PROGRAM NOTES Thursday, June 30 TAKÁCS QUARTET PLAYS JOHN ADAMS’ ABSOLUTE JEST CONDUCTOR: Peter Oundjian GUEST ARTISTS: Takács Quartet, artists-inresidence Carlos Simon, Fate Now Conquers (2020) John Adams, Absolute Jest (2012) — ˇ Antonín Dvorák , Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 (“From the New World”) I. Adagio - Allegro molto II. Largo III. Molto vivace IV. Allegro con fuoco
| Friday, July 1
Fate Now Conquers (2020) Carlos Simon Born 1986 in Washington, D.C. The American composer Carlos Simon writes concert music for large and small ensembles as well as film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. The Philadelphia Enquirer described his music as “perfectly engaging and propulsive.” Simon received a B.A. in Music (with concentrations in piano and composition) from Morehouse College and an M.M from Georgia State University. He studied composition with Robert Tanner, Uzee Brown, TJ Anderson, and Nicktas Demos. In 2017, Simon joined the inaugural class of the Gabriela Lena Frank Academy of Music and then went on to be named a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow in 2018; he received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2021. For the 2021-2022 season, he was Composer-In-Residence at the Kennedy Center. Simon has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Washington National Opera. His work has been performed by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Hub New Music Ensemble, the Asian/American New Music Institute, the Flint Symphony, at the 2021 Ojai Festival by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and at the Hollywood Bowl by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In 2018, Carlos’ string quartet, Elegy, honoring the lives of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner, was performed at the Kennedy Center. Upcoming performances of his works include concerts by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and Sphinx Virtuosi. Simon composed Fate Now Conquers as a response to Gabriela Lena Frank’s request to write a musical response to Beethoven’s Symphonies 4,7, and 8. The piece premiered in September 2020 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting. Simon commented: “My personal process was to remind myself to just get out of the way and to not think too much. Beethoven is and was a MUSICAL GIANT! I wanted to pay homage to Beethoven but yet remain true to my artistic voice. “This is part of the intent of the piece — releasing one’s expectations and hoping for the best.” Simon has written his own program note:
The June 30 concert is sponsored by
GORDON AND GRACE GAMM
This piece was inspired by a journal entry from Ludwig van Beethoven’s notebook, written in 1815: ‘Iliad. The Twenty-Second Book But Fate now conquers; I am hers; and yet not she shall share In my renown; that life is left to every noble spirit And that some great deed shall beget that all lives shall inherit.’ Using the beautifully fluid harmonic structure of the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, I have composed musical gestures that are representative of the unpredictable ways of fate. Jolting stabs, coupled with an agitated groove with every persona. Frenzied arpeggios in the strings that morph into an ambiguous cloud of free-flowing running passages depict the uncertainty of life that hovers over us. We know that Beethoven strived to overcome many obstacles in his life and documented his aspirations to prevail, despite his ailments. Whatever the specific reason for including this particularly profound passage from the Iliad, in the end, it seems that Beethoven relinquished [himself] to fate. Fate now conquers.
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