Family Values
One of the most touching words in any language is the word (or its equivalent) “family.” We all have come from a family, no matter the pleasant or difficult aspects of our own particular life. Our human nature, indeed, has come into being in the context of our family heritage. Something in us knows deeply how much each of us depends on those around us, those that are closest to us. For most of our history as human beings we have considered family to be made up of those genetically closest to us, our kin. From these relationships have arisen ideas like “blood is thicker than water.” Yet, in today's world there is a growing realization that our families extend far beyond our kin. All of us, in a very real, very daily, and very vital sense, are brothers and sisters, living on this beautiful green and blue planet together. Tonight, through the miraculous medium of music, we celebrate together our shared family values!
And how appropriate is it that we, as a greater family, as a community, begin our 2007-2008 musical season in a new (and old) venue, the refurbished Grove Theater, part of our city's past and now destined to be part of its future. The newly expanded stage is shared by our own Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and The McLain Family, proud bearers of the rich musical heritage of our Eastern Mountains. As you entered, surely you felt those ghosts of bygone days flit by you to embrace the shimmering spirits of our new age. What a wonderful evening to be alive!Aaron Copland (1900-1990) Hoedown from the ballet, Rodeo
Aaron Copland, one of America's greatest 20th century composers, once said, “To explain the creative musician's basic objective in elementary terms, I would say that a composer writes music to express and communicate and put down in permanent form certain thoughts, emotions and states of being. He expresses these thoughts (musical ones...) in the musical language of his own time.” As you listen to the Hoedown from Rodeo, you will thoroughly understand what the maestro meant.Lamar Stringfield (1897-1959)
Mountain Song, From the Southern Mountains, Op. 41, No. 1
Lamar Stringfield, a past member of our extended Appalachian family, received a Pulitzer Prize for the orchestral suite From the Southern Mountains. He organized the Institute of Folk Music at the University of North Carolina in 1930 and was the first conductor of the North Carolina Symphony from 1932 to 1935. He was with the Knoxville Symphony (1946-47) and the Charlotte Symphony (1948-49). Some of his works include Carolina Charcoal (1952), The Legend of John Henry (1932), From the Southern Mountains (1927), and Indian Sketches for a flute and string quartet. Tonight we get a taste of those southern mountains – our southern mountains – as we hear his Mountain Song.Phillip Rhodes (b. 1940)
Concerto for Bluegrass Band and Orchestra
Born and raised in western North Carolina, just across the hills from us, Phillip Rhodes' work is as strongly influenced by the traditional music of the Appalachian South as by the classical music tradition that guided his early training. Lilting fiddle tunes, tear jerking ballads, and compelling hymns permeate several of his most well-known works, including Reels and Reveries (Variations for Orchestra), the Concerto for Bluegrass Band and Orchestra, Fiddletunes for Solo Violin and Synthesized Strings, Three Appalachian Settings for Chorus and Fiddle, and Two Appalachian Settings for String Quartet. Tonight we hear his most famous piece, Concerto for Bluegrass Band and Orchestra. Is this crossover music or what? Sit back and enjoy it.The McLain Family, Musical Selections.
After intermission, the McLain Family takes center stage. It won't take you long to understand why they fill a unique niche in our region's musical heritage. What started in the late 1960s as a way for one family to spend time together resulted in 14 albums and performances in more than 60 countries. The group features Raymond K. McLain on vocals; his son, Raymond W. McLain on fiddle, banjo and vocals; his three daughters, Alice White, Ruth Smith and Nancy Ann Wartman, on mandolin, bass and vocals; and his son-in-law, Al White, on multiple instruments and vocals. It's okay to smile, even to lean over and give that significant other beside you a warm hug.Here are the numbers we'll hear: You Sing For Me, The Fast Lane, Kentucky Wind and Troublesome Creek (from Troublesome Creek Suite), I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart. Back up and Push, The Cuckoo, finishing up with Bound for Gloryland.
There's a lot of that wider spirit of family in the McLain Family's music, indeed an awareness that all of us, whoever we are and wherever we came from, are in this life together, stirred and teased truly by the same breezes that know no boundaries. As they say in the words of Kentucky Wind,
If I could only see things as the wind does
In its restless journey through the land.
Then I'd know the meaning of its message
And I'd shout it out for all to understand.
Sing to me, Kentucky wind, sing to me.