Rejoice
Courtney Bryan (b. 1982)

THE STORY

In 2023, pianist and composer Courtney Bryan was awarded a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation. Growing up in New Orleans, Bryan was introduced to orchestral music by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). It was only fitting that after her studies, she earned a commission from the LPO for an orchestral work. Rejoice (2019) was inspired by a passage from Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippian church from the New Testament:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4–7, NRSV)

Bryan’s music brings elements of jazz, experimental music, and sacred music into dialogue with classical technique. Rejoice gradually evolves from silence into a sustained mass of sound, decorated by melodic fragments in the harp, piano, and high strings. Using a rich harmonic palette and vibrant orchestration, Bryan develops the sonic texture toward two main points of culmination which suggest an air of celebratory thanksgiving—musical expressions of incomprehensible peace and exhortations to rejoice.

LISTEN FOR

• The tremolo strings that open the work, which are barely audible at first but grow to command the texture
• The use of “blue” notes, derived from the blues scale and thus creating a distinctive nod to jazz
• The effects Bryan achieves through a constantly changing instrumental texture—these fragments ebb and flow seamlessly with the overall sustained background texture, creating multiple sonic dimensions

INSTRUMENTATION

Piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, strings