I had never heard of Mark O’Connor until about a week ago. I was doing some chores around my house, and I had my TV tuned to a cable “light classics” music channel, and a folksy-sounding piano trio caught my ear -- but it seemed to have just a touch of Steve Reich-like -- albeit countrified -- minimalism. I glanced at the screen and I saw that I was listening to “Piano Trio 1: The Tennessee Two” by Mark O’Connor.
O’Connor dubbed the Trio “Poets and Prophets,” and he composed it in tribute to Johnny Cash, a hero of his. The work includes four movements: “Man in Black,” “The Tennessee Two,” “My June,” and “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.” I enjoyed the little bit I heard O’Connor’s Piano Trio that day, so I Google-searched “compositions by Mark O’Connor,” and selected “Three Pieces for Violin and Orchestra” to listen to this week:
In researching this work, I read somewhere that it was originally to be a violin concerto -- the movements follow the traditional format -- but that O’Connor shifted his thinking along the way to create three separate pieces. From the titles of the movements, I presumed the opus to be an ode to Tennessee: The mockingbird is the state bird of Tennessee; the Trail of Tears -- a series of forced displacement of Native Americans between 1830 and 1850 by the US government known as “Indian Removal” -- covered portions of Tennessee; and Tennessee is known as the “Volunteer State” (from Wikipedia: “because of the prominent role played by volunteer soldiers from Tennessee, especially during the Battle of New Orleans” in the War of 1812). Like his Piano Trio 1, “Call of the Mockingbird” is a bit homespun and folksy, and it beautifully captures the essence of a delightfully energetic and energetically delightful day in a bucolic setting, perhaps in the Smoky Mountains. The mockingbird, as portrayed by the solo violin, darts in and out of the bustle of the day, and though the species is best known for mimicking the songs of other birds, in this work, the bird here seems more poet than pest with tunes which honor the enterprise of well-grounded folks below. “Trail of Tears” is appropriately solemn and dirge-like. There is some drumwork that evokes Native American culture, but more so it echoes the ceaseless cadence of a clock signalling the passage of time and inevitable transformation. Some passages about thirteen minutes in confused me a little -- they were a bit too buoyant -- but soon the work returned to its somber and reflective tone. When I searched for “Fanfare for the Volunteer,” I was a bit confused at first. A twenty-minute fanfare? I suppose that’s a possible thing though I always think of a fanfare as a shorter work. Well, the fanfare lasts about 4 minutes or so, and then the piece continues with what I reckon to be the flurry and flourish as the Volunteers prepare -- for battle? Possibly, there are off-stage John-William-esque trumpet calls during the initial fanfare. Perhaps they are preparing for the bustle of the day (see above re: “The Call of the Mockingbird”). The cheerful timbre makes me think so. As a matter of fact, the initial fanfare of horns and drums and then the optimistic flourish that follows called to mind this poem by Emily Dickinson: When I have seen the Sun emerge From His amazing House – And leave a Day at every Door A Deed, in every place – Without the incident of Fame Or accident of Noise – The Earth has seemed to me a Drum Pursued of little Boys. There is a slower, more reflective passage late in the piece – with a hint of the traditional American folk song “Oh Shenandoah” – but then the Volunteers continue to pursue flurry and flourish as the sun has emerged. Will O'Connor's three pieces enter the pantheon of classical music masterworks? Only time will tell, but I did love all three pieces – they have certainly piqued my interest in the composers other works. Bernstein successfully merged classical music with Broadway. Gershwin fused classical music and jazz. O’Connor hitches classical music to the country fiddle -- and I’m intrigued. Perhaps one day he’ll compose “Rhapsody in Ol’ Blue”?
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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