City Scape
Item
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Score title
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City Scape
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Composer
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Jennifer Higdon
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Program note
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“City Scape” is a metropolitan sound picture written in orchestral tones.
Every city has a distinctive downtown skyline: That steely profile that juts into the sky, with shapes and monumental buildings that represent a particular signature for each city. The steel structures present an image of boldness, strength, and growth, teeming with commerce, and the people who work and live there. This is the first movement, “SkyLine”.
In contrast to the metallic and concrete structures lay the parks….both large and small, filling acres or sometimes just a few square feet. Feeding this greenery and sometimes lush carpet are tributaries, hidden streams, small creeks and occasionally rivers. The waters represent constant change, under calm waters and over powerful currents, doing so with exquisite beauty. This is “river sings a song to trees”.
The final movement, “Peachtree Street”, is a representation of all those roadways and main arteries that flow through cities (Peachtree Street is the main street that runs through downtown Atlanta, the city of my childhood). Every main street that runs through a city is loaded with the energy and bustle of commerce, reflecting the needs and wants of its citizens through businesses. Because there is so much diversity in city streets, I’ve created a movement that explores the diverse sections of the orchestra, their relationships, and their combination in creating a larger voice.
This work was commissioned and premiered in 2002 by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano, Music Director.
--Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon