Chorale and Tribute: Orchestre Symphonique

Chorale (2001–02), for orchestra, is a kind of musical meditation on the chorale Es ist genug from Bach’s cantata O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, itself a harmonisation of J R Ahle’s 1662 hymn. Nick Kimberley’s preface outlines the context of the Bach original and refers to Alban Berg’s use of the chorale in his Violin Concerto almost 300 years later. In contrast to both of these works, Lindberg’s Chorale has no extra-musical agenda. The composer explains that he took the harmonic structure of the chorale and embedded it in his own harmonies. “I make an analogy with the rise and fall of the tide. When the tide is in, the sea-bed is invisible; but when the tide goes out, you see the rock formation on the sea-bed.”Tribute is a short show-piece for full orchestra composed in 2004 as a gift to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.