Michael Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony (1988-1993) for orchestra, I. Lex

Michael Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony (1988-1993) for orchestra I. Lex Filarmonic Arturo Toscanini Joachim Jousse, conductor I began composing my Metropolis Symphony in 1988, inspired by the celebration in Cleveland of the fiftieth anniversary of Superman’s first appearance in the comics. When I completed the score in 1993, I dedicated it to the conductor David Zinman, who had encouraged me to compose the work, and to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The Metropolis Symphony evokes an American mythology that I discovered as an avid reader of comic books in the fifties and sixties. Each movement of the symphony-which may be performed separately-is a musical response to the myth of Superman. I have used Superman as a compositional metaphor in order to create an independent musical world that appeals to the imagination. The symphony is a rigorously structured, non-programmatic work, expressing the energies, ambiguities, paradoxes, and wit of American popular culture. Like Charles Ives, whose music recalls small-town America early in our century, I draw on my eclectic musical background to reflect on late-twentieth-century urban America. Through complex orchestration, timbral exploration, and rhythmic polyphony, I combine the idioms of jazz, rock, and funk with symphonic and avant-garde composition. I. Lex derives its title from one of Superman's most vexing foes, the supervillain and business tycoon Lex Luthor. Marked "Diabolical" in the score, this movement features a ...

Channel: YouTube Video Length: 3m 6s Date Found: Thu, Aug 19 2010 4:04 PM Category: Music Date Produced: Thu, Jun 17 2010 12:44 AM View Count: 0