Album Notes

The Symphony No. 9 in E Minor; Opus 50 – The Children Of The Earth

Disk One

Track 1 – Movement One, Section One - Adagio – Beginning in the high strings in E Minor, the adagio begins quietly, lending the picture of tranquility. “The peace and harmony of the child's life is often sought and never regained in the adult's life...” writes the composer, Michelle Ende'. This first movement is peaceful, but with a air of foreboding that suggests that something is brewing. The initial movement drifts in and out of the major tonic and back again into the minor. A disturbing peace at best. 9:23

Track 2 – Movement One, Section Two – Adagietto – The cellos take a lead and begin to move the work toward some unseen goal, as if the music were depicting the steady growth of the child toward adulthood. The original theme in the first section is worked and modified in this section. “It is a tale of knights and damsels, swords and dragons...” the composer states in her notes, “the kind of bedtime story we have all heard, bringing us near sleep. A lone trumpet seems to herald us into sleep. 7:34

Track 3 – Movement One, Section Three - Allegro Moderato; Agitato – The nightmares of childhood are depicted here. Ironically, in contrast to the fifth movement, this is a safe nightmare, the dragons are not real, the demons in the room are only phantasms. The demons in the real world have not yet been brought to light. In this sense, the nightmare of the child is only an unreal experience, but not the real thing. 4:32

Track 4 – Movement One, Section Four – Moderato Expressivo – The parent returns, the lights are turned on, and the child is comforted. The entire first movement is what a child's life should be, peace, adventure, a little scare, and overall, the comfort of mother and father, close by and at hand. Clarinets and cellos bring this movement to light, comforting the listener as one would a child. Truly, how can any of this terror be real? The movement closes with a grand restatement of themes and a resolution that there are some safe places for children in this world. 8:39

Track 5 – Movement Two – Adagietto; Poco Andante - The second movement begins in the strings with sad thematic material depicting the real world of children in the greater arena of planet earth. Starving, betrayed, butchered, and abandoned. “This work is an indictment on the adult world and its treatment of children and this censure is not limited to any one country, but to the entire planet.” As the movement progresses, the thematic material is worked by different sections of the orchestra, growing in both strength and scope, ending in a great Kyrie statement drawn directly from the Symphony Number One, tying the First and the Ninth together into a completed thought. Where the Kyrie asked for mercy for the one, it now asks for mercy for the many, the children of this earth. 8:51

Track 6 – Movement Three – Allegro Moderato Con Rubato – This movement begins again in the lower strings in a melancholy tone and then drifts into a macabre waltz with Bassoon and Oboe and Viola as some bizarre trio. The composer makes no comment on this movement. However, looking at her previous works such as the Sixth symphony, the composer uses macabre humor to lift the mood a bit, but not let the listener forget that the material is serious and should be taken thus. The movement ends with great Trombones and Wagner Tuba announcing some kind of victory; perhaps the victory of the child's spirit over the circumstances into which they have been haplessly cast. 10:30

Disk Two

Track 1 – Movement Four – Vivo Con Moto – The Fourth movement takes a variation of Ring Around The Rosie and works with it in a lively presentation of a scherzo section, in keeping with symphonic tradition. The theme is repeated in various guises to vibrant strings. A turning point has been reached in this work and a decision to face the demons of the world, not with fear but with strength and courage, as is borne out in the final movement of this dynamic work. 9:44

Track 2 – Movement Five, Section One – Agitato Sostenuto; Lacrimoso – “The demons chained in Hell rattle to be released. More worry, more despair to be let out upon the world. Angrily they strive to be released upon the world. War and the rumors of war. Indignity and poverty. Contrasting this chain rattling is a major version of the Ring Around The Rosie, but not as a sing song rhyme. Now it is taking on the shape of a march. 5:57

Track 3 – Movement Five, Section Two – Allegro Moderato; Maestoso – Abruptly, the movement stops and a restatement of what is at stake here, is announced in Solo English Horn. Great plans are being laid forth and “the chains of Hell are being met with the anvils of Heaven, in the form of the human spirit, for it is truly children that shall lead them...” the composer writes. And truly, throughout the movement, one hears the rattle of snare drum and the striking of anvils, as if both good and evil are swirling around each other in an eternal struggle. 6:04

Track 4 – Movement Five, Section Three – Larghetto Misterioso – And it is hear that the composer's genius shines. From her notes, she states that “I did not want a professional chorus for this. I wanted real children to appear on stage and state their case, using my lyrics. I wanted the audience to shrink from the reality that children such as these, standing on stage, are being tortured, raped, beaten, left to die of shame, poverty, and disease on a daily basis. This is borne out in the words the children speak:

What have you visited upon us?
What nightmares have you loosed among us?
We are your children
We are the leaves in the branches, the smallest part
We are the future you stand before, the greatest part.
We are the butchered and betrayed, the tearful and afraid.
We are your children
Enough now enough
No more secrets, we know your agendas
No more lies, we know our truths
We know now who we are and we are powerful
We know what we believe and stand unwavering
We are the coming storm

Here is the indictment. Not made by other adults or lawyers and empty politicians, but by the children themselves. Face us now, they seem to say, for you will deal with us in one way or another. We are the coming storm.; an unavoidable one, as we as humanity sow what we reap. 11:24

Track 5 – Movement Five, Section Four – Maestoso – A recapitulation ensues here, heralding from the third movement. The change in mood is palpable. It is now victorious. Triumph is within reach and the orchestra prepares us for the final section of the work. 3:22

Track 6 – Movement Five, Section Five – Poco Allegro Grande – A softer and gentler pleading with the audience ensues. The anger is gone now as the children have asserted their rightful place in this world. Great Double Bass announce the end of the movement and the end of the work as it builds to its triumphant conclusion with orchestral chimes, cymbals clanging, and the orchestra at “tutti”, which means everyone. A magnificent work. 4:37

As the work comes to a close, it is the bells of heaven and not the chains of hell that triumph in this mighty work. There is hope for all of us if there is hope for the children. So ends a magnificent piece of music. This reviewer has been privileged to be allowed into the world of Michelle Ende' and the workings of The Bay Area Philharmonic.

For the composer – Peter Stansilauw