In a brilliant stroke of programming, San Juan Symphony will open its 40th season with two musical journeys. Ottorino Respighi’s glorious “The Pines of Rome” will partner with another evocative musical travelogue: William Stowman’s “San Juan Sketches for Orchestra and Trumpet Ensemble.” It’s a brand-new piece, commissioned by the Symphony, and music lovers this weekend in Durango and Farmington will attend the first performances.
If you go
WHAT: San Juan Symphony, Thomas Heuser, conductor. Opening program 40th season.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Durango; 3 p.m. Sunday in Farmington.
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Durango, and Henderson Performing Arts Center, Farmington.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.sanjuansymphony.org or call 382-9753.
“This will be a historic world premiere,” Thomas Heuser said recently. Artistic director and conductor of the Symphony, Heuser chose the Stowman-Respighi program to begin the 40th anniversary season “and my 10th as your music director.
“Respighi’s ‘Pines of Rome’ fits beautifully with the new piece of music, and together they will create a musical experience that borders on the cinematic,” he said. “Both pieces take us through different scenes with the moods of those places captured in the music. Respighi takes us from bustling playgrounds to eerie catacombs with each depiction of time and place captured expertly in the orchestra.
“Because ‘Pines of Rome’ is such a celebration for the orchestra and the brass instruments in particular, it seemed fitting to tackle this formidable masterpiece while hosting six of the finest trumpet players in the country,” Heuser said.
Stowman is a member of Tromba Mundi, a premiere brass ensemble that formed in 2007 and now has five recordings. The group performs with orchestras all over the world, and each player is affiliated with an American music faculty.
His new work, “San Juan Sketches,” consists of five sections and will be played as per the composer’s instructions straight through, without pause. The Prologue, “Sunrise on the San Juan Mountains,” evokes dawn. Section Two may conjure memories of traveling north up the valley to Silverton. Section Three suggests something more plaintive: “Ballad for the Animas River.” Section Four pays tribute to the “Ancient Voices of the Aztec Ruins,” and the concluding section may well evoke “The Land of Enchantment.”
“Stowman’s ‘Sketches’ aim to speak directly to our Four Corners audiences in Durango and Farmington,” Heuser said.
Performed by the orchestra with the full trumpet ensemble, the work may well feature one of the most haunting musical experiences in any concert hall – the sound of an off-stage trumpet – or trumpets.
During the peak of the fall color season, this particular program couldn’t have been better chosen. Music about “place,” especially the beauty of rivers, mountains or valleys or the breathtaking wonder of Rome and environs, may be the perfect way to launch a 40th season of great music.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
