“Commissioned to write a piece for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s 100th anniversary season, James Stephenson looked at the focus of the April 11 concert,” writes David Burke on Thursday (4/2) in the Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa). “Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony includes ‘Ode to Joy,’ with lyrics that speak of peace and brotherhood. Stephenson said he wanted to keep that same theme in his piece, ‘A-ccord,’ which serves as a five- to six-minute introduction to the famous choral symphony. ‘It seemed like there was a lot in the news about people not getting along, whether it was violence in various parts of the world or even our own country,’ the Lake Forest, Ill.-based composer said…. After being asked to write the piece by QCSO executive director Benjamin Loeb, Stephenson was given the text of a poem by area author Dick Stahl for possible use by the vocalists of Quad City Choral Arts and the Handel Oratorio Society…. ‘The whole piece just weaves its way through and nobody ever plays harmony,’ Stephenson, 46, said.… ‘The brass has something to say about it, woodwinds, strings. But the whole idea is that everybody chips in to this single thread, which is about everybody getting along.’ ”
Posted April 6, 2015
