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A Deep Dive Into the Music with Bernard Rands on the New England Philharmonic's "Listening In" Series

Mar. 01, 2021

On March 21, Bernard Rands joins Eric Nathan, the New England Philharmonic's composer-in-residence, and concertmaster Danielle Maddon for the next installment of the New England Philharmonic's "Listening In" Series. During this session, the trio will explore Movements I and XII from Bernard Rands's Canti d'Amor, an excerpt fromMusic for Shoko: Aubade, and Movement II: 'Aubade' from the Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra. The event will be streamed live on YouTube at 7:00 EST and will include audio excerpts accompanied by corresponding excerpts from the full scores of these works.


(The New England Philharmonic Presents: Listening In: Composer Bernard Rands)

Bernard Rands's Canti d'Amor is a collection of fifteen brief love madrigals for a cappella chorus using poems from James Joyce’s Chamber Music. The madrigals are grouped in three sets of five and, in keeping with Joyce’s penchant for weaving threads of musical allusion into his literary fabrics, each group is subtly informed by an Irish song. In as much as these settings qualify as madrigals, they are indebted to Monteverdi’s Canti d’Amor.


("This heart that flutters near my heart" from Canti d'Amor/Bernard Rands/Chanticleer)

Bernard Rands notes:

"Music for Shoko - Aubade is dedicated to my dear friend Shoko Suzuki in appreciation of many years of friendship and her devotion to my music. This piece is a transcription of the 'Aubade' movement from Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra originally commissioned by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in celebration of its 150th anniversary and performed in November 2015 by Robert Walters (E.H.) and The Cleveland Orchestra."


(Music for Shoko: Aubade/Bernard Rands/Robert Walters, English horn)

Bernard Rands's Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra is in three movements – ‘Fantasia’, ‘Aubade’, and ‘Hommage (à C-AD)’, the titles of which are suggestive of the mood and character of each movement. The third movement is an overt tribute and reference to Claude Debussy whose music has been a life-long influence on Bernard Rands’s musical aesthetic. Quite specifically, Debussy’s Jeux is a subtext to the music of this movement though no quotations from Debussy’s music are used. Rather, the spirit of Jeux is evoked – sometimes quite overtly and at other times rather mysteriously.


(Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra, II: Aubade/Bernard Rands/
Robert Walters, English horn/Oberlin Orchestra/Raphael Jimenez, conductor)

To learn more about Bernard Rands, visit: schott-music.com.

Bernard Rands
Canti d'Amor (1991)
after "Chamber Music"
for mixed choir (SSATTBB)
22'

Music for Shoko: Aubade (2017)
for English horn and string quartet
derived from the second movement of Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra

Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra (2015)
3(3.afl).2.3(3.bcl).2-4.3.2.btbn.1-hp-timp.3perc(I: tub bells, 2bng, tamb; II: vib, 3tom-t, 5tempbl, sm sizzle cym, med sizzle cym, sm tri; III: tam-t, mar, glsp, b.d)-str
25’


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