News & Performances
World Premiere Recording of Karolju on Sony
American conductor David Zinman turns to the joyful sounds of the holidays with the RCA Red Seal release Karolju: Christmas Music From Rouse, Lutoslawski and Rodrigo. Featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Chorus, the recording, to be released on November 6, demonstrates Zinman's deep commitment to new music. The CD's centerpiece is Christopher Rouse's work Karolju, commissioned by Zinman during his time as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and inspired by the festive season. Witold Lutoslawski's Polish Christmas Carols and Joaquin Rodrigo's Retablo de Navidad round out the recording. The CD is 17 years in the making: "The idea to record Christmas music of Rouse, Lutoslawski and Rodrigo came to me not long after I had done the first performances of the Rouse in 1991," writes Zinman in the recording's liner notes. "Not that there wasn't enough holiday music on the market — every record company brings out at least two to three Christmas records each yuletide — but truly contemporary settings of carols are comparatively rare, and the uniqueness of Karolju spurred me on." The Grammy®-winning American composer's work struck an immediate chord with audiences. In Zinman's words, "After Karolju's first performances a strange phenomenon began to manifest itself. I began to receive hundreds of letters from audience members asking where they might be able to get a recording of Karolju. We had indeed made a recording for our radio broadcast series, but the rules of the Musicians Union prevented it's dissemination. Later, when Karolju was broadcast and then re-broadcast, many, many more fans wrote to ask if there was a commercial recording available. I asked the recording contacts I had at the time if they had any interest in recording Karolju. They all turned me down. Either they couldn't find the money, or they didn't think it was commercially viable. I began to despair. Fast forward 17 years... Perhaps patience is truly a virtue. My dream of recording Karolju has become a reality." The work was influenced by several elements. As the Baltimore-based Rouse describes it, "Two paths led to the composition of Karolju. The first was the great body of Christmas carols written over the centuries, a collection I value as highly for its spiritual meaning as for its glorious music. The second was Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, which made an unforgettable impression upon me when I first heard it in March of 1963. "In the early 1980s, I conceived of a plan to compose a collection of Christmas carols couched in an overall form similar to that of Carmina Burana, but it was not until 1989, when the work was commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, that I was able to begin serious work on it, though I had composed several of the carols in my mind over the preceding years... I decided to compose my own texts in a variety of languages (Latin, Swedish, French, Spanish, Russian, Czech, German, and Italian) which, although making reference to words and phrases appropriate to the Christmas season, would not be intelligibly translatable as complete entities. It was rather my intent to match the sound of the language to the musical style of the carol to which it was applied. I resultantly selected words often more for the quality of their sound and the extent to which such sound typified the language of their origin than for their cognitive "meaning" per se... I hope Karolju will help instill in listeners the same special joy which I feel for the season it celebrates." Other upcoming releases of Christopher Rouse works on CD include his first symphony, clarinet concerto, and Iscariot on BIS; Wolf Rounds on Naxos; and his two string quartets, and Compline on Koch.
World Premiere of Wolf Rounds at Carnegie Hall The University of Miami's Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music will present the world premiere of Christopher Rouse's Wolf Rounds, performed by The Frost Wind Ensemble, Gary Green, Conductor, on Thursday March 29, 2007 at 8 PM at the Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall in New York City. Wolf Rounds, a tour de force for winds, was commissioned by the Abraham Frost Commission Series which supports the school's ongoing commitment to the creation of new works by today's prominent composers. For more information, visit the Frost Ensemble's website: http://www.music.miami.edu/carnegiehall/ To purchase tickets, visit Carnegie Hall's box office. Phoenix Symphony features Rouse in 2006-07 "Composer Narrative" Music Director Michael Christie and the Phoenix Symphony are introducing a unifying thread throughout the 2006-07 Classics Series in the form of Composer Narratives. The Composer Narratives feature a special focus on the lives and music of three composers — Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Christopher Rouse. The works of Christopher Rouse that will be performed include his Symphony No. 2, Rapture, Iscariot and Concerto for Flute and Orchestra. For tickets and more information, visit the Phoenix Symphony's website: http://www.phoenixsymphony.org Los Angeles Master Chorale to debut Rouse's Requiem The Los Angeles Times' Chris Pasles reports that "the world premiere of a requiem by Pulitzer Prize-winner Christopher Rouse...will highlight the Los Angeles Master Chorale's 2006-07 season, which was announced Tuesday." Rouse's Requiem will be performed March 25, 2007, with baritone Sanford Sylvan, the Los Angeles Children's Chorus and the Master Chorale Orchestra. For tickets and more information, visit the Master Chorale's website: http://www.lamc.org/concerts/0607/070325_awaken.cfm PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER PRAISES ROUSE'S FLUTE CONCERTO Philadelphia Inquirer music critic David Patrick Stearns reviewed the March 2 performance of Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto by the Philadelphia Orchestra, noting that the "Time is right for the truth of [Rouse's] 'Flute Concerto'." Stearns writes "New symphonies and concertos have a way of going into hibernation shortly after being born: Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto, for one, was reasonably interesting as it came and went over its initial round of performances in the mid-1990s. Now, it returns in an era that needs it. The Philadelphia Orchestra premiere on Thursday at the Kimmel Center seemed made for this year, this month, this moment." "Now out of the prosperous 1990s and into an era of threatened civil war in Iraq and plummeting corporate ethics, Rouse's concerto is an island of truth." "Ten years ago, Philadelphia's conservative public might have resisted it. But Thursday's audience was visibly altered by this encapsulation of humanity's extremes of cruelty and kindness." To read the entire article from the March 4, 2006 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, click here. ROUSE'S ONDINE CD NAMED ON NEW YORK TIMES' BEST CLASSICAL CDs OF 2004 LIST December 12, 2004 — The New York Times named Christopher Rouse's recent Ondine CD, containing world premiere recordings of Der gerettete Alberich, Rapture, and Violin Concerto, as one of its Best Classical CDs of 2004. Allan Kozinn's August 2004 review extolls that "part of what makes Christopher Rouse's music so much fun is that beneath its veneer of fluid gestures and brilliant orchestration lies a subversive and sometimes perverse sense of humor." Kozinn continues that "[Der gerettete Alberich] exploits [percussionist Evelyn Glennie's] ability to produce not only a torrential noise but a percussion line that seems almost to sing...Its dark, gentle string writing and pitched percussion line suggest inner reflection if not regret. Not that this self-examination lasts long. The finale, opening with the Zeppelin quotation, is an unbridled dance of triumph...Mr. Rouse's Violin Concerto [is] a more conventionally neo-Romantic work...a graceful but sturdy barcarole." Rouse shares honors on the list with such composers as Beethoven, Bach, Davies, Ives, Mahler, Messiaen, Mozart, Schubert, and Theodorakis. Rouse's CD is getting attention on other annual lists, as well: Jim Svedja of Los Angeles's KUSC-Classical FM named the Ondine recording on his 2004 Guide to Gift Recordings. Click here for the entire list. CHRISTOPHER ROUSE NAMED PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA'S 2004-5 COMPOSER OF THE YEAR For only the fourth time in its history, the Pittsburgh Symphony has designated a living composer to be the Orchestra's Composer of the Year. For the 2004-05 season Christopher Rouse, one of America's most prominent composers of orchestral music, has been selected. During the course of the concert season, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will perform several works by Rouse, who will be in Pittsburgh for the performances and to participate in various educational activities, with a special focus on young composers. Rouse's works have won a Pulitzer Prize (Trombone Concerto) and a Grammy Award (Concert de Gaudi), the latter of which Pittsburgh audiences will hear May 6 and 8. Rouse is not a stranger to Pittsburgh audiences. The Pittsburgh Symphony commissioned and performed the World Premiere of Rapture in 2000, and presented the work again in 2002. Prior to that, under Leonard Slatkin in 1983, the Orchestra performed The Infernal Machine, which was again performed under Mariss Jansons in 1999. During the 2000-01 season, the Orchestra performed his Der gerettete Alberich and during 2001-02, Seeing. Pittsburgh will perform Rouse's Phaethon in September, one of several of the composer's scores inspired by mythology. Two Rouse works stand out in December when David Zinman conducts the Orchestra in The Nevill Feast, which takes its title from the enormous and elaborate feasts mounted in England during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and his Symphony No. 2, historically earning praise with each performance. For more information, visit The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's website. CHRISTOPHER ROUSE WINS GRAMMY FOR CONCERT DE GAUDI FOR GUITAR & ORCHESTRA
The award was announced at the 44th annual Grammy Awards on February 27, 2002 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in a televised ceremony broadcast to over 1.7 billion viewers in 175 countries. ROUSE ELECTED TO THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS One of Nine Artists, Writers, and Composers Honored Artists Richard Artschwager, Leon Golub, and Catherine Murphy; the writers Richard Hass, Romulus Linney, George Plimpton, and Edward Said; and the composers Christopher Rouse and Joseph Schwantner have been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. John Hollander, Secretary of the Academy, who made the announcement on March 6, will induct the new members at the Academy's annual Cememonial on May 15. Members are elected annually to fill vacancies in the Academy's membership of 250 American artists, architects, writers, and composers. Nominations made by members are first submitted for vote by department (Art, Literature, Music). The names of candidates who receive the highest number of votes from the members in their discipline are then placed on a ballot that is sent to the entire membership. The honor of election is considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in this country. The Academy was founded in 1898 to "foster, assist, and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts." Each year, the Academy honors over 50 artists, architects, writers, and composers (who are not members) with cash awards. The amounts of these prizes range from $2500 to $75,000. Other activities of the Academy are exhibitions of painting , sculpture, architecture, and menuscripts; publications about the Academy's history and events; and, through the Richard Rogers Awards, reading and performances of new musicals. The American Academy of Arts and Letters is located in two landmark New York buildings, designed by McKim, Mead & White and by Cass Gilbert, on Audubon Terrace at 155th Street and Broadway. |
DAVID ZINMAN, THE BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & PHILHARMONIA CHORUS CELEBRATE THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS WITH THE WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING OF CHRISTOPHER ROUSE'S KAROLJU — RELEASE DATE NOVEMBER 6, 2007
Christopher Rouse won a Grammy Award for 'Best Classical Contemporary Composition' from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences for his 'Concert de Gaudi for Guitar & Orchestra' written for and performed by Home | Biography | Performances | Works | Recordings | Contacts | Program Notes