart’s free lunchtime concerts, presented on Thursdays at 1:15 p.m., and other GEMS’ events, look online at gemsny.org.
Experience the music, remember the past, and give thanks for the present, this afternoon, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
