September 28, 2025 at 2pm, MassBay Community College, Wellesley
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Margaret Brouwer (1940 - ) Path at Sunrise, Masses of Flowers
In celebration of their 75th anniversary, the Cleveland Women’s Symphony, with funding from the 2009 Commissioning Music/USA Award from Meet the Composer, commissioned Margaret Brouwer to mark the occasion. The Michigan-born composer is recognized as one of the important voices in contemporary classical music. The New York Times has described her music as “inhabiting its own peculiarly bewitching harmonic world,” a quality clearly heard in the commissioned work and today’s concert opener, Path at Sunrise, Masses of Flowers. The piece is an eight-minute, one-movement work that, as Daniel Hathaway of ClevelandClassical observed, “leaves colorful sounds ringing in the ears.” Brouwer has offered her own guidance to listeners: "Visualize walking down a path in the quiet of early morning at sunrise. The sun gradually rises on masses of flowers planted closely - jumbled together in a profusion of vibrant and delicate colors and myriad textures. Picture walking through this beauty with a mix of personal emotions - sadness - acceptance - gratitude - and appreciation for the beauty of the flowers and the sun." Brower's resume boasts numerous awards (American Academy of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, and Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center), performances across the world by symphonies (Detroit, Dallas, Royal Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Poznan Philharmonic), and educational positions in composition at prestigious institutions (Head of the Composition Department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, and Charles Ives Center for American Music).
Alan Hovhaness (1911 - 2000) Symphony No. 1, Exile
Among the many cultures that have contributed to Boston’s multicultural landscape is the Armenian community. Alan Hovhaness, the second composer on this afternoon’s program, embodies both that heritage and the long tradition of Western classical music in Boston. Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, his father, Alan Vaness Chakmakjian, was a chemistry professor at Tufts University, and his mother, Madeline Scott, graduated from Wellesley College. Obsessed with music at a very young age, Hovhaness began composing as early as the age of four; his first composition was said to have been inspired by a Franz Schubert song. Despite his parents' concerns over the precarity of music as a vocation, his interests persisted, and he began studying composition seriously, first at Tufts University and then at the New England Conservatory. While immersing himself in the study of Western classical music, he never forgot his Armenian roots. Across his prolific output of hundreds of works, one hears the influence of Armenian folk melodies (Armenian Rhapsody No. 1), distinctive Armenian modes and rhythms (Concerto No. 7 “Ughlu”), and depictions of Armenian culture, dance, and figures (Lady of Light). This influence is especially evident in his First Symphony, the Exile Symphony. The piece is dedicated to the memory of the thousands of Armenians who perished during the Ottoman Turkish occupation in World War I, including his own grandparents. On December 6, 1942, at the age of 31, Hovhaness’s symphony, a sonic memorial to his Armenian ancestry, premiered in the United States by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leopold Stokowski.
Dimitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975) - Symphony No. 5
On November 21, 1937, the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra performed Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D minor. What ensued at the conclusion of the performance was an eruption of applause that was said to have lasted around 30 minutes. This was no ordinary performance, not only due to the overwhelmingly positive response from the crowd, but it also marked Shostakovich's return to the good graces of the oppressive Soviet government. Less than a year earlier, he had withdrawn his Fourth Symphony, widely believed to be the result of political pressure in a repressive climate. Despite the symphony's appeal to both the public and the authorities, it was still met with suspicion. Two officials doubted the sincerity of the ovation, even suggesting that the audience had been filled with planted supporters of Shostakovich. Yet, despite such suspicions, Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony has endured as one of his most celebrated and frequently performed works. It was only years later, free from the dogmatic scrutiny of the Soviet regime, that its deeper statement came to light. Musical quotation is the vital clue to Shostakovich's musical puzzle. In the last movement, Shostakovich quotes his earlier work "Vozrozhdeniye," a setting of "Rebirth" by the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, conveying a message about artistic autonomy in the face of political repression. At the time of writing that poem, Pushkin himself was grappling with exile and censorship at the hands of the authorities. Audiences familiar with the musical connotation could read Shostakovich’s hidden message. Throughout the four-movement work, various motifs appear and repeat in various forms. Of note is the opening melody played by the first violins. Shostakovich offers fifteen variations in both the first and third movements. One of the most climactic moments of the symphony occurs in the fourth and final movement. Evolving out of a slow funeral dirge in D minor is a modulation to a bright and uplifting D major. Given the symphony's hidden meaning, perhaps this is Shostakovich's declaration that, in spite of oppressive regimes, art will triumphantly prevail. Yet the true significance of this ending continues to spark fierce debate among music historians and analysts.
James Heazlewood-Dale
