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- Joan Tower
Tambor (1998)
- Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
- 2(pic).2.2(bcl).2/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/str
- 15 min
Programme Note
Tambor, composed between September 1997 and February 1998, was commissioned by Mariss Jansons and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, who gave the work's premiere on May 7 of the latter year; the score is dedicated to Robert Moir, the Pittsburgh Symphony's artistic administrator. The title, Tambor, is the Spanish word for "drum." Tower is familiar with that language, having grown up in South America, where her father worked as a mining engineer, and possibly the prominence and versatility of percussion instruments in Latin American music were influential recollections in her creation of this work, in which she assigns a major role to that section of the orchestra.
Composer Note:
This 15·minute work features the percussion section, whose five members (the timpanist and four others) essentially have three functions inside the orchestra:
1. to 'eyeline,' or underscore the different timbres and rhythms of other parts of the orchestra;
2. to 'counterpoint' other parts of the orchestra; and
3. to act as soloists in several minor and major cadenzas throughout the work.
What happened while I was writing this piece was that the strong role of the percussion began to influence the behavior of the rest of the orchestra to the point that the other instruments began to act more and more like a percussion section themselves. In other words, the main 'action' of the work becomes more concerned with rhythm and color than with motives or melodies (though these elements do make occasional appearances here and there).
—Joan Tower
Composer Note:
This 15·minute work features the percussion section, whose five members (the timpanist and four others) essentially have three functions inside the orchestra:
1. to 'eyeline,' or underscore the different timbres and rhythms of other parts of the orchestra;
2. to 'counterpoint' other parts of the orchestra; and
3. to act as soloists in several minor and major cadenzas throughout the work.
What happened while I was writing this piece was that the strong role of the percussion began to influence the behavior of the rest of the orchestra to the point that the other instruments began to act more and more like a percussion section themselves. In other words, the main 'action' of the work becomes more concerned with rhythm and color than with motives or melodies (though these elements do make occasional appearances here and there).
—Joan Tower
Media
Tambor
Scores
Reviews
Tambor, composed by Joan Tower in 1998, was given a dramatic reading, its dense orchestrations, copious percussion, flurries of woodwind chords and lofty sound masses encasing a score that was ever seething with rhythmic intensity. ASO, one of the nation’s most prolific purveyors of such music, felt its power.
19th September 2015
Made in America World Premiere recording
Tambor World Premiere recording
Concerto for Orchestra
Nashville Symphony/Slatkin
Naxos CD 8559328
Made in America resulted from a commissioning project involving 65 smaller-budget American orchestras; it was designed to challenge without intimidation, and to be accessible as opposed to simplistic. The work typifies Tower’s splendid ear for sonority and her subtle harmonic sense, not to mention her ease and authority operating within the American symphonic syntax as defined by Copland and his circle…
More virtuosic demands permeate Tower’s 1991 Concerto for Orchestra, where soloists and smaller instrumental groups assert both their individual profile and facility to engage in chamber-like combat with their neighbors.
...the Nashville Symphony boasts lusty strings, hefty brass, and strong, decisive percussion players. The latter, in fact, brilliantly dominate throughout Tambor, and will prove hard to beat (pun intended) should another maestro dare to challenge this premiere recorded version. Naxos’ first-rate engineering mirrors the music’s excitement and immediacy. Enthusiastically recommended!
Tambor World Premiere recording
Concerto for Orchestra
Nashville Symphony/Slatkin
Naxos CD 8559328
Made in America resulted from a commissioning project involving 65 smaller-budget American orchestras; it was designed to challenge without intimidation, and to be accessible as opposed to simplistic. The work typifies Tower’s splendid ear for sonority and her subtle harmonic sense, not to mention her ease and authority operating within the American symphonic syntax as defined by Copland and his circle…
More virtuosic demands permeate Tower’s 1991 Concerto for Orchestra, where soloists and smaller instrumental groups assert both their individual profile and facility to engage in chamber-like combat with their neighbors.
...the Nashville Symphony boasts lusty strings, hefty brass, and strong, decisive percussion players. The latter, in fact, brilliantly dominate throughout Tambor, and will prove hard to beat (pun intended) should another maestro dare to challenge this premiere recorded version. Naxos’ first-rate engineering mirrors the music’s excitement and immediacy. Enthusiastically recommended!
12th June 2007
...a colorful score full of zesty percussive effects inspired by South American sources.
20th June 2004
...a 15-minute exploration of driving rhythms and percussive timbres...
27th January 2000
Its knockout moments alternate with lyrical melodic fragments and phrases in the strings. Tower's rhythmic vocabulary is varied and inventive, at times reveling in cross-rhythms and off-the-beat accents...
9th May 1998
Discography
American Classics
- LabelNaxos
- Catalogue Number8559328
- ConductorLeonard Slatkin
- EnsembleNashville Symphony
- Released29th May 2007
