Martin Grubinger / Hugh Wolff / Belgian National Orchestra - NOSPR

At the turn of the 19th century, the United States became a magnet drawing musicians from around the world. The national current in American music had its sources, paradoxically, in Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 "From the New World". Aaron Copland’s works might be considered as belonging to the current. Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), the most popular of his compositions, is one intended to praise the Homo Democraticus. A new arrival to America is the Israeli Avner Dorman, composer of the Frozen in Time (2007) concerto for percussion. The title refers to imagined shutter photographs registering the changing position of three supercontinents on Earth – from times immemorial to the present day: in Indo-Africa, the Indianness is represented by rhythms and scales with marimba and cowbells, while the Africanness is represented by membranophones; in Eurasia, the northern atmosphere is evoked by the vibraphone, the glockenspiel, crotales and high-pitched strings; while various musical styles of the whole continent merge in Americas. The American Michael Torke can be recognised by influences of jazz and minimalism. The brilliant Javelin (1994) – written to celebrate the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s 50th season and the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Summer Olympics – presents the strength and energy of the human spirit. The Symphonic Dances (1940), initially planned as a ballet to be staged by the famous choreographer Mikhail Fokin in 1942, are Sergei Rachmaninoff's last work. Thanks to numerous quotations from and references to his previous works, Rachmaninoff, a long-time emigrant in the USA, created a composition resembling a symphony of three movements, which could be considered an autobiographical musical journey.

Wojciech Stępień