In Monday’s (4/16) Birmingham News (Alabama), Michael Huebner writes, “Music has always been at the forefront of Joseph Landers’ life. … But on April 27, 2011, a new urgency overtook him. ‘On the five o’clock news, they showed the footage from Birmingham and Tuscaloosa and the siren went off’ [Landers said] … The Landers family escaped damage and injury, but Joseph was deeply moved by the devastation, especially in Tuscaloosa. He had already sparked a relationship with the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, completing two compositions for them. Plans for a third were underway, but they changed course in the wake of the storm. To mark the first anniversary of the storm with a solemn, meaningful occasion, the TSO board contacted Landers to create a monumental composition. On April 23, The TSO will premiere his ‘Sinfonia da Requiem,’ a 30-minute piece for chorus, orchestra and baritone soloist. It will be followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, a work that has inspired countless composers with its message of universal joy and hope. … Landers chose the Requiem—a Latin Mass traditionally recited or composed to provide repose and comfort for the dead and survivors—to honor tornado victims. Like many composers before him, he took liberties by interposing more relevant verse, in this case, three poems by Emily Dickinson.”
Posted April 16, 2012
