John Harbison is without doubt the man of the hour around here. Just two months after James Levine conducted the BSO in his Third Symphony, the orchestra is now preparing to give the world premiere performances of his Requiem next week at Symphony Hall, under the baton of principal guest conductor Bernard Haitink. (Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony is also on the bill.) And for those who want still more, the Orion String Quartet will be playing his Fourth Quartet in mid March at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Of course, the composer’s links with the BSO go back farther than this season. The orchestra commissioned both Harbison’s First Symphony in the 1980s and his 1993 Cello Concerto. And though the commission for the Requiem came only about a year and a half ago, some sections were written as far back as 1985, including one movement for the 1994 Requiem of Reconciliation. This collective setting of the Requiem Mass was commissioned by conductor Helmut Rilling to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, and it features movements by composers from every country involved in the war.
Asked what was behind his desire to make a full setting of the Requiem, Harbison replies, "I just had an instinct that I wanted to set this text that I’ve known for such a long time and sung in so many guises. I’ve always thought that it was a great musical text — a collection of very strange things from different times."
One thing the composer was sure he didn’t want to do was to bring the Requiem "up to date" by interpolating contemporary texts into the Latin original, in the manner of Britten’s War Requiem. "I had the reverse impulse," he explains, "because the Requiems since Britten that I know all bring it up to date, they all have interpolated texts. So it struck me that the unusual thing to do this time would be to not add anything."
Which is a far cry from his last major choral composition, the Four Psalms of 1999, written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. That work mixed psalm texts with bits of conversations he’d had with Israelis and Palestinians during a two-week trip to Israel in 1997. No surprise that reactions to Four Psalms were deeply divided, at least with regard to its overall concept. Opinions of the music were more uniform, praising Harbison’s ear for orchestral timbre and his seemingly natural talent for choral writing.
It’s not generally smart to speculate on how a world premiere will sound, but if the "Juste Judex" movement from the Requiem of Reconciliation is any guide, expect the larger work to be filled with Harbison’s special mix of free atonality and tonal allusions. It’s also likely to feature complex rhythms and asymmetrical, compellingly strange melodies. All, of course, in the service of illuminating the Requiem’s uniquely compelling text, for which many composers have saved their most inspired musical ideas. Asked whether this was responsible for any apprehension during the composition, Harbison replies: "It’s not as daunting a tradition for the composer as the string quartet. We get used to working in genres that have some pretty good pieces in them. That’s an experience we get accustomed to."
John Harbison’s Requiem receives its world premiere performances at Symphony Hall on March 6, 7, and 8 at 8 p.m. Remaining tickets are $25 to $90. Call (617) 266-1200.
THE NEW AND THE NEWER. Speaking of commissions: the Boston Modern Orchestra Project presents a whole program of works it’s solicited from some of today’s best and brightest, including Elena Ruehr and Stephen Paulus. That’s March 7 at 8 p.m. at Jordan Hall, and tickets are $15 to $30; call (617) 363-0396. And did you know that before his death Charlie Parker sought out avant-garde composers Edgard Varèse and Stefan Wolpe as teachers? Neither did I, and I have trouble imagining just what Bird’s music would have sounded like had the contact been made. Undaunted, NEC offers Charlie Parker and the Teachers of His Dreams, a four-day festival devoted to exploring the growth of modernism through these three pivotal figures. Concerts, lectures, and panels will take place March 9 through 12, all free. Call (617) 585-1100.
