Orchestra's towering ambitions

Wayne Oquin's contemporary concert piece reflects Tianjin ensemble's range and versatility, Chen Nan reports.

On Monday, the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra will bring an exciting new dimension to the ninth China Orchestra Festival at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts, with Tower Ascending by American composer Wayne Oquin.

Inspired by the dynamic New York skyline and the universal human ambition to rise, the piece will kick off the concert at the NCPA.

A faculty member at the Juilliard School in New York, Oquin lived in Manhattan for over 20 years, where, as he puts it, he saw "the steel scaffolding of high-rise construction almost daily".

"This process — gradual, continuous, at times loud and clangorous — and the symbolism of upward human aspiration were both on my mind in 2008 when the University of Georgia commissioned me to write a new concert piece on an urban theme," he explains.

"Tower Ascending has since become one of my most frequently performed compositions."

Oquin adds that for centuries, cultures around the world have measured their significance partly by the height of their architecture — from the Parthenon in Athens and the Colosseum in Rome, to the Egyptian pyramids, French cathedrals and Chinese pagodas, these monumental structures symbolize civilizations reaching for the sky.

"Whenever I arrange one of my pieces for different instruments, the music takes unexpected turns. Once a new color is added, it affects everything that's already there," Oquin says.

The composition sounds like a continuous crescendo. Just as a skyscraper is built beam by beam, floor by floor, the music layers successive phrases and rises in pitch and intensity, accelerating in tempo and harmonic rhythm, gradually growing more dissonant. The 8-minute piece is divided into two parts — slow and fast — each culminating in an extended clarinet solo.

"I would be hard-pressed to name just one particular high-rise that inspired me," Oquin says.

"But more than the style or features of any one structure, it's the symbolic strength and drive for achievement that I most want to convey."