Anthem
ensemble 2.2.2.2, 4.3.3.1, timp+3, harp, piano, strings
written summer 2019
duration 10 minutes
read Oct 29, 2019, Friedberg Hall, by Jebat Kee and the Peabody Symphony Orchestra
Music, I believe, is essentially hopeful. Even the darkest and most inward pieces are born out of a hope that somebody somewhere will hear, listen, and understand.
Protests, too, are essentially hopeful. Those who struggle do so in the hope that somebody somewhere will see, hear, and understand.
I often find myself in some measure of awe at large-scale protests - people united by a hope for a future they believe to be both attainable and necessary. I was recently shown a collection of photos documenting the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and was deeply moved by the emotion in people’s faces - blazing, youthful, resilient, their mouths frozen in the deafening silence of a soundless chant.
Anthem is about the growth of a nascent hope. The piece begins shimmering and unfocused, tinkly percussion and floaty gestures gently moving downward through an uncertain soundscape. Woodwinds beat against each other, gratingly out of tune as a searching string melody weaves its way upward through uneasy harmonies, faltering as it builds to its height. A lone vibraphone, quiet yet determined, introduces the primary motto of the piece. Though hesitant and rhythmically unsure, the motto spreads gradually through the orchestra before the searching melody returns and swells oppressively in grandeur and strength. As it reaches its peak, a powerful tutti rendition of the motto emerges, gathering in purpose and stability. The music then returns to the perspective of the opening, shimmering and unfocused. The motto reappears softly, as if from a great distance, inspiring the downward motion of the opening to take shape and solidify into a repeated chant of its own. Moving through the string melody’s uneasy harmonies, the new chant joins the main motto in powerful and insistent fashion. The piece ends on a muted note, a peaceful variant of the string melody surrounded by themes and motifs fragmented and ambiguous.