Marsalis, Wynton: Abyssinian 200: A Celebration (2008) 120'
for choir and jazz orchestra
Music Text
Wynton Marsalis, Liturgical (E)
Scoring
SATB Choir; 2 Alt.Sax., 2Tnr.Sax., Bari.Sax., 4Trpt., 3Trbn., Pno., Bss., Drum Set
World Premiere
4/10/2008
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Abyssinian Choir / Darin Atwater, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra; Damien Sneed, Abyssinian Choir
Composer's Notes
In remarks on March 15, 2007 to the 400 in attendance at a press conference, Wynton explains his inspiration for the Mass:
“Our music is so rich, songs like ‘Go Down Moses,’ ‘There is a Balm in Gilead’…What was in these songs was the depths of our ancestors’ tears. We’re going to spend much time studying and researching the material and it will be performed with heft and intellectual weight and integrity that befits a celebration of 200 years of the Abyssinian Baptist Church. The music will be performed by some of our greatest musicians, many of whom have deep roots in the church. It will be about our lives, and about our great and great, great grandmothers’ and grandfathers’ lives.”
Press Quotes
“Abyssinian 200” is a miscellany, juggling all of Mr. Marsalis’s prerogatives as a composer. (He also wrote the text, reaching into gospel rhetoric.) Mr. Marsalis, who knows harmony and rhythm the way a grandmaster knows chess, savors all the historical allusions and virtuosic convolutions that his orchestra can execute. He also understands the participatory side of gospel: the call-and-response and the potential singalongs that give churchgoers melodies carrying messages to remember ... It uses modernist variants of New Orleans dirges and struts, the modal excursions of hard-bop and the Ellington big-band legacies of brassy, section-against-section byplay and sumptuously harmonized ballads...an elaborate concert piece that traverses jazz history, from spirituals to hard-bop." Jon Pareles, New York Times
for choir and jazz orchestra
Music Text
Wynton Marsalis, Liturgical (E)
Scoring
SATB Choir; 2 Alt.Sax., 2Tnr.Sax., Bari.Sax., 4Trpt., 3Trbn., Pno., Bss., Drum Set
World Premiere
4/10/2008
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Abyssinian Choir / Darin Atwater, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra; Damien Sneed, Abyssinian Choir
Composer's Notes
In remarks on March 15, 2007 to the 400 in attendance at a press conference, Wynton explains his inspiration for the Mass:
“Our music is so rich, songs like ‘Go Down Moses,’ ‘There is a Balm in Gilead’…What was in these songs was the depths of our ancestors’ tears. We’re going to spend much time studying and researching the material and it will be performed with heft and intellectual weight and integrity that befits a celebration of 200 years of the Abyssinian Baptist Church. The music will be performed by some of our greatest musicians, many of whom have deep roots in the church. It will be about our lives, and about our great and great, great grandmothers’ and grandfathers’ lives.”
Press Quotes
“Abyssinian 200” is a miscellany, juggling all of Mr. Marsalis’s prerogatives as a composer. (He also wrote the text, reaching into gospel rhetoric.) Mr. Marsalis, who knows harmony and rhythm the way a grandmaster knows chess, savors all the historical allusions and virtuosic convolutions that his orchestra can execute. He also understands the participatory side of gospel: the call-and-response and the potential singalongs that give churchgoers melodies carrying messages to remember ... It uses modernist variants of New Orleans dirges and struts, the modal excursions of hard-bop and the Ellington big-band legacies of brassy, section-against-section byplay and sumptuously harmonized ballads...an elaborate concert piece that traverses jazz history, from spirituals to hard-bop." Jon Pareles, New York Times
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