needed to make the concluding section, where I rip into this style, reflect the sound of the banjo as a bluegrass instrument, while also combining it with the orchestra.” —Thomas May Thomas May is a frequent contributor to Cleveland Orchestra program books and writes regularly about music and the arts. His books include The John Adams Reader and Decoding Wagner.
At a Glance Fleck composed his Banjo Concerto in 2010-11 on a commission from the Nashville Symphony. He dedicated the work to legendary bluegrass player Earl Scruggs. The concerto was premiered on September 22, 23, and 24, 2011, in Nashville, conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, and with Fleck as the soloist. This concert runs just over 30 minutes in performance. Fleck scored it for 3 flutes (third doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (third doubling english
horn), 3 clarinets (third doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (third doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (wind gong, glockenspiel, triangle, cymbals, gong, bells, rain stick, crotales, snare drum, bass drum), and strings, plus the solo banjo. The Cleveland Orchestra is performing Béla Fleck’s music for the first time with this weekend’s performances.
A Classical Side for Banjo — and Nashville With the multiple-Grammy Award-winning Perpetual Motion (2001), Béla Fleck made his first sustained foray into introducing the world of classical music to the banjo’s repertory. His engaging sequence of banjo arrangements breathed new life into such familiar pieces as Chopin mazurkas, Bach inventions, and Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Fleck subsequently teamed with bassist Edgar Meyer to write the Double Concerto for Banjo and Bass, which the Nashville Symphony premiered in 2003. That effort proved so successful that the Nashville Symphony commissioned a triple concerto, which was co-written by Fleck, Meyer, and tabla player Zakir Hussain. Titled The Melody of Rhythm, the concerto was premiered at the concert that inaugurated Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center in 2006.
Severance Hall 2012-13
About the Music
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