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Jacob Druckman: chamber Counterpoise

(September 1997)

A new ensemble version of Jacob Druckman’s Counterpoise, for soprano and eight instrumentalists, was unveiled in New York in April with Susan Narucki as soloist. The original orchestral version was premiered in 1995 by Dawn Upshaw and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch, and its success prompted the commission for a reduced version from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The creation of the adaptation was Druckman’s last completed project before his death in May 1996, and is a fitting final tribute to the composer’s remarkable ear for instrumentation and colour.

Selecting texts by Emily Dickinson and Guillaume Apollinaire, Druckman was fascinated by the strong contrasts between "the American poet’s giddy spiritual ecstasy and the French poet’s visions of sadness and dementia". The poems offered the composer ample opportunity for precise evocation of spiritual moods and imaginative word-painting, and the dramatic colouration of the orchestral score has been transferred in virtuoso fashion into the chamber medium. The new version of Counterpoise enables the work to be programmed by ensembles and to travel widely.

"A progression from the naive to the carnal, from giddiness to gloom to ecstasy, informs the work, which the composer has set with enormous sophistication. There is a virtuoso sweep to his melodic language..." Philadelphia Enquirer

The composer’s death last year has prompted a series of memorial events, reflecting his prominence in American composing life, and the affection in which he was held by friends and colleagues. The American Composers Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who were to have performed Druckman’s Piano Concerto, left incomplete on his death, presented Brangle and Come Round respectively. A concert of chamber works took place at Yale University, where he was Professor of Composition during the last years of his life, and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago danced Valentine in the ever-popular choreography by Gerald Arpino. This summer’s Tanglewood Festival included Counterpoise.

In Europe the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under Leif Segerstam performed Prism, widely regarded as one of Druckman’s finest orchestral achievement. The soloists of the Ensemble InterContemporain played Other Voices in Paris in April and have programmed Dance with Shadows in November.

Photo: Vincent P Oneppo

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