Mythic Gardens for Cello and Orchestra is a cello concerto by the Canadian composer Howard Shore. The work was commissioned for the cellist Sophie Shao by the American Symphony Orchestra with financial contributions from Linda and Stuart Nelson. It was completed in 2012 and was given its world premiere by Shao and the American Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Leon Botstein in the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College on April 27, 2012. Shore composed Mythic Gardens as a companion piece to his 2010 piano concerto Ruin and Memory.[1][2][3]

Composition

Mythic Gardens has a duration of roughly 20 minutes and is composed in three movements:

  1. Cimbrone
  2. Medici
  3. Visconti Borromeo Litta

The movements are named after three classic Italian gardens, whose architecture provided Shore's inspiration for the work.[2]

Instrumentation

The concerto is scored for a cello solo and an orchestra comprising two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three horns, harp, and strings.[4]

Reception

Mythic Gardens has received a mixed response from music critics. Reviewing the concerto's West Coast premiere, Richard S. Ginell of the Los Angeles Times described the piece as "mostly a continuous lyrical song for cello -- ardently surveyed by cellist Sophie Shao -- rambling pleasantly along until the third movement where at last there was some dialogue with the orchestra." He added, "It's listenable, yet it evaporated from memory within minutes."[5] Richard Whitehouse of Gramophone wrote, "The first two movements might have benefited from greater expressive contrast but the final Presto banishes any lingering wistfulness with its purposeful sense of resolution."[6]

References

  1. ↑ "American Symphony Orchestra Premieres New Cello Concerto by Howard Shore April 27 & 28". Movie City News. March 28, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Platt, Frances Marion (April 26, 2012). "Bard scores with Shore". Hudson Valley Almanac Weekly. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ Banks, Janet (June 14, 2017). "Shore: Ruin and Memory (Concerto for Piano and Orchestra); Mythic Gardens (Concerto for Cello and Orchestra)". The Strad. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Howard Shore's Mythic Gardens Debuts with Sophie Shao and American Symphony Orchestra". Schott Music. April 16, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  5. ↑ Ginell, Richard S. (May 9, 2014). "Review Pacific Symphony takes on film composers' concert works". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  6. ↑ Whitehouse, Richard (May 2017). "Shore: Mythic Gardens. Ruin & Memory". Gramophone. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
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