American Symphony Orchestra’s “New York Resounds” Finds Power in Reflection and Resilience

NEW YORK — The American Symphony Orchestra brought its “New York Resounds” program to the Kupferberg Center for the Arts in Queens on Sunday, presenting an afternoon of orchestral music built around remembrance, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit.

Led by conductor Leon Botstein, the September 13 concert assembled works by Aaron Copland, George Walker, Charles Ives, Joseph Haydn, and Gustav Mahler. Rather than concentrating on a single musical period, the program moved across centuries, creating connections between American musical identity and the emotional intensity of the European symphonic tradition.

The result was a thoughtfully constructed program in which each composition contributed a distinct perspective. Heroism, contemplation, disruption, mourning, and uncertainty all appeared across the five works, giving the performance a clear emotional progression.

Opening With an American Musical Landmark

Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” provided an appropriate foundation for the concert.

Written in 1942, the piece remains one of Copland’s most recognizable compositions. Its prominent brass and percussion writing gives it a ceremonial scale, yet its title deliberately shifts attention away from traditional ideas of famous heroes and toward ordinary people.

Within “New York Resounds,” the selection established the larger themes of the afternoon. Its direct musical language and expansive character created an opening centered on dignity and collective strength.

From Copland, the program turned toward George Walker’s “Lyric for Strings,” composed in 1946.

Walker, who later became the first Black composer to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music, created a work that stands in striking contrast to Copland’s commanding fanfare. “Lyric for Strings” emphasizes sustained lines and expressive string writing, producing an atmosphere that is more intimate and contemplative.

Placing these pieces together demonstrated the range of emotion an orchestra can communicate without relying on words. Where Copland provided public ceremony, Walker offered private reflection.

Charles Ives Brings a Different American Voice

Charles Ives’ “The Gong on the Hook and Ladder” introduced another side of American composition.

Ives frequently incorporated sounds and musical ideas associated with everyday American life into his work. His approach could be unconventional, energetic, and deliberately unpredictable, qualities that distinguished him from many composers of his generation.

Including Ives between the more reflective selections prevented “New York Resounds” from becoming musically uniform. His distinctive musical language added contrast while reinforcing the program’s strong American foundation.

That variety was one of the concert’s most interesting characteristics. Instead of using five pieces that communicated remembrance in the same way, the orchestra presented compositions with sharply different personalities.

Haydn Looks Toward the Classical Tradition

The program then reached further into musical history with Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 in E minor, commonly known as the “Trauersinfonie,” or “Mourning Symphony.”

Composed in 1772, the symphony belongs to a dramatically expressive period of Haydn’s career. Its minor-key intensity made it particularly suitable for a program concerned with remembrance and human resilience.

Haydn’s inclusion also expanded the scope of the performance beyond American music. Hearing an 18th-century symphony alongside works by Copland, Walker, and Ives encouraged audiences to consider how composers from different periods have used instrumental music to address serious emotional ideas.

The contrast was significant. Copland’s musical vocabulary is unmistakably connected to 20th-century America, while Haydn represents the foundations of the Classical symphonic tradition. Yet both can communicate gravity and strength through completely different musical languages.

Mahler Provides an Unresolved Conclusion

Gustav Mahler’s Adagio from Symphony No. 10 served as the final work on the program in an arrangement by Cliff Colnot.

Mahler began his Tenth Symphony near the end of his life but did not complete the entire work before his death in 1911. The Adagio has consequently developed a distinctive place in the orchestral repertoire, standing both as part of an unfinished larger project and as a substantial musical statement in its own right.