Lenox — Leonard Bernstein’s protégés walk among us every summer on the hallowed grounds of Tanglewood. Some are specially invited guests, such as Michael Tilson Thomas, who will conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 on August 12. Others are a part of daily life at the Tanglewood Music Center, where they teach and mentor TMC fellows and participate in concert performances.
Michael Gandolfi, for example, was a TMC composition fellow in 1986, the last year Leonard Bernstein coached composition students at Tanglewood, which means he was privileged to experience Lenny’s mentorship personally. Gandolfi, whose association with Tanglewood goes back nearly four decades, joined the Center’s faculty in 1997 and now heads its composition program. Also, he is a longtime faculty member of New England Conservatory’s composition department.
Gandolfi contributes to TMC and BSO concert performances by composing new music. The TMC and BSO have commissioned several of his pieces, most notably his “Garden of Cosmic Speculation,” which the TMC orchestra premiered in August 2004. The BSO commissioned Gandolfi’s “Night Train to Perugia” for Tanglewood’s 75th anniversary, premiering it on August 5, 2012, with Lorin Maazel conducting. The TMC commissioned his vocal work “Carroll in Numberland” for the Center’s own 75th anniversary and premiered it with Dawn Upshaw in the summer of 2015.
The Tanglewood Music Center commissioned Gandolfi’s “In America” for six voices and orchestra as part of Tanglewood’s celebration of the Leonard Bernstein centenary. Conceived as a response to Bernstein’s song cycle “Songfest” (which the BSO will perform at Tanglewood on August 4), Gandolfi’s new work dares to ask what it means to be an American. Could there be a more timely question?
Gandolfi writes: “Throughout our history we have endured periods of extreme unrest and strife. But it is precisely these periods that propel us to action, compelling us to participate in our democratic process. We voice what we believe to be right, yet knowing that we are living with fellow citizens who may stand strongly in favor of an opposing view.”
He continues, “To quote presidential historian Jon Meacham in his new book, ‘The Soul of America: The Battle of Our Better Angels,’ ‘The good news is that we have come through such darkness before.'”
It’s safe to say that Mr. Gandolfi’s mind, like that of a man who knows he is soon to be hanged, has been, as Samuel Johnson once put it, “wonderfully concentrated.” (This, of course, is the state of mind all artists want, need and constantly desire to occupy.)
So — and this is only a guess — Gandolfi’s “In America” could turn out to be some of the best music he has ever written. Why? Because he knows perfectly well what it means to be an American, and he has something to say about it: something incisive and heartfelt. Thus, he writes: “I imagined the strategy Bernstein might have applied to ‘Songfest’ had it been written today, knowing full well that he was very outspoken about his political times. It is in this spirit that I approached ‘In America,’ as well as channeling a few features of American music, which was clearly a lifelong passion of Bernstein’s.”
Another living link to Bernstein history is Stefan Asbury, who was Leonard Bernstein’s last conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Asbury is now head of TMC’s conducting program. You could say Asbury was lucky, but when you see the man working, he doesn’t seem lucky at all. He seems talented, skilled, intensely determined and as focused as a laser on the composer’s intentions. Leonard Bernstein would have recognized these qualities.
Stefan Asbury will conduct the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra on July 23 in Leonard Bernstein’s “Facsimile, Choreographic Essay for Orchestra,” the world premiere of Michael Gandolfi’s “In America,” and Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3.
