UNITED KINGDOM: Dallas symphony orchestra's European tour ends with concert with baritone Thomas Hampson

Record ID: 336846

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Dallas symphony orchestra's European tour ends with concert with baritone Thomas Hampson
  • Date: 18th September 2000
  • Summary: VARIOUS, ORCHESTRA PLAYS ELGAR. (4 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BASINGSTOKE, HAMPSHIRE, UK
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVAB4YPEUUQ9JRHO0UFB6J9YNA2A
  • Story Text: The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's European tour ended on September 16. It was organized as part of their centenary celebrations, and took place in venues in Germany, Scandinavia, and the UK. Reuters caught up with the musicians at Basingstoke, in central southern England - where their guest singer was the leading American baritone, Thomas Hampson.
    The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's concerts have a distinctly folksy feel about them. Audiences everywhere are delighted by Hampson's renditions of Aaron Copeland's Simple Gifts. The melody, which originates from the Shaker tradition in the US, is one of the most instantly recognized tunes in the composer's Old American Songs.
    Hampson says: " What's kind of fun about doing these songs, these American songs here in England, is that Aaron Copeland was in fact talked into making them by Benjamin Britten, and Peter Pearce, because Brittan had been writing his folk songs and it was part of the movement which was 'our' music and 'our' expression of each country, and they were actually premiered by Britten and Pearce at the Aldburgh festival, which is one of my great joys. And I hope to sing them again at that festival."
    Reuters got exclusive access behind the scenes at the rehearsals, where Hampson was putting the final touches to his performance with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. "Clearly, I am trying to get it right in rehearsal. This orchestra, I have never worked with it before... so I am finding out how they sound like. I am probably most concerned about what we all sound like in the whole. I am trying to get to know how the sound sings. Every hall wants to sing or make music. But sometimes they are more difficult conversations than others.
    So that's what you are really trying to do is hear the voices and the sound levels and that kind of thing."
    Hampson and Andre Littleton, music director, of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, were not afraid of putting their own mark on Copeland's classics:"It's very exciting. This is my first chance working with Thomas Hampson. He is one of the great singers of our day in any voice range and the fact remains that not only is he a great singer - he's a great artist - and he knows how to deliver these songs. One of the things we discussed, Mr. Hampson and I, is Simple Gifts, that wonderful Shaker melody, which is the most famous song - to a foreign audience certainly and also to an American one - out of the whole set... is not a prayer, as set by Copeland. It's supposed to be very delicate. Actually, it's not. It's actually a worksong. You know, you would sing it while you were working. And so we try to get that feeling back."
    The folk music theme was continued in the orchestra's performance of Elgar's Allegro for Strings. Not an easy talk, performing an English piece in England... if you're an American orchestra.
    Orchestra player Daphne Volle says: "For me, it is really a very interesting opportunity because we have to prove that we are able to play British music in Great Britain. Of course, the audience is very familiar with this music. It's a challenge. But it enables us to progress as musicians."
    The European concerts mark an important milestone for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Financial crises and wars meant the organization often faced closure. But the DSO has steadily grown over the last 25 years to become one of the top orchestras in America, if not the world.
    Musician Arkady Fomin, says: "Symphony orchestras play a very important role in culture. People from different nationalities can come to a concert hall and understand the language of music."
    And that language - whether it reflects the music of America, or England - is universal... simple... and a gift.
    ------ENDS------
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