Two old cronies are brought together again, if only in my newspaper article.
Composer Robert Moran enlisted Philip Glass to be one of 25 composers to participate in “The Waltz Project” in the late 1970s. The project was documented on an album released by Nonesuch Records in 1981.
In 1985, the two collaborated on an opera, “The Juniper Tree,” after a tale by the Brothers Grimm (and a very grim one at that), the composers divvying up its four acts between them. In the meantime, Moran set about arranging 21 variations, for various combinations of instruments, on Glass’ “Modern Love Waltz,” which have also been recorded.
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Glass’ “Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra” will open the New Jersey Capital Philharmonic Orchestra season, at the Trenton War Memorial. The soloists will be Jonathan Haas (for whom Glass wrote the work) and William Trigg (who has performed with the Philip Glass Ensemble). Also on the program will be Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
By coincidence, on Saturday morning, from 10:00 to 1:00, Moran will preside over a workshop hosted by Westminster Conservatory Honors Music Program. The composer will lead the HMP community on a freewheeling journey through his creative process, seasoned with personal anecdotes, audio and video illustrations, advice to young composers, and what promises to be lively discussion, offered up in a kind of master class setting.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at Hillman Performance Hall, The Marion Buckelew Cullen Center, at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton. Refreshments will be provided.
Moran studied with Hans Erich Apostel in Vienna and then with Darius Milhaud and Luciano Berio at Mills College. He gained notoriety in the late 1960s and early ‘70s through a series of performance pieces incorporating entire cities, including San Francisco, Bethlehem, Pa. and Graz, Austria. These involved tens of thousands of performers.
His many stage works include “Desert of Roses,” written for Houston Grand Opera, and, in 2011, “Alice” composed for the Scottish Ballet.
For the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he was commissioned to write a work for the youth chorus of Trinity Wall Street, the so-called “Ground Zero” church in Lower Manhattan. “Trinity Requiem,” scored for children’s chorus, four cellos, harp and organ, offers a similar brand of solace to that conjured in the 19th century masterwork by Gabriel Fauré.
With Robert Moran, you never know what you’re going to get. In his more puckish moments, he might write for harpsichord and electric frying pan. But then there are times when his natural gift for lyricism will melt your heart.
Read more about it in my article in today’s Trenton Times:
http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2015/10/classical_music_njcp_opening_s.html
