We have nothing to judge it against, but Gomez emphasized rich textures and sonic layers that brought Muczynski’s symphony to terrific life.
Tucson Symphony Orchestra played the world premiere of Robert Muczynski’s Symphony No. 1 — 73 years after he composed it. Muczynski, who taught composition at the U of A, died in 2010 at the age of 81.
The Muczynski was bookended by the orchestra’s first-ever performance of Joan Tower’s “Sixth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman,” a triumphant celebration of women and their right to be heard; and the long-awaited return of Copland’s Symphony No. 3, which birthed his ubiquitous “Fanfare for the Common Man.”
It’s been a dozen years since the TSO last performed Copland’s No. 3, on the opening night of George Hanson’s 19th and final season as music director in September 2014. Gomez succeeded him in 2016.
Gomez emphasized the sweeping cinematic scope of Copland’s score; if you closed your eyes, you could envision the vast emptiness of endless grasslands swaying in a gentle breeze that become hurricane force through brassy blasts and heart-pounding boom boom interruptions from Principal Timpanist Alana Wiesing.
Flashes of wonderful noise melds into near pin-drop quiet from the strings. Midway into the fourth movement, Gomez teased out Copland’s iconic “Fanfare.” Little hints from the brass, a quiet tap on the tam-tam. It was as if Gomez was bracing us for that moment when the trio of trumpets play that majestic clarion call that invites the dramatic response from the timpani and bass drum punctuated by the crash of the tam-tam.
In Gomez’s hands, that thundering crash followed by the trumpet trio’s unison response and a repeat from the percussions blotted out the world around us. For those few minutes as Copland’s anthem developed and tied the loose ends of his Symphony No. 3, nothing else mattered.
Hearing “Fanfare” develop from Copland’s larger work rather than the short, standalone version more commonly performed deepens its emotional impact. The introduction in the symphony version was an anticipation of where Copland was taking us; we held our breath and waited to exhale as the theme developed, then faded only to reappear in the crashing finale.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source tucson.com ’
