This is the Asian premiere of Geoffrey Gordon's Fumée for Bb clarinet and chamber orchestra, with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, conductor Christoph Poppen and soloist Horácio Ferreira, from HK City Hall Concert Hall, Hong Kong, 29 June 2024.

PROGRAM NOTE:

Immersed in the magical cultural milieu of Belle Époque Paris at the end of the 19th century, the precocious talent of young composer Reynaldo Hahn (August 9, 1874 – January 28, 1947) emerged, and from an early age, Hahn astounded and delighted his audiences with settings of some of the most beautiful and enduring poems of contemporary writers, including Hugo, Verlaine, Mallarmé. It is said that Verlaine "wept to hear Hahn's songs" and Mallarmé wrote: "Le pleur qui chante au langage du poète, Reynaldo Hahn, tendrement le dégage comme en l'allée un jet d'eau." (“The cry that sings to the language of the poet, Reynaldo Hahn, tenderly releases it like a jet of water in the alley.”)

Inspired by and in recognition of Hahn’s legacy, composer Geoffrey Gordon re-imagines, through his own distinct and intensely expressive musical language, the beguiling atmosphere, adventurous harmonic progressions and profound beauty of Hahn’s exquisite and contemplative chanson, “Fumée” (“Smoke”) – first published by Paris Heugel (1896) - in the form of an alluring and intense new concerto for Bb clarinet and chamber orchestra. Echoing and amplifying Hahn’s setting of the text by Jean Moréas, the concerto idiomatically addresses the poet’s message of a life that goes from ashes to ashes, envying the freedom and transience of smoke which has no past, no responsibility, and is without the hardships of life....vanishing into the ether.

GORDON - Fumée For Bb Clarinet And Chamber Orchestra

US/UK composer Geoffrey Gordon’s contributions to the contemporary music repertoire have been and continue to be exceptional.  Intense and luxuriant harmony, passionate melody and superb handling of instrumentation and sonic textures define his music.  His works include orchestral, chamber and vocal works, recognised and performed by the world's top musicians and ensembles.  His music has been called "darkly seductive" (The New York Times), "complex, richly-satisfying " (BBC Music Magazine), “stunning” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “iridescent and glowing” (Chicago Tribune), “taut and exhilarating” (Classical Ear), “haunting” (Strings Magazine), "gripping" (Bachtrack), "fierce and uncompromising" (MusicWeb International) and “magnificent” (Fanfare).  The Philharmonia identifies “his infectious style" and “an ear for melody”; the New York Times his “zest for sonic experimentation”.  

Recently and upcoming, the BBC Philharmonic will premiere Mr. Gordon's new bassoon concerto, Anima Mia, during the 2022-23 concert season; the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Hong Kong Sinfonietta will premiere a jointly commissioned chamber concerto for Bb clarinet and ensemble, Fumee; and the Antwerp Symphony will premiere Mr. Gordon's Mad Song, which they commissioned for soloist Dimitri Mestdag. 

In 2018, the Philharmonia gave the premiere of Geoffrey’s Gordon’s bass clarinet concerto “Prometheus” after the treatment by Franz Kafka, at the RFH, with US and Nordic premieres following in 2019 with the Minnesota Orchestra and Malmo Symphony.   His superb setting of Keats' “Ode to a Nightingale” for choir and cello premiered in May 2018 in Copenhagen by Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir and a new CD of three of his major cello works, Cello Libris,  was released on the BIS label in early 2020, featuring the Copenhagen Philharmonic under Lan Shui.  His song cycles, “Peter Quince at the Clavier” and “Sonnets from Neruda” premiered in March 2018 at the Arnold Schoenberg Center, Vienna, and in October 2017 the Munich Philharmonic under James Gaffigan premiered his trumpet concerto, "CHASE," after the sculptures of Giacometti.  His cello sonata “FATHOMS” premiered at Carnegie Hall in  December 2015  and his “Winterleben” for horn, mezzo and piano (commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain), premiered in August 2015 as part of the 47th International Horn Symposium in Los Angeles.  Honoured by a number of residencies internationally, he has twice served as composer-in-residence at the Aaron Copland House and is winner of 2017 Mario Merz Prize for Music Composition. In 2018, he was commissioned by the Curie Institute in Paris, part of the Muse-IC project. A new chamber work, featuring musicians from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, premiered at the  Salle Cortot Theatre in Paris in March, 2019. 

Future performances and commissions include new works for the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic and many others.

Find more links to Geoffrey Gordon's music, as well as bio and reviews etc. at www.geoffreygordoncomposer.com

NEW CD, Cello Libris, out on BIS Records!  
Find it here:
https://bis.se/performers/moldrup-toke/cello-libris-works-by-geoffrey-gordon

GORDON - Fumée For Bb Clarinet And Chamber Orchestra

Geoffrey Gordon Composer