Robert Beaser’s Ground “O” Premieres to Critical Acclaim at Seattle Symphony

Robert Beaser’s Ground “O”, composed for the Seattle Symphony's Gund/Simonyi Farewell Commissions project for Maestro Gerard Schwarz, received rave reviews after its premiere in Seattle on February 17. Bernard Jacobson writes in The Seattle Times:

As its title would presage, Ground “O” is an uncompromisingly serious piece. Confronting inhumanity with a poignantly human response in six short minutes, it ranks near the top among the tributes the Gund/Simonyi commissioning project has brought us. From the mysterious opening tintinnabulations, through a spine-tingling climax and a return to the near-silence in which it began, I found it enthralling, and I hope [it can be] heard again many times in many places.

In this new work for the Seattle Symphony, Robert Beaser orchestrates anew his much loved movement Ground “O” from his earlier suite of 'songs without words,' Souvenirs for clarinet and piano. The music for Ground “O” was shaped profoundly by the events of September 11 as it was written just one month following that day. As the 10th anniversary approaches, the composer felt compelled to rework the music to give to Maestro Schwarz a new incantation of music that holds a truly special place in Beaser’s oeuvre.

Later this month, on March 25, guitarist Eliot Fisk joins JoAnn Falletta and the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in Robert Beaser’s monumental Guitar Concerto.

Robert Beaser-Composer Profile

Robert Beaser
Ground "O" (2010)
for orchestra
pic.1.2.2.2-4.2.3.btbn.1-timp.3perc-hp.pno-str
6’

Guitar Concerto (2009)
for guitar and orchestra
2.1(ca).2.2-2.2.1.1-timp.perc-str
25'