All-Star Orchestra

NARRATOR: The idea was ambitious... [ Horns honking ] ...the best musicians in the United States, one momentous week in New York City, performing in this all-star orchestra exclusively for our cameras to explore the most exciting music ever written, to produce a television series... MAN: [ Snaps fingers ] NARRATOR: ...of masterpieces from music director Gerard Schwarz and for an audience of just you.

SCHWARZ: Welcome to "The All-Star Orchestra."

We're so happy you've joined us.

Today's program includes Franz Schubert's mysterious "Unfinished Symphony" and the joyful "Rounds for String Orchestra" by David Diamond.

We'll begin with a work by one of today's leading composers, Joan Tower's "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No.

6."

We're very lucky here in the United States to have so many great gifted composers.

Joan Tower, whose piece we're going to play now, the "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No.

6," is among our greatest assets, greatest composers.

She wrote a tremendous amount of wonderful music full of rhythmic vitality, full of fascinating colors and orchestration.

TOWER: I was asked to write a fanfare for the Houston Symphony for their program, and I -- that was my first.

And I said to myself, "What is a fanfare?"

Well, it's -- has something to do with trumpets, I think.

[ Laughs ] And then I thought of Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man."

Then I was talking to a friend of mine, and I said, "How about 'Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman'?"

And I was making a joke to her, and she said, "That's a really good title, actually.

It's not a bad idea."

So they're all dedicated to uncommon women.

I started thinking about women in the past.

And I thought of Abigail Adams.

She's really, I think, one of the very first feminists, in a sense.

I'm dedicating it to her.

LI: Just like, you know, the title, this piece is written for woman that takes all the risk.

KNOX: I actually premiered the piece back when I played with Baltimore Symphony, so I think it's a great piece.

MARTIN: These Joan Tower fanfares are, every one of them, I think, a gem.

They're written for various types of ensembles and different orchestrations.

There are others that are much smaller.

There's a "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman" that she wrote just for trumpet quartet, which is a really phenomenal piece.

It's one of the best pieces we have in trumpet chamber music.

They all kind of share a thread.

They all have this kind of rhythmic drive, so I'm thrilled we're doing it.

I really love her music.

PATTERSON: It's very powerful.

I like it very much.

TOWER: I find it very hard to talk about music, especially my own, because I think the music should speak for itself.

SCHWARZ: Franz Schubert was, without question, one of the greatest composers of the early part of the 19th century and, for that matter, of all time.

He was especially known for songs.

He wrote so many exquisite songs.

He wrote melodies probably as great as anyone could ever write.

But he also wrote eight symphonies.

We call number eight the "Unfinished."

So how did it happen that Schubert wrote a symphony that he didn't finish?

And what makes it unfinished?

Well, a symphony is supposed to be in three, probably four movements at that time.

And this particular work is in two movements.

Is it that he went on to other projects and forgot about it?

Is it that he thought these two movements were so exquisite, nothing else could follow it?

Is it -- Is it that he was ill at the time, that he wanted different projects, he was more interested in writing more chamber music or "The Great" last symphony, "The Great C Major Symphony"?

We don't know.

It is a mystery, but we do know that these two movements are as beautiful and poignant and expressive as any in all symphonic repertoire.

HUGHES: Schubert starts this symphony in the most remarkable way.

First, there's just the mysterious opening with the cellos and the basses for about eight bars.

And then these layers begin.

First, there's the heartbeat in the low strings.

It's like bum, bum-bum-bum-bum, bum-bum-bum-bum-bum.

And then on top of that, he has the upper strings sort of doing a nervous-sounding, agitated 16th-note passage.

And after a few bars of that, the oboe and the clarinet come in in unison, very long, haunting melody.

And it's so great to play this, just to get lost in each other's sound.

It's very rewarding.

JULIAN: Schubert's greatest gift, I think, was the gift of melody.

FRIDKIS: Great melody after great melody.

There's kind of nothing in there that doesn't catch the ear.

ZAKANY: He goes straight to the heart.

Beauty with harmony and lines.

BUNCKE: Lots of delicate moments.

Like, just really, like, intimate.

MULTER: I never get tired of playing that or practicing it.

KNOX: It's really juicy.

It's -- There's so much tension in the writing.

MULTER: The melodies and just the subtlety that he brings to every little shading is just -- It's the smile.

And then behind the smile is a tear, and behind the tear is another smile.

And the layers of the onion are just endless.

But it's so simplistic, you know.

That's the thing that's so unbelievable about it.

He doesn't ever really try to be a complicated composer.

LI: It's perfect fit for this orchestra because everybody listens so well to each other, and we're just going to pass it along with each other, and it's going to sound really great.

CHEN: It's a very moving experience when you -- when you hear this piece played in the right way.

SCHWARZ: Some of the most beautiful music in all of history.

For us, playing it becomes a true spiritual experience.

David Diamond was, together with William Schuman and Walter Piston and Howard Hanson, among the greatest exponents of the symphony, having written 11 of them.

In 1944, the great conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos, who was music director of the Minneapolis Symphony at the time, asked David Diamond to write a work for strings.

He said, "Write me a happy piece."

Now, why would he do that?

Well, 1944 was not a very happy time in the world, and Mitropoulos wanted something that could take his mind away from war and all the depressing things that were going on.

So David wrote this piece, "Rounds."

So what's a round?

If any of you have ever sung "Frre Jacques" or -- or any -- any of those children's songs where one person starts and then another person comes in with the same, that's -- that's a round.

And so it means that everybody's being imitated all the time.

And in these three movements, you hear that.

I met David Diamond in the late 1970s, when I was doing a recording of the "Rounds" with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and I asked permission, "May I record?"

He said, "Well, Lenny said he was gonna do it with the Philharmonic, but sure, go ahead."

Then David and our family became very close.

He was like a member of our family.

When I was music director in Seattle, he was our honorary composer in residence, and he would spend many, many weeks with us living in our home.

He was the composer in residence with the New York Chamber Symphony.

I premiered his 10th symphony and numerous other works.

He was one of the most lovable, delightful, brilliant, warm human beings I've ever known.

And I think of him many days and miss him terribly.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Our next program will feature the spectacular "Organ Symphony" by Camille Saint-Saens and the "Sinfona india" by Carlos Chvez.

NARRATOR: This program has been made possible with major support from... Other support by...