The YST Orchestral Institute in collaboration with Artist Fellow, Mervin Wong, presents a live concert-stream-experience featuring three chamber orchestra masterpieces, all composed during the throngs of World War II: Anton Webern’s 1940 Variationen, Aaron Copland’s 1944 Appalachian Spring (Ballet for Martha), and Richard Strauss’s 1945 Metamorphosen. As music with multiplicities that resonate with our tumultuous 2020, all three works explore intersections of isolation, anxiety, humanity’s relationship with nature, and the mourning of lost idealized worlds; yet, in each piece there are also transcendent shimmers of hope. As we ponder, “Am I Human?”, we offer reflective springs that remind us that we’ve all been here before, and we all belong.
Compendium Springs takes a deeper, more interactive look into the stories and undercurrents in the programme. For the full experience with animations, it is best viewed on mobile at bit.ly/compendium-springs.
