Jennifer Higdon’s concerto, On a Wire, was inspired by images of birds, as well as the innovative versatility of the musicians of Eighth Blackbird, the contemporary soloist ensemble. WRTI’s Susan Lewis has more.
Radio script:
[Music: Higdon: On a Wire, Eighth Blackbird]
Susan Lewis: That’s the sound of a piano. Top up, it’s surrounded by musicians who have momentarily put aside their other instruments to play "‘bowed piano."
Jennifer Higdon: Each one of the players has a bow that they string under the strings of the piano and they pull it.
SL: Composer Jennifer Higdon wrote On a Wire for the six-member group, Eighth Blackbird. Violinist Yvonne Lam in this piece also plays viola.
Yvonne Lam: I will do whatever is asked of me by composers. We think of us primarily as performers not instrumentalists.
SL: Performers who routinely play from memory and often move about the stage—creating new musical possibilities.
JH: It let my imagination fly free.
SL: Higdon was guided by imagery of birds—how they sit, how they move, how they soar.
JH: You know in the fall when you have birds flocking, you see them going in waves. I actually mimic that with the gestures with the ensemble, and also the orchestra; that magic thing you see where they go up and it’s like one entity breathing, and then they sink back down…. I think this piece represents for me the joy of new music!
SL: One orchestra, and six ensemble soloists on flute, clarinet, viola, cello, percussion and piano, free to play, to move, to fly.
