Grand Concerto for Solo Organ and Orchestra composed 2003
At a Glance
by
Paulus composed his Grand Organ Concerto in 2003. It was first performed on April 1, 2004, in Dallas, Texas, by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marc Albrecht, with Bradley Hunter Welch as the soloist. This concerto runs about 20 minutes in performance. Paulus scored it for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3
trombones, tuba, timpani, 3 percussionists (tom-toms, snare drum, cowbell, hi-hat, xylophone, güiro, large suspended cymbal, tam-tam, bass drum, glockenspiel, high wood block, low wood block, chimes, sand blocks, temple blocks, crash cymbal), and strings, plus the solo organ. The Cleveland Orchestra is performing this work for the first time with this weekend’s concerts.
Stephen
PAULUS
About the Music
born August 24, 1949 Summit, New Jersey
N O T S I N C E H A N D E L has a composer produced as many as
died October 19, 2014 Arden Hills, Minnesota
Severance Hall 2017-18
four concertos for the organ, but Stephen Paulus, having written his first organ concerto in 1992, came back to the combination with more works for organ, producing three in close succession during the years 2002-2003. These in turn may be viewed and judged alongside the dozen concertos he wrote for other instruments — including two for piano, three for violin, one for cello, and some for two instruments — as part of an immense output of music cut short by his death at the relatively early age of 65. Paulus wrote eleven operas, and it was through the opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, first performed by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 1982, that he came to national attention. Trained at the University of Minnesota and resident in St. Paul, Paulus served as composer-in-residence with the orchestras of Atlanta, Minnesota, and Tucson over the years, and received commissions from many leading American orchestras, including The Cleveland Orchestra. In contrast with so many composers who have found the going hard, Paulus enjoyed frequent and ongoing appreciation in America — and was continuously productive. Oddly, his musical works have had few performances overseas, where his worth as a composer remains too little recognized. His style, being tonal, is not hard to appreciate, and he was not ashamed to write tunes. Unlike the other three, this week’s organ concerto is indeed About the Music
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