Juvenalia

Orchestra (2.pic.(afl).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp/pf/str) and Solo Percussion

In Ancient Rome, Juvenalia were coming of age festivals featuring games, theater and ritual celebrations. Ironically, these events were noted for the childish behavior of their participants, youth and elders alike. Accounts from the time suggest wild, debaucherous display was not only encouraged but required. Anyone not acting sufficiently irreverent risked expulsion or worse.

In my concerto, Juvenalia, I seized on this idea of youthful carousing. At the same time, I considered the linguistically similar notion of juvenilia. Sometimes disowned, often discarded, these early works are at best a footnote to otherwise noteworthy catalogs. Yet these raw, unpolished efforts contain portentous kernels: seemingly insignificant ideas that may grow in surprising, beautiful ways. Looking back at my own early compositional efforts, I’m convinced there are connections between my youthful creations and the music I write today. As I grow older, I listen to these first attempts and think perhaps there’s more to discover. Maybe these capricious, unrefined pieces hold secrets yet to be revealed.

Tapping into both the wild energy of Juvenalia and the elusive premonitions of juvenilia, the concerto begins with music reminiscent of my high school garage band. Playing a modified drum kit, the soloist careens through a series of loud, bombastic episodes, overflowing with youthful energy and wild abandon. The second movement takes a step back. Moving from kit to vibraphone, the soloist leads the orchestra on a slow and spacious soliloquy. Lyrical and contemplative, the music evokes a restrained, classical sensibility. Finally, the third movement revisits the frenzied exuberance of the opening, but now with even greater urgency. A reckless, unrelenting momentum pushes the music forward as the soloist unleashes a torrent of sixteenth notes in a furious drive to the finish.

Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University for Colin Currie and the Albany Symphony.

Premiered Saturday, March 9, 2019, the Palace Theater, Albany, NY by Colin Currie and the Albany Symphony Orchestra, David Alan Miller, Director.