SKU: A0.869525

Instrumentation: 2222-2200-timp-strings

Steve Laven, cellist with the Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, contacted me a month ago and asked if I would be interested in writing a work to help celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. I said, Sure!!! He said it would be nice if I would consider a concerto grosso in which the principal players of the orchestra would each get a feature. I agreed that that would be a fine idea.

So, on June 18th, 2017, I started working on it. And since I am on summer vacation from teaching I was able to finished the 557-measure work on July 2nd, fifteen days after I started.  

In 2018 just before I made plans to get the work recorded I made some revisions. One major change was that I cut the fourth movement out completely. It is now a mere 482 measures long. 

The work is now in three movements.  

1. Introduction; Allegro 
2. Presto 
3. Largo

Duration: ca. 17 minutes.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/xIMSFEd0p8o

Bandcamp link: https://thomasoboelee.bandcamp.com/album/concerto-grosso-2017

PS: This is the sixth work that the PACO has performed of my music.  

1. Phantasia for Elvira Shatayev (1981) with soprano Judith Kellock and Newell Hendricks.
2. Harp Concerto (1985) with Ann Hobson-Pilot and Gunther Schuller.
3. Symphony No. 1 ... Fallen Angels (1993, rev. 1995) with Gunther Schuller.
4. Forró (1998) with Gunther Schuller.
5. Daphne ... An Imaginary Ballet (2015) with Beatrice Affron.
6. Concerto Grosso (2017) with Kevin Rhodes.

SKU: A0.869356

Instrumentation: 1 flute, 1 oboe, 1 English horn, 2 bassoons, 2 French horns, timpani and strings.

Program note:
In the year 2010, my wife Kristin Beckwith and I went to Paris twice, the first time in May and the second time in December right after Christmas. The weather was magnificent in May. Our friends Seph and Roger met us there. Being long-time veterans of Paris, they took us all over the city: Le Marais, the Left Bank, Montmartre, Sacré Coeur, Père LaChaise cemetery, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des Tuileries, Notre Dame cathedral, Eiffel Tower, the flea market at Porte de Clignancourt, the canal at Saint Martin, etc. Since the weather was so great we basically stayed outside the entire two weeks. My wife Kris said that we had to return next again to Paris to go inside the museums. So we did. The weather in Paris after Christmas was very damp and chilly. So we did indoor activities: Le Louvre, Musée D’Orsay, Palais Garnier, etc. We even attended a beautiful performance of Swan Lake by the Paris Opera Ballet at L’Opéra Bastille.

I should also mention that on both occasions I met up with a former student of mine from Berklee, Joe Makholm. He makes a living in Paris playing jazz piano. Joe got us a gig at the Swan Bar in Montparnasse. On the first occasion we did it as a trio with a French bass player. I played flute. On the second occasion, we did it as a duo. Playing jazz in Paris? You can’t beat that!!!

Early this year, Steven Lipsitt and I had a chat about my writing a new work for the Boston Classical Orchestra. My last work for the BCO was a piano concerto with Robert Levin as soloist. I told Steven that this time I wanted to write a symphony. He said, Sure. Go ahead. I told him it would be about Paris. He said he would put Mozart’s Paris Symphony on the same program. I said, Fabulous!

Symphony No. 8 … City of Light (2011) is in five movements.

1. La Seine Presto, Moderato
2. Basilique du Sacré-Coeur Largo
3. Palais Garnier Allegro, Trio
4. Avenue des Champs-Élysées Allegro
5. Musée du Louvre Largo, Moderato

This work is dedicated to my wife and muse, Kristin Beckwith.

Audio Link: https://thomasoboelee.bandcamp.com/album/symphony-no-8-city-of-light-2011

Video link: https://youtu.be/-Yn76vWg7jE