{"id":2124,"date":"2009-03-12T16:51:07","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T23:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=2124"},"modified":"2009-03-12T16:51:07","modified_gmt":"2009-03-12T23:51:07","slug":"mr-svobodas-new-opus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/12\/mr-svobodas-new-opus\/","title":{"rendered":"mr svoboda’s new opus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"svoboda-3x3\"<\/a>
\nTomas Svoboda<\/em><\/p>\n

Tomas Svoboda’s new opus is opus 197, to be exact: Vortex for Orchestra<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s quite a piece, very elegantly crafted, full of energy and vibrant textures, and it’s really something of a concerto for orchestra.\u00c2\u00a0 Tomas Svoboda is clearly at the height of his powers these days (was he ever anything but thus?) and Vortex<\/em> is something of a magnum opus for him, I think.\u00c2\u00a0 Having had the experience of recording his Overture for a Season<\/em>, Symphony No.1<\/em> and the Marimba Concerto<\/em> with James DePriest, as well as performing his String Quartet No.2<\/em>, it’s clear that his musical style is continuing to evolve and grow in both intensity and depth.<\/p>\n

The basic form of the piece seems to be based more on tempo relationships than on thematic materials, though there is a good deal of development of the themes that Svoboda presents. After an opening Allegro<\/em> in 6\/8 time, which feels somewhere between a barcarolle and a tarantella to me, features slithering eighth notes, most strikingly in the horns, which then percolate through the strings, fading out to reveal a striking Lento recitativo<\/em> for solo cello.\u00c2\u00a0 This section then leads to a scherzo-like Allegro that features five-note mottos that pitter patter through the strings, and then in a stunningly effective passage for the two flutes.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about this time that one realizes that the threads of the initial 6\/8 motives are being interwoven with the scherzo elements, and gradually the slithering grows more and more aggressive in the lower strings, then fading and gaining speed at the same time, leading into a high marimba note which opens the ensuing Andante<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 Here Svoboda starts to use the basic element of a carefully controlled accelerando, moving from a quarter-note pulse, to half-notes, to whole-notes, which then become quarter-notes once again.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a very effective (but difficult to achieve) method of building momentum in a very precisely controlled way, and it demands as much virtuosity and control from the conductor as from the orchestra.\u00c2\u00a0 The final coda is a series of 14 of these evolutions (vortices, if one permits) that lead to a devastating and powerful ending with the percussion and brass.\u00c2\u00a0 What a great piece!<\/p>\n

I sincerely hope that you come down to the Schnitz for this great concert, which is really going to be a highlight of the season.\u00c2\u00a0 From the autumnal, burnished tones of Brahms’ Third Symphony, to the spectacular pianism of Freddy Kempf and Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, to this world premiere from the dean of Northwest composers, Tomas Svoboda, it will be a brilliant evening.<\/p>\n

Tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomas Svoboda Tomas Svoboda’s new opus is opus 197, to be exact: Vortex for Orchestra.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s quite a piece, very elegantly crafted, full of energy and vibrant textures, and it’s really something of a concerto for orchestra.\u00c2\u00a0 Tomas Svoboda is clearly at the height of his powers these days (was he ever anything but thus?) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,167,183,115,269,1189,61,2],"tags":[3668,53,1341,1444],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-composition","category-contemporary","category-music","category-new-music","category-northwest","category-oregon","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-piano","tag-tomas-svoboda","tag-vortex-for-orchestra-op-197"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-yg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2152,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/15\/surviving-the-first-rehearsal\/","url_meta":{"origin":2124,"position":0},"title":"“surviving the first rehearsal”","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I spotted this YouTube clip featuring John Adams talking about the world premiere of his work Slonimsky's Earbox with the Hall\u00c3\u00a9 Orchestra (the Oregon Symphony played the US premiere), and it struck me that said that the hardest part about being a composer was surviving the first rehearsal of one's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2260,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/27\/svoboda-talks-about-vortex\/","url_meta":{"origin":2124,"position":1},"title":"svoboda talks about vortex","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From the Oregonian: see video after the jump: Notes of protest swirl in angry 'Vortex'","rel":"","context":"In "composition"","block_context":{"text":"composition","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/composition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2157,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/16\/vortex\/","url_meta":{"origin":2124,"position":2},"title":"vortex","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo: Mike Lloyd\/The Oregonian We've done the first two performances of Tomas Svoboda's Vortex for Orchestra, and the final performance is tonight.\u00c2\u00a0 It's a piece which seems to be growing in power and depth with each time we perform it.\u00c2\u00a0 It needs to be recorded by our orchestra. Tomas is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tomas Svoboda after the world premiere of his 'Vortex for Orchestra'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d439df2cf9325c2dfdfb6a37e26f3b5c-399x260.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12553,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/24\/calendar-update-svoboda-classical-up-close\/","url_meta":{"origin":2124,"position":3},"title":"calendar update: svoboda & classical up close","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've added a few new listings to the event calendar that you should definitely check out. World premiere of Tomas Svoboda's Clarinet Concerto with the Eugene Symphony - this may be the last premiere of a new work by the dean of Oregon's living composers. Eugene Symphony principal clarinet Michael\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2202,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/20\/more-vortex-response\/","url_meta":{"origin":2124,"position":4},"title":"more vortex response","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Brett Campbell writes enthusiastically about the recent Oregon Symphony premiere performances of Tomas Svoboda's Vortex for Orchestra, as well as the rest of the concert.\u00c2\u00a0 It's a nice, tight review, well-written and very nice to see in the pages (web) of the Willamette Week. The major local work premiered last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2162,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/17\/behind-the-scenes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2124,"position":5},"title":"behind the scenes","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I bought a new ultra-compact camera last week, and thought it might be nice to bring it to work last night to give a behind-the-scenes look at the goings on before and after an Oregon Symphony performance.\u00c2\u00a0 So, without further ado... Here's the viola nook - the area behind and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "photography"","block_context":{"text":"photography","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/photography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"the viola nook","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/img_0071-200x266.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}