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US Premiere of Thomas Adès’s Totentanz with the New York Philharmonic

Mar. 04, 2015

US Premiere of Thomas Adès’s <em>Totentanz</em> with the New York Philharmonic

On March 12, 13, and 14, the New York Philharmonic presents the US premiere of Thomas Adès's Totentanz, for soprano, baritone, and orchestra. The composer conducts the orchestra with mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn and baritone Mark Stone as soloists. The work, which premiered to great acclaim at the 2013 BBC Proms Festival, has been regarded as a ‘cultural event of the first magnitude’ (The Telegraph).

Based on a 15th-century German frieze, Totentanz details the procession of death through all classes of society, from the Pope to the peasantry. The baritone voice personifies the gleeful Grim Reaper, while the mezzo voice embodies his unfortunate victims. The two characterizations intertwine with the massive orchestral forces in a dance that is as darkly humorous as it is macabre, utilizing a colorful variety of whistles, ratchets, animal bones, and a large Taiko drum.

Totentanz represents a culmination of Adès's compositions dealing with death, and places him in a long lineage of composers who have contributed to the subject including Berlioz, Liszt, Mussorgsky, and Schubert. The work acknowledges this tradition while pushing it forward with Adès’s unique rhythmic and harmonic language, resulting in a musical drama of epic proportions.

For more information on Thomas Adès, visit fabermusic.com.

For tickets and information, visit nyphil.org.

Thomas Adès
Totentanz (2013)
for mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra
3.3.3.3-4.3.2.btbn.cbtba-timp-6/8perc-hp-pno(cel)-str
40’

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