symphony no. 3

for solo braitone and orchestra
Duration ca. 35' (2015)
3d1pic.3d1enghn.3d1bcl.3d1cbsn/4.3.3d1bt/timp+2/hp/strings/solo baritone

 

 

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Commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony.

Premiered by the Kansas City Symphony conducted by Michael Stern, baritone Stephen Powell, May 13-15, 2016.

Jonathan Leshnoff has struck an intelligent balance in his Symphony No. 3, the third movement of which sets excerpts of letters by American World War I combatants overseas... The epistolary settings in the Symphony’s final movement... contained such idiomatic, deftly contoured writing for voice and such poignant, transparent orchestral textures that I found myself wishing for a whole song cycle of such settings... Leshnoff’s Symphony pans over a landscape that includes tenderness, judgment, love, forgiveness and resignation. The strongly tonal beginning (Slow) called to mind the opening bars of the Verdi Requiem, perhaps, but was shot through with a sort of mesmerizing, Arvo Pärt-like mysticism. A central section introduced disharmony and a Sibelius-flavored luminescence; the big clangorous finale included two offstage anvils that sounded so “present” they seemed as if they were emanating from the earth.

—Paul Horsley, The Independent: Kansas City’s Journal of Society, June 2016

A strikingly original creation of substantial emotional heft.

Textura, December 2020

Leshnoff writes from the heart, but with a lot of craft and intelligence….His 2015 Symphony No. 3 (there is a more recent fourth) is a fascinating piece in that it emerges from the inspiration of letters written home by soldiers in WWI…the entire work, which presents its leitmotif in the first movement that colors the whole piece, has a sense of bittersweet turbulence, calmed at last by the serene, though unsettling, third movement. It is highly romantic in a sense, yet tempered by unabashedly expectation-foiling moments of utter satisfaction. Leshnoff is not afraid of showing his feelings, or of his audience reacting emotionally.

—Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition, December 2020

…Leshnoff’s Third is smartly written and affecting, the present performance played and sung with sweep and power. Reference Recording’s engineering is second-to-none. What more could one want?

—Jonathan Blumhofer, ArtsFuse, December 2020

This precious CD, perfectly captured, played with commitment and passion, confirms the impact of this creator [Leshnoff].

—Christophe Huss, Le Devoir, January 2021


The Third Symphony packs an emotional punch thanks in part to its First World War inspiration. 4 stars.

BBC Music Magazine, January 2021

 

PROGRAM NOTE

During the 2014-15 season, the Kansas City Symphony observed the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I by performing numerous works related to the “The War to End All Wars.”  Although World War I began in the summer of 1914, the United States did not join the conflict until April of 1917.  The isolationist posture of the United States began to fracture in May of 1915, with the sinking of the Lusitania.  Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 3, commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony, commemorates the centenary of America’s involvement in the great conflict.  Leshnoff’s Third Symphony is dedicated to Michael Stern. 

Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 3 depicts both the horrors of World War I, and the humanity of those whose lives were forever changed by the conflict.  Though the work is scored for baritone solo and orchestra,  only the orchestra alone performs the Symphony’s first two movements, with music of unresolved tension and anguish.

The second movement of the Symphony is associated with the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, , “vav,” which refers to the attribute of Gevurah in Jewish mystical thought. Gevruah , loosely translated as “strength,” denotes a giver’s withholding of expansive kindness in exchange for giving perceived difficulties instead.  It is an appropriate association with this inner movement of the symphony, which is restless and extended, continually eschewing resolution and exploring dense harmonies and orchestral timbres.The mood changes to one of tenderness in the final movement, as the baritone recites portions of letters written by U.S. soldiers involved in World War I.  

The originals of these letters reside in Kansas City’s National World War I Museum, who shared the documents with the composer.  The work concludes in hushed tones with Charles Irons’s letter to  his wife, informing her that if he should perish in the conflict, “know that I died with my name upon your lips…” 

Texts for Movement III

Dear Mother,…There is so much to tell…I don’t know where to start….
I am now over here, somewhere in England is all I can say. I had always hoped to
come abroad sometime, but this has happened all so suddenly …

I was on guard that night and I nearly drowned trying to inspect the submarine lookouts.
It was a sight I shall never forget. Every now and then a bright full moon would come out from behind the clouds and throw its beams upon the white cape. …
Back in the distance, you could see other ships tossing in the waves. It did not seem possible that the same moon was shining down on you all way back there in Missouri.

- James Kellogg Burnham Hockaday, letter to his Mother, June 23, 1918
Courtesy of the National World War I Museum, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

 

My Darling Wife.…Oh, what a joy it will be to have you near again. If I could have
my greatest wish granted it would be to ask [is] to be with you and Ginger this night.
I would not care where we were, if only I could be by your side…
Should the G-d of all call upon me…and I never see you again, know
that I died with your name upon my lips….

- Charles Irons, letter to his wife, January 2, 1919.
Courtesy of the National World War I Museum, Kansas City, Missouri, USA