cindy mctee
THE UNQUESTIONED ANSWER
for orchestra
the first of two movements from Double Play
Commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
in honor of Elaine Lebenbom.
Dedicated to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
and its music director, Leonard Slatkin.
2010
Duration: 7.5 minutes
Available by permission from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
First performance: June 3, 2010 with the DSO under the baton of
Leonard Slatkin.
Support also provided by the Institute for Advancement of the Arts
at the University of North Texas.
Piccolo
2 Flutes
3 Oboes
Clarinet in Eb
2 Clarinets in Bb
3 Bassoons
4 Horns
3 Trumpets in C
2 Tenor Trombones
Bass Trombone
TubaTimpani
3 Percussion
Harp
StringsPercussion 1
Suspended Cymbals (large and small)
Tam-tam (medium)
Vibraphone
Percussion 2
Sizzle Cymbal (medium)
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbals (large and small)
Percussion 3
Bass drum
Mark Tree
Rainstick
Unquestioned Answer
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The Unquestioned Answer is the first of two movements from McTee's Double Play and was commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in honor of Elaine Lebenbom.
I have always been particularly attracted to the idea that disparate musical elements - tonal and atonal, placid and frenetic - can not only coexist but also illuminate and complement one another. I can think of no composer more capable of achieving these kinds of meaningful juxtapositions than Charles Ives. As in Ives’ Unanswered Question, my Unquestioned Answer presents planes of highly contrasting materials: sustained, consonant sonorities in the strings intersect to create dissonances; melodies for the principal players soar atop; and discordant passages in the brass and winds become ever more disruptive. The five-note theme from Ives’ piece is heard in both its backward and forward versions throughout the work.
DOUBLE PLAY
for orchestraThe Detroit Symphony Orchestra's season finale Thursday night felt more like a season opener -- a party, a weekend celebration festooned with glittering masterworks displayed in heady performances. Indeed, there was something to celebrate: the conclusion of conductor Leonard Slatkin's very successful first full year as the DSO's music director. And Slatkin was on the podium, presiding over a generous and splendid mix of music old and new.
The new came first, in the world premiere of Cindy McTee's "Double Play," an ambitious, imaginative and altogether irresistible essay for large orchestra in two movements of head-turning brilliance. "Double Play" brought this year's DSO Elaine Lebenbom Prize to McTee, who teaches at the University of North Texas.
The work's opening movement, an homage to Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question," is called the "Unquestioned Answer," and it unfolds in sparkling harmonies and delicately layered textures reminiscent of Ives' 1906 composition. The second part of McTee's "Double Play," called "Tempus Fugit" (or Time Flies), takes a distinctly urban turn with its bluesy harmonies, tumbling syncopated rhythms and brisk tempos.
The two movements are linked by a rhythmically intricate rapping on wood blocks evocative of a cluster of clocks, each ticking to its own beat -- much like the opening scene in the film "Back to the Future."
But what makes McTee's work so compelling is the sheer magic of her orchestral writing. The orchestra is her canvas and she paints on it with the confidence of a master colorist. "Double Play" runs a deceptively brief 15 minutes, a quarter hour jam-packed with energy, musical invention and pure auditory delight.
Lawrence B. Johnson
The Detroit News––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Cindy McTee's "The Unquestioned Answer," the first movement of her crafty diptych, "Double Play," begins with a soft, portentous swoosh of percussion, a primordial orchestral swell and a rising melodic gesture by vibes and harp that reaches for the stars along the leaping intervals of a major 7th and a minor 13th.
The music, wound in existential mystery, unfolds in overlapping layers: Meandering string chords crawl in the basement. Brief bursts of astringent reeds and brass shoot through the texture and a series of solos -- flute, clarinet, violin, bassoon and more -- keep posing more questions. Or maybe the same question asked many ways.
Led by music director Leonard Slatkin, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of "Double Play" on Thursday as part of the final subscription week of the season. McTee, 57, is the winner of the DSO's third annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award for women composers.
The eclectic program gleefully hopped through the centuries, opening with McTee, retreating to the height of 19th-Century romanticism with Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 and teenage soloist Peng Peng, dropping back another 70 years to Mozart's "Haffner Symphony" and, finally, boomeranging to the 20th Century and Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite." Diversity is good, but stylistic whiplash made for some unsettling transitions, especially as McTee's sleek contemporary language gave way to Lisztian bravura.
Still, Slatkin and the DSO dove into all of the music with gusto and the 17-minute "Double Play" is one of the strongest new works that the conductor has introduced in Detroit. Insiders will pick up on her wink at Charles Ives' 100-year-old masterpiece, "The Unanswered Question." McTee riffs on Ives' collage aesthetic, his philosophical musing and recurring solo trumpet, whose probing melody McTee remolds and hands to a gaggle of soloists.
Despite the homage, the music maintains its own tension and pacing; its polished voice is spiced with just enough harmonic tannin to leave a bite in the finish. The second movement, "Tempus Fugit" ("Time Flies") opens with wood blocks in a syncopated-clock symphony that drags on too long, before exploding into a jazzy sprint of stuttering brass chords, off-beat accents and wildly undulating bass lines.
Rhythm is king here, and I was occasionally reminded of the eccentric mid-century composer Raymond Scott, whose whimsical, mechanized sound world is most familiar through Carl Stalling's Warner Bros. cartoon scores. Slatkin led a vital, rhythmically secure performance, capturing the heady vibe of the opening movement and the exciting snap of "Tempus Fugit." The soloists all distinguished themselves.
Mark Stryker
Detroit Free Press