Honoring veterans and victims with music

Young Chang

After interviewing more than 35 veterans about the state of war, the

smell of it, the sounds, the touch, the taste and, most hauntingly, the

aftertaste, Richard Danielpour came up with one word to characterize life

on the front lines:

Extreme.

“Utterly extreme in every way,” the New York composer said. “Extreme

cold, heat, numbness, pain.”

His 60-minute orchestral piece “An American Requiem,” which receives

its world premiere Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center

in Costa Mesa, communicates the extremities of life and death.

Dedicated to the people who died on Sept. 11 and American soldiers of

the past, present and future, “Requiem” was started three years ago as a

conclusion to Danielpour’s residency with the Pacific Symphony.

Next week’s performances will involve more than 260 musicians, the

Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Chorale and soloists Stephanie

Blythe, Hugh Smith and Mark Oswald.

“There’s also something very consoling in the piece,” said the

Grammy-nominated Danielpour. “It attempts to be a real embrace. Maybe we

need a bit of that.”

The first half of the concert, titled “America Sings,” will highlight

a sampling of works by George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, William Schuman,

Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom and Frank Ticheli. John Forsyte,

president of Pacific Symphony, calls the musical compilation of American

styles a “tapestry.”

“With Bernstein and Gershwin it’s gonna end with a very rousing

conclusion,” he added.

Danielpour’s “Requiem” will make up the second half. The monumental

piece -- both extremely loud and extremely soft -- received its

dedication on the morning of Sept. 11 after two airplanes hit the World

Trade Centers.

Danielpour, whose recent projects include a cello concerto for Yo-Yo

Ma and the New York Philharmonic, had just gotten the close-to-final

draft of his score in the mail. All it needed was editing and a

dedication. He was on the phone with his New York editor at about 9 a.m.,

talking about how to preface the work. The planes struck, the composer

and his editor stayed on the phone each in states of shock, and suddenly

it became obvious to Danielpour that the dedication needed to be to the

victims.

“I think what has happened, oddly enough, has brought all of the

things I was researching into a very immediate and omnipresent

situation,” Danielpour said. “In many ways, the veterans gave the

emotional and intellectual resource to understand what’s going on right

now.”

“Requiem” started with conversations between Danielpour and friends

who had served in World War II, the Vietnam War and the Korean War.

Danielpour, 45, was born 11 years after World War II ended and the wars

in Asia didn’t directly affect him as a teen.

Conversations born out of curiosity soon became interviews. The scope

of Danielpour’s research widened, resulting in more than 35 talks with

veterans. He ended up with a story of war, hellishness, insanity and,

above all, integrity.

Forsyte said this is the message of “Requiem.”

“About the duality of war,” he said. “It represents both the worst

side of human endeavors and the best side.”

Danielpour said the thread of integrity wove through every veteran’s

story, regardless of the capacity in which they served.

“The integrity of these soldiers was awe-inspiring to me,” he said.

With an equal mix of American poetry (everything from Walt Whitman to

African-America spirituals) and texts sung in Latin from the Roman

Catholic Requiem Mass, Danielpour’s piece is performed by a chorus as

well as soloists to symbolize the personal and global personalities of

war. Mezzo-soprano Blythe represents the grieving mothers of fallen

soldiers. In interviews with the veterans, Danielpour learned that dying

soldiers most often asked for their mothers.

“It’s not just about the policemen and firemen,” he said, referring to

Sept. 11 as an analogy. “But it’s about family too. About survivors as

well as the lost.”

FYI

WHAT: “America Sings”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday

WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

COST: $21-$56. Prices for veterans and current military, police, fire

and emergency personnel and their families will be $12 or $15.

CALL: (714) 755-5799