In celebration of the Leonard Bernstein Centenary (August 25, 2018), Lucas Richman received permission from the Leonard Bernstein Office to create a new work for chorus and orchestra inspired by the speech Maestro Bernstein delivered to the United Jewish Fund two days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Known as “An Artist’s Response to Violence,” the speech addresses the manner in which musicians might best use their abilities in the aftermath of tragedy:
“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely,
more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” *
~Leonard Bernstein
The three movements of Richman’s “Symphony: This Will Be Our Reply” (Intensity/Beauty/Devotion) expand upon these three directives, exploring the contrasts of great beauty and horrific violence that pervade our modern era. Creating a chamber work derived from the Symphony was inspired by the fact that the first movement, Intensity, features the principal string octet. This music became the basis for the second half of “String Octet – Our Reply” while the music written for the second and third movements of the Symphony, Beauty and Devotion, has been woven together as the chamber work’s introduction.
Several motives found in the Symphony become the driving forces of the “String Octet.” The chamber work begins with a repeated single-note gesture found in a passage intoned by the chorus, “L’ma-an ha shalom (for the sake of peace).” This idea is alternated with the music written for the devotional prayer, “Va’anachnu,” as well as the Symphony’s main 4-note motive accompanying the phrase, “Tikkun Olam (Heal the World).” As in the Symphony, the “String Octet” ultimately concludes with a message of truth and strength, surpassing the darkness of oppression, lies and violence.
*Used by permission of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.
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