OPEN REHEARSAL: DAVID SCHIFF Chamber Concerto No. 2 ‘Vineyard Rhythms’
Go behind the scenes and observe CMNW’s world-class musicians working together to put the finishing touches on music for upcoming performances. An informal Q&A follows the rehearsal.
Reed College, Kaul Auditorium
Wednesday, 7/27 • 11:00 am PT
Program
Click on any piece of music below to learn more about it.
- DAVID SCHIFF Selections from Chamber Concerto No. 2: “Vineyard Rhythms”
DAVID SCHIFF (b. 1945)
Chamber Concerto No. 2 for Violin and String Nonet: Vineyard RhythmsWhen Susan Sokol Blosser first asked me to compose a violin concerto to honor both her mother, who was a violinist, and the vineyard she loved, she sent me some of her writings that evoked the changing seasons at her famed vineyard in the Dundee Hills, Oregon. She also invited me to visit the vineyard as often as possible to view the vine-covered landscape over the course of the year. Her words and my many visits inspired me.
My challenge was to transform what I saw and felt into a concerto. I decided on a three-movement format, with each movement portraying the passing of one season into the next, but from three different points of view.
The first movement, Hawk, moves from the depths of winter to early spring, from an avian perspective; on my first visit to the vineyard, Susan had pointed out a tree with hawk’s nest, and on every subsequent visit, at least one red-tailed hawk monitored my strolls.
The second movement, Gaia, is a song of the earth, beginning with a chant in the violin’s lowest register, gradually warming from spring to summer.
The third movement, Harvest, is a celebration of nature’s bounty, and of all the intense human labor needed to turn dormant fields into the world-renowned wines that display the Sokol Blosser label.
— © David Schiff, on the challenge of composition
In Winter the vineyard rests quietly. Seemingly the only activity is the hawks riding the wind currents. But below ground the vines are regrouping, gathering strength to be ready for the next season when they will once again burst forth. As the weather warms, the buds on the pruned canes swell, unfurling suddenly into tiny rosy-tipped baby leaves. Miniature grape clusters with tiny tendrils emerge. As Spring arrives, the vineyard throbs with activity—hawks soar, bluebirds nest, swallows swirl. The bright new growth holds the promise of the vintage.
In Summer, the vines grow to cover their wire trellis, while the grape clusters develop and ripen in the warm sun. Hawks circle above and newly hatched finches, swallows, and bluebirds flutter in the leafy canopy. The vineyard pulsates with life.
Then Harvest—the culmination of the year’s work. Controlled chaos as the vineyard crew harvests the fruit and the winery hums with activity. When all the fruit is in, the vines send their energy back down to their roots and shed their leaves. The long silence begins as the leaves turn yellow and slowly drop to the ground. Hawks still circle but the swallows gather and then, as one, all fly south. Dormancy.
In the vineyard, time is circular. The vines stay put and the seasons flow effortlessly, one into the next, weaving a multicolored, multilayered tapestry. Like the vineyard, we are the same person year after year, but we each have our own season of hope, of growth, of maturing, of inactivity or withdrawal, and then of renewal. The vineyard is my metaphor for life.
— © Susan Sokol Blosser, founder, Sokol Blosser Winery