Magnus Lindberg

Sculpture

Composed in 2005 to commission by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Serge Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress, in memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky. The world première took place at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles. The 23-minute score is dedicated to Frank Gehry, architect of Disney Hall, and Lindberg’s music explores the sonic spaces of the then new concert venue. As well as deploying antiphonal brass in the final section, the work as a whole reconfigures the orchestra from the bass register upwards, eliminating violins altogether. The Los Angeles Times elaborated: "The result is a lot of low instruments — pairs of contrabassoons, pairs of tubas and Wagner tubas, pairs of pianos and harps mellowing out the whoops for joy. The violas are the highest strings … Disney Hall is especially happy with bass notes, and Lindberg gave it its fill. In the middle, Sculpture turns into a miniature concerto for orchestra, focusing on different instrumental sections competing to be the most dazzling. At the end the organ came rumbling in, lingering 'Zarathustra'-like in its low register. Tubas and other brass instruments took positions around the hall … The piece climaxes with rousing Stravinskyan rhythms … The orchestral writing is that of a master.”