Program Notes: Hindoyan and Rieppel

AN INDISPENSABLE PORT—AND AN EMINENT COMPOSER

Located at the confluence of the Elizabeth River and the Chesapeake Bay, Norfolk’s port and naval infrastructure proved indispensable during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, to such an extent that Norfolk became a sought-after military target. In 1917, after over a century of social and political expansion, the great Naval Station Norfolk was completed, and remains to this day the world’s largest naval base.

Norfolk itself—located relatively close to the nation’s capital—has a diverse population with significant representations of White, Black and Indigenous Americans, as well as Pacific Islanders and Asian, Hispanic and Latin Americans, mixed and multi-racial citizens and more. When Hailstork settled in this area in the late 1970s to teach at Norfolk State College, this culturally rich and vibrant destination must have attracted him enough to stay. He still resides in the area, recently retiring after a lengthy and distinguished professorship at Old Dominion University.

Hailstork’s musical background includes studies in violin, piano, organ and voice. While growing up, he was part of the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys at the Cathedral of All Saints, an Episcopalian cathedral in Albany, New York. Here he developed an organic relationship with melody. Early in his career, he forged a link with the Minnesota Orchestra. In 1975, he attended a Black Music Symposium in Minneapolis, where the late Paul Freeman held a reading of new works. One of these was Hailstork’s Celebration!, which Freeman later programmed for the Minnesota Orchestra’s final symposium concert.

THE OVERTURE IN BRIEF

About a decade later, Hailstork was approached by the Virginia Symphony’s conductor, Richard Williams, who sought permission to program Celebration! with his ensemble. Hailstork instead volunteered to compose a new work tailored for the occasion and honoring the orchestra’s home city. His orchestrational prowess shines in the resulting piece, An American Port of Call.

The music begins with a power and strength that befits Norfolk’s massive port. Hailstork’s reverberant, fast-paced gestures underscore a clear, bold theme that is present throughout the work. Three-quarters of the way through, Hailstork spotlights a more serene characteristic of the port, perhaps a romantic, moonlit moment that proves the state’s infamous travel slogan, “Virginia is for lovers.” The sun then rises again, and the music returns to its restless, relentless energy for a rousing final statement.

Of particular note in this overture is its brilliant solo moments for the clarinet, which recall William Grant Still’s brilliance (to which Gershwin turned in his Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, among other works). An American Port of Call is an electrifying contribution to the American orchestral repertoire, and its power has inspired transcriptions, including a meticulous wind symphony adaptation by Pershuana Johnson.

Instrumentation: 3 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons (1 doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, cymbals, suspended cymbal, small gong, medium gong, large tam-tam, triangle, whip, wood block, xylophone, glockenspiel, piano and strings

PROGRAM NOTE BY ANTHONY R. GREEN.

A TRIBUTE TO THE SOLOIST

The concerto is centered around the word “soto.” This is a direct tribute to Soto, referencing his last name while honoring both musicians’ heritages. For Akiho, soto translates to “outside” in Japanese, while in Spanish the word means “grove,” reflecting the soloist’s roots. Across three movements whose titles echo this linguistic thread, the concerto explores the timpani’s sonic possibilities while gradually overturning its conventional role within the orchestra.

SOTOGAWA. The opening movement, Sotogawa (“outer river” or “outside”), explores the outer edges of the timpani’s sound world. Using specially prepared drumheads that not only dampen the sound but also slightly lower the pitch of each drum, the soloist produces a range of effects—stick shots, rim knocks, glissandi and rapid muting gestures that create the illusion of pitch bending. As the movement unfolds, the preparations are gradually removed, revealing the timpani’s natural resonance and opening the door to the warmer, more lyrical sound of the second movement.

SOTTO VOCE. The second movement, Sotto Voce (“under the voice”), transforms the timpani into a singing instrument. Its gently flowing melodic line, originally conceived by Akiho on a steel pan, unfolds as a cantabile bass voice beneath the orchestra. A calm sonic center is established by a meditative G heard in the hand chime, Thai nipple gong and vibraphone, while a simple rising idea in the clarinet spreads through the orchestra in canon. The movement closes with a beautifully interwoven duet between the trombone and muted trumpet, maintaining the intimate, inward character suggested by the title.

SOTTOSOPRA. The finale, Sottosopra (“upside down”), turns the orchestra-soloist relationship on its head. Instead of supporting the orchestra from below, the timpani leads with a compelling melodic groove while the orchestra provides the harmonic frame. The movement builds from earthy textures into a driving rhythmic pattern in five, while its various sections are linked through seamless metric modulations. Along the way, Akiho expands the orchestra’s palette with metallic and industrial sonorities—including bell tones inspired by Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra, as well as the Mahler box, metal chain and other resonant objects that interact with the ringing copper bowls of the timpani. The concerto drives to a thrilling close, culminating in a dramatic, antiphonal triangle of sound ricocheting across the orchestra. By the end, Akiho has fully inverted expectations: the timpani—so often the orchestra’s rhythmic anchor—emerges as a flexible, melodic and expressive voice at its center.

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Andy Akiho has drawn wide acclaim for his works that often emphasize theatricality. He was a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist and has received seven Grammy nominations, and his works have been commissioned by ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Symphony. His recent works include a concerto for cellist Jeffrey Zeigler; Sculptures, a work for the Omaha Symphony that garnered three Grammy nominations; and BeLonging, a collaboration with Imani Winds that earned two Grammy nods. Last season he was the Oregon Symphony’s composer in residence.

Before beginning to compose in his late 20s, Akiho first made a musical living as a performer of the steel pan, playing by ear in Trinidad and New York City. He has performed and recorded his steel pan compositions extensively, playing with the Imani Winds and on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series, among other outlets. This week marks the first time the Minnesota Orchestra has performed his music, a new relationship listeners can hope will flourish in the years ahead.

Instrumentation: solo timpani (5 timpani, prepared drumheads, hanging timpani bowl and mounted kick drum) with orchestra comprising 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, snare drum, bass drum, brake drum, large church bell, hand chime, large concert tom, Mahler box, marching machine, metal chain, metal pipes, 5 metal plates, propane tank, spring coil, Thai nipple gong, vibraphone and strings

PROGRAM NOTE BY YUN-CHEN CHOU.

THE MUSIC: A CYCLICAL SYMPHONY

LENTO–ALLEGRO NON TROPPO. In this symphony, Franck treats the themes cyclically: ideas introduced in one movement return in different forms throughout the work. The first movement opens with a slow introduction based on a three-note figure quite similar to the melodic cell that opens Liszt’s Les Préludes; at the Allegro non troppo, this three-note figure, stamped out furiously, becomes the movement’s main theme. The second idea of this sonata-form movement is introduced fortissimo by both violin sections; sharply syncopated, it revolves around a constantly repeating A. The dramatic development leads to a close that treats the opening three-note figure canonically, building to a climax of apocalyptic fury.

ALLEGRETTO. By contrast, the second movement breathes radiant calm. A brief introduction, played entirely by plucked strings, leads to the famous English horn theme that so outraged early academics, though this cantabile melody is so lovely that it is hard to see how it could fail to charm anyone who hears it. The structure of this movement is particularly ingenious, for Franck combines both slow movement and scherzo. Muted strings suddenly rush ahead on triplet rhythms, and at the climax Franck deftly combines the English horn theme with the scherzo theme.

ALLEGRO NON TROPPO. The finale explodes to life with a brief (and violent) introduction, quickly followed by the flowing main theme in the cellos. This movement too plays out to a climax of tremendous power, and its final moments are especially impressive for Franck’s imaginative recall of earlier themes. The gentle English horn melody of the second movement is now stamped out heroically by full orchestra, and then the themes of the first movement reappear very quietly and subtly. The heroic ending, full of ringing full-orchestra sonorities, is built on a canonic extension of the finale’s main theme, and the symphony thunders to a roof-shaking close.

Franck was reportedly one of the saintliest human beings who ever lived, and the storm of criticism that greeted the premiere—about 20 months before his death—did not bother him in the least. He is said to have arrived home after the premiere and said quietly and simply to his wife Félicité that the symphony had “sounded just as I thought it would.”

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, harp and strings

EXCERPTED FROM A PROGRAM NOTE BY ERIC BROMBERGER.