Classical Music
Behind the scenes: Team Marsalis and the status of Wynton’s “Blues Symphony”
Last week, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and music director Robert Spano played about 18 minutes of new music composed by Wynton Marsalis — two movements from the planned “Blues Symphony,” billed as a 50-minute, seven-movement symphony that aims to explore the roots of American music. It was the third time the completed work’s world premiere has been postponed, and the ASO now says it will perform the complete work at a concert in January.
For an ArtsCriticATL news article, confirmed by multiple sources inside the ASO, I wrote: “Marsalis apparently can’t finish writing it, and keeps missing his deadline. Two of the planned seven movements are completed and playable. Two more are in rough draft form. The rest is still in Marsalis’ head.”
Oh, well. Across the history of music, it has been rather common for a composer to work in fits and starts, to take longer than planned to write a big work, to revise, expand, discard, rework, edit and, sometimes, produce a masterpiece out of it all.
The day after the ASO concert, which I reviewed for the AJC, an interesting comment arrived on ArtsCriticATL to my earlier Marsalis post. A copyist, FYI, is usually someone who’ll take a composer’s hand-written notes and put it on paper, or into a computer program, so the score looks nice and clean and readable. (Taking bows, Spano and Marsalis at center stage. Photo by Jeff Roffman.)
Comment comes first, followed by my reply:
Comment:
——–
Dear Mr. Ruhe,
My name is Jonathan Kelly. I work with Mr. Marsalis as a copyist. I have the full score of the Blues Symphony complete with all seven movements. The piece is not being played in it’s entirety because of a lack of rehearsal time, not because the piece has not been finished. I’ve spent 5 months of my life; day and night, working side by side Wynton. I’ve gone on two tours with him; 9 countries; 31 different cities, working on the music. So perhaps you can trust my first hand account; he is not “creatively paralyzed”.
I think that the premiere of the first two movements this week have shown that the great work of Mr. Robert Spano and the musicians of the ASO is going to lead to a very inspired performance in January. I hope you and the good folks of Atlanta enjoy the hard work that Wynton and I have put in on this project.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Kelly
Dear Mr. Kelly,
Thank you for your comment clarifying the status of Wynton Marsalis’ “Blues Symphony.” Since you are intimately connected to the score, I’ll take at face value what you say about all seven movements being complete. You don’t say if it is all orchestrated and made into parts for the musicians to play, or if the ASO has received a copy — (or when they received it) — but I’m happy to learn the work is finished. I’m eager to hear it all in January.
That said, I’m puzzled by your letter and your assertion that “a lack of rehearsal time” is the reason someone decided on two of seven.
The Atlanta Symphony had all along planned for a seven movement symphony of almost an hour’s duration, and set aside the necessary rehearsal time to tackle such a work. And the new Marsalis symphony was programmed alongside familiar works that the orchestra has played in recent seasons and knows well. So if the ASOhad received a completed copy of Marsalis’ seven-movement score before the start of the first rehearsal for that week’s program it would be a curious situation that the ASO not play it for the reasons you suggest. You’ve created a mystery where there was none before.
Given Wynton Marsalis’ popularity, and the growing prestige of his catalogue, I suspect this is a subject we’ll hear more about.
Thanks again for taking the time to write. I always find the workings of composers and the process of creativity a fascinating topic.
Best regards,
Pierre
And the conversation continues in the COMMENTS section…
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4 Comments, Comment or Ping
Pierre
Jonathan Kelly said:
Hello Mr. Ruhe, I’m glad to read your response to my note. The original agreement between Mr. Marsalis and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra was for a 30 minute piece. As I’m sure you noticed at the concert, there was a video before the performance where this exact point was addressed by Wynton and Mr. Spano. Wynton joked that most of his pieces end up being longer than initially intended. I, as Wynton’s primary copyist over the past 10 years can confirm that point; I can confirm it with words and I can confirm it with the permanent bags under my eyes.
So, your statement that “The Atlanta Symphony had all along planned for a seven movement symphony of almost an hour’s duration” is incorrect. They had planned on a piece that would be 30 minutes in duration. As it became clear that the piece would be much longer (and more involved) than originally inteded; it also became clear that we would need to make other arrangements.
The 2 movements that we chose to play were 21 minutes and not 18. It may sound petty, but it would only sound petty to someone who hasn’t composed for a symphony orchestra. There are a lot of notes in 3 minutes–especially when those notes are as challenging as the music that Wynton has written. I don’t have a creative stake in this project. I stay up for months at a time, put notes into a computer and hope they are accurate enough to help complete a composer’s vision and generally, I remain nameless/faceless. Your original note struck a chord with me because of it’s inaccuracies.
We delivered 5 of the seven movements before the start of rehearsal. The final two would’ve been delivered, but I put aside working on them because a phone call between Wynton, Mr. Spano and myself made it clear that there would not be enough rehearsal time for the entire piece. I don’t want to speak for Wynton (but I will!!): We had a great time rehearsing and performing with Mr. Spano and the ASO.
Despite your criticism; the movements were met with standing ovations all three performances. January will be an inspired performance I’m sure. I wish that you had responded while I was still in Atlanta as I would’ve been glad to sit down, look at the scores and have a disucussion about Blues Symphony. Perhaps when we return in January, that opportunity will present itself.
Sincerely, Jonathan Kelly
Pierre
Jonathan Kelly said:
PS–I didn’t notice the title to your piece until after the short novel I wrote. My note was in no way an attack on you or your writing. While I work with Wynton hand in hand with his composing, I also work with countless other composers. So, lumping me in as some sort of Wynton side-kick is, at best, condescending. As far as “striking back” goes, I was merely pointing out inaccuracies in your original post–and doing so in a very friendly way. I think I would prefer “Jonathan Kelly Points Out an Inaccuracy in My Article”
Pierre Ruhe
Thanks for continuing to fill in the specifics. Mr. Kelly. My original headline, Team Marsalis Strikes Back, had a snarkier tone than I meant to imply, so even before your comment I changed it. (The article’s URL retains the original wording.) Still, it was designed as a snappy headline to attract readers’ attention and, well, you are part of the team led by Marsalis that put together the work. No personal offense meant — I’m glad you clarified the story with your insights! Pierre
Pierre Ruhe
This gets more interesting. The Atlanta Symphony is on vacation this week, so the flow of information had stopped … until an email arrived from an ASO musician, who approved an excerpt be reprinted. — Pierre
The musician writes:
“I can not comment on the readiness of the piece, because I don’t know those particular details. I can tell you that the parts for those first two movements, which we played, showed up first. 3 other movements showed up very close to when we were starting rehearsals. It seems to me that you already had this information from the orchestra in your first article, so it is a little unfair to be accused of misrepresenting what was correct.
As far as rehearsal time, we spent a great deal of time working on those two movements without any time left over to tackle the other 3. The reason for this was that Wynton was at two rehearsals and really had to educate the orchestra on how to play in the style he was looking for. His parts are orchestrated in a way that makes it challenging to get the result he is looking for.
Wynton is an incredible musician and he educated us by singing much of what was in the parts in the style that he wanted. The process was time consuming; getting a bunch of classically trained musicians to figure out how to play blues in a couple of rehearsals. Basically, to sum it up, We were trying to play in a style that is foreign to many of us, and he was trying to compose for a group that he is not as experienced with composing for.
It was not a negative experience, it was fascinating….”
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