Percussion Concerto
Jennifer Higdon (b.1962)
THE STORY
The Percussion Concerto by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon was commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and was written for and dedicated to this evening’s soloist, percussionist Colin Currie. The concerto won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition and in 2019, a recording by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry as a work that is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Although Higdon’s main instrument is the flute, she also has a special history with percussion instruments, having performed as a percussionist in her high school marching band in Tennessee. For this one-movement concerto, she employs a wide spectrum of percussion sounds—both pitched and non-pitched—from bongos, to marimba, to cowbell, to a singing bowl.
The concerto often alternates between emphasizing the melodic versus the rhythmic aspects of the instruments. Higdon suggests that the pitched instruments be positioned on one side of the stage and the non-pitched instruments on the other to accentuate this effect as the soloist juggles approximately 30 instruments. Adding to the excitement, some musical decisions are left to the performer—for example, they are asked to select from a range of pitches to sound within set, notated rhythms.
Higdon shares the following about her concerto:
The 20th century saw the development of the percussion section grow as no other section in the orchestra. Both the music and the performers grew in visibility as well as in capability. And while the form of the concerto wasn’t the least bit new in the century, the appearance and growth of the percussion concerto as a genre exploded during the later half of the century.
My “Percussion Concerto” follows the normal relationship of a dialogue between soloist and orchestra. In this work, however, there is an additional relationship with the soloist interacting extensively with the percussion section. The ability of performers has grown to such an extent that it has become possible to have sections within the orchestra interact at the same level as the soloist.
When writing a concerto I think of two things: the particular soloist for whom I am writing and the nature of the solo instrument. In the case of percussion, this means a large battery of instruments, from vibraphone and marimba (the favorite instrument of soloist Colin Currie), to non-pitched smaller instruments (brake drum, wood blocks, Peking Opera gong), and to the drums themselves. Not only does a percussionist have to perfect playing all of these instruments, but he must make hundreds of decisions regarding the use of sticks and mallets, as there is an infinite variety of possibilities from which to choose. Not to mention the choreography of the movement of the player; where most performers do not have to concern themselves with movement across the stage during a performance, a percussion soloist must have every move memorized. No other instrumentalist has such a large number of variables to challenge and master.
LISTEN FOR
• The opening of the concerto with the solo marimba, Colin Currie’s favored instrument; the solo is based largely on open fifths, a signature interval in Higdon’s musical vocabulary
• A slow, lyrical section, which involves playing the crotales (small cymbals) and vibraphone with a bow—a technique Higdon attributes to her studies with George Crumb
• A cadenza introduced by the orchestral percussionists (on woodblocks and temple blocks) and then fully improvised by the soloist
• The dramatic close to the cadenza which leads back to the orchestra’s opening material, concluding the work in D major—another Higdon signature
INSTRUMENTATION
Solo percussion; three flutes, three oboes, three clarinets, three bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, celesta, strings
