We want to highlight two concerts that are both featuring exciting and important repertoire, both taking place on Sat. April 18.
Mabel Daniels A. P. Schmidt Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.
Mabel Daniels “Deep Forest” (1933) is featured in Symphony New Hampshire’s concert. Born in Swampscott, MA, Mabel Wheeler Daniels lived and worked in the Boston area, serving as head of the Music Department of Simmons College and leading the Radcliffe Choral Society (to name a few of her roles). The evocative and mysterious “Deep Forest” was inspired by the woods around the MacDowell artists retreat where she spent many summers. Her best known orchestral work, it was premiered by the New York Philharmonic before being performed by many other orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, before being performed in Carnegie Hall by the NYPhil. Even with this recognition, the piece is performed too rarely; can it be that there is still only one commercial recording, released in 1970 on CRI recordings? We are so happy that guest conductor Tianhui Ng is including this gorgeous music in his adventurous program. The second half of the program features the “Black Hole Symphony” by David Ibbett, performed in collaboration with the Multiverse Concert Series.
Here is the chamber orchestra version of “Deep Forest” — Daniels wrote this first, and then expanded it for full orchestra.
And also on April 18, in Boston, the Horizon Ensemble honors victims and survivors of the Holocaust in a program titled “We Will Outlive Them” (Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed April 13- April 14). The concert features Steve Reich’s “Different Trains” (1988, featuring the Janelle Gilchrist Dance Troupe), and Quinn Gutman’s “We Will Outlive Them: Letters from Galicia” (2024/2026, orchestration by J. Gau). The piece sets to music the letters of Jessica Bloch’s family (Bloch is a singer in the concert). The letters tell of trials, troubles, and hope. If you can’t make it in person, there will be a YouTube livestream, with the video also available later.
