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Utopia Orchestra, Led by Teodor Currentzis, Premieres Jay Schwartz's Passacaglia in Berlin

Oct. 24, 2024

Utopia Orchestra, led by conductor Teodor Currentzis, premiered Jay Schwartz's Passacaglia – Music for Orchestra IX for orchestra on October 23 at the Philharmonie in Berlin. The composer, born and raised in California by German immigrants and who himself emigrated to Germany, sees himself as a "Wanderer." With this new work, Schwartz continues his orchestral series on the subject of the Wanderer, by musically commenting on the timeless issues of immigration, migration, of "outsiderdom," and the search for identity.

A passacaglia, meaning literally "to pass or cross the street,” represents a musical journey. In Passacaglia – Music for Orchestra IX, we meet the wanderer from the Schubert song, Du bist die Ruh (You are rest and peace, D 776), with text by Friedrich Rückert. Schwartz takes seven bars of Schubert's song, in which the vocal line always rises upwards ("The temple of my eyes / is lit / by your radiance alone") and sends them on a twelve-fold journey through a network of seemingly endless glissandi – continuous sliding tones, the omnipresent characteristic of Schwartz's oeuvre.

Through the ancient Greek numeric context of the seven celestial bodies and the twelve astrological signs, an earthly journey becomes something otherworldly, which Schwartz in turn sees as pointing the way into inner spiritual space, a projection into the vast expanse and freedom of the spirit.

Currentzis leads Utopia Orchestra in additional performances of Passacaglia – Music for Orchestra IX which was commissioned by Utopia Orchestra and the Schubert Projekt Fonds, from October 25-November 4 in Baden-Baden, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich, and Athens.

Listen to Theodore Currentzis and the SWR Symphonieorchester perform Jay Schwartz's Theta (2023):

Jay Schwartz/Theta/SWR Symphonieorchester/Theodore Currentzis

To learn more about Jay Schwartz, visit universaledition.com.

Jay Schwartz
Passacaglia – Music for Orchestra IX (2024)
for orchestra
4.3.3.3-6.4.3.1-perc.vnI.vnII.va.vc.cb 
25'

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