Ravinia 2025 Issue 3

est honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization, recognizing extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians,” which comes with a $50,000 prize. He became Composer-in-Residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2021/22; his initial three-year contract was ex- tended through the 2026/27 season. So far, this residency has encompassed almost two dozen performances of Simon’s compositions, an ac- claimed live recording of four orchestral scores by the National Symphony Orchestra and music director Gianandrea Noseda, and the short op- era it all falls down for the Washington National Opera. Simon commenced a three-year ap- pointment as the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural Deborah and Philip Edmundson Composer Chair in 2024. Another notable high- light of the 2024/25 concert season was the world premiere of his Gospel Mass , given by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, video artist Melina Matsoukas, and soloists Kierra Sheard, Samoht, Zebulon Ellis, and Marc Bamuthi Joseph on April 17, 2025. Simon conceived AMEN! in 2017 as an “homage to my family’s four-generational affiliation with the Pentecostal church. My intent is to re-create the musical experience of an African American Pentecostal church service that I enjoyed being a part of while growing up in this denomination. “Pentecostal denominations—such as Church of God in Christ, Pentecostal Assemblies of God, Apostolic, Holiness Church, among many oth- ers—are known for their exuberant outward expressions of worship. The worship services in these churches will often have joyous dancing, spontaneous shouting, and soulful singing. The music in these worship services is a vital vehicle in fostering a genuine spiritual experience for the congregation. “The three movements in AMEN! are performed without break to depict how the different parts of a worship service flow into the next. In the first movement, I’ve imagined the sound of an exuberant choir and congregation singing harmoniously together in a call-and-response Carlos Simon fashion. The soulful second movement quotes a gospel song, ‘I’ll Take Jesus For Mine’ that I frequently heard in many services. The title, AMEN! , refers to the plagal cadence or ‘Amen’ cadence (IV–I), which is the focal point of the climax in the final movement. Along with heav- ily syncopated rhythms and interjecting contra- puntal lines, this cadence modulates up by half- step until we reach a frenzied state, emulating a spiritually heightened state of worship.” Simon originally composed AMEN! for sym- phonic band on a commission from the Uni- versity of Michigan Symphony Band, which gave the premiere under conductor Michael Haithcock on November 21, 2017. The orchestral version resulted from a 2019 commission by the Reno Philharmonic (conductor Laura Jackson), in partnership with the American Composers Orchestra (conductor Michael Morgan) and on behalf of the Gateways Music Festival. SERGE RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943) Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini , op. 43 Scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, glockenspiel, harp, strings, and solo piano A series of new beginnings for Russian pianist, composer, and conductor Serge Rachmani- noff transpired in 1933. The year started off on the wrong foot, however, with the disappoint- ing “official” biography by his old friend Oscar von Riesemann. Upset by factual errors and misrepresentations, Rachmaninoff demanded changes. Although Riesemann complied with these requests, the musician privately disavowed this biographical treatment. However, all dis- appointment faded with the christening of the Rachmaninoff family’s new villa in Switzer- land—named “Senar,” after SErge and NAtalia Rachmaninoff—and its new Steinway piano, a surprise gift from the maker. Invigorated by his newly completed residence, beautifully situated on the shores of Lake Lu- cerne, Rachmaninoff envisioned a new com- position for piano and orchestra. He silently hoped that this work would provide a worthy concert vehicle for his own virtuosity, unlike the “substandard” Fourth Piano Concerto (1926). Rachmaninoff based his new score—completed between July 3 and August 18—on melodic ma- terial from Nicollò Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 in A minor. Vladimir Horowitz claimed that Rach- maninoff would call him every evening to play a new variation over the telephone. Realizing that he had created a masterpiece, Rachmaninoff wrote excitedly to his sister-in- law, Sofia Satina: “This piece I have completed is written for piano and orchestra and is about 20–25 minutes long. But it is not a ‘concerto,’ and its name is ‘Symphonic Variations on aTheme of Paganini.’ I shall tell [my manager Charles] Fo- ley to arrange for me to play it this season in Philadelphia and Chicago. If he does so, and I have little doubt that he will, then you will hear it. I am glad that I have been able to write this piece in the first year of living in the new Senar. It is some compensation for the many stupidities I allowed myself to commit in building Senar! True! So I think!” The Paganini Variations were premiered in Baltimore on November 7, 1934, with a performance by the Philadelphia Orches- tra, conductor Leopold Stokowski, and Rach- maninoff as piano soloist. Rachmaninoff eventually renamed this work Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini , op. 43, al- though its fundamental structure remained a series of variations on the borrowed tune. Pa- ganini had realized the potential of this little melody, composing his own variations on the Caprice No. 24. Other 19th-century composers continued this tradition, most notably Liszt and Brahms. Thematic transformation and orches- tral ingenuity achieved even greater subtlety and depth in Rachmaninoff ’s Rhapsody . An introduction presents disconnected frag- ments of the caprice melody. The hushed first variation actually precedes the statement of Pa- ganini’s theme. The first 10 variations remain in the original key of A minor. In vars. 7–10, Rach- maninoff fuses the caprice melody with the “Dies irae” chant from the Catholic Mass for the Dead. Var. 11 provides a bridge to the middle grouping of slower dance variations (vars. 12–18), which modulate through several keys. Rachmaninoff composed var. 15 for solo piano without orches- tral accompaniment. The composer’s Roman- tic lyrical outpouring climaxes in the familiar var. 18, an inversion of the original melody. Pa- ganini-like virtuosity returns in the remaining variations (vars. 19–24), while the theme is re- stored to A minor. A solo-piano flourish leads into var. 22. In the last variation, the caprice mel- ody overpowers a final statement of the “Dies irae.” Rachmaninoff caps off this virtuosic varia- tion with a humorous concluding gesture. Serge Rachmaninoff RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 63 KENDALLBESSENT(SIMON)