David Diamond's Rounds for String Orchestra
Classic in American Music Repertory Celebrates 65 Years
Jul 19, 2009
As World War II raged, landmark American music emerged. The year 1944 saw boundless creativity, if for no other reason than all the prominent American composers were entering their prime years.
That year, Morton Gould premiered his Symphony on Marching Tunes two days before the D-Day invasion. Roy Harris wrote his "Gettysburg" symphony, his Sixth, against the backdrop of the world at war in 1944. It was the year Paul Creston completed his Second Symphony, an underrated entry in the American symphonic catalog. And in 1944, Aaron Copland would finish one of the finest achievements in American music: Appalachian Spring.
It was in this environment, which was bringing out the best in these composers, that 29-year-old David Diamond agreed to write a work for string orchestra on a commission by Dimitri Mitropoulos. The conductor needed a considerable shot in the arm, a respite from the moody, discordant music he consistently debuted with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (the Minnesota Orchestra today).
David Diamond's Music and Rounds' Conception
The decision to call Diamond made sense. At this time he structured his music in a strictly tonal idiom. In this fruitful period, he had already done two symphonies, with his Second Symphony a moving, full-scale, 40-minute wartime expression that dwarfed his First. Perhaps Diamond's emotional well was running dry after something as demanding as his Second Symphony. This would be a change of pace.
Mitropoulos' oft-quoted suggestion to Diamond, which invariably is incorporated into the programs and liner notes, is thus: "Write me a happy work. These are distressing times, most of the difficult music I play is distressing. Make me happy."
Diamond's response, Rounds, did the job. A 14-minute, three-movement work without pause, the thematic material is deceptively simple, yet proceeds organically through the string orchestra in advanced 16th-note patterns and in occasional fugues. The entire work is based on a descending third: B to G sharp. That's it. The key changes periodically in the finale, but that one idea, free from complication, is all Diamond needs.
The fast opening movement glides along with this repeating B-to-G-sharp motive as its anchor. It's joyous and buoyant, with an armory of different bowing techniques in spots to keep the strings honest. Suddenly the drive of that introduction subsides, and four arresting chords of varying dynamic levels lead to the middle Adagio.
It's gorgeous. It reminds the studious listener of his First Symphony adagio, written several years earlier. But this is something else entirely. Again, it's a simple melody in the violins, yet it's one of deep introspection. The harmonies are especially sensuous.
Suddenly, a new theme initiates the final movement, while the basses eschew the subtlety of the previous music in a pronounced Bartok pizzicato. Both themes are pitted against one another, yet the prevailing descending third, now from E to C sharp, takes over the whirling finish.
Performances of Rounds: From Dimitri Mitropoulos to Gerard Schwarz
Rounds for String Orchestra occupied most of Diamond's summer and he put the last touches on it right around this time 65 years ago. Praise was immediate after its premiere with Mitropoulos on November 24, 1944. Rounds joined select company with special recognition from the New York Music Critics' Circle. It quickly became one of his most popular pieces, a definitive account of American composition at the midway point of the 20th century.
Chamber orchestras and symphony orchestras alike program Rounds regularly for its audience-ready virtuosity. Diamond champion Gerard Schwarz, who recorded it beautifully with the Seattle Symphony in 1995, performed it again with the same group for concerts in April 2009. And after the success of Rounds, Diamond's esteemed career as a composer was only getting started.
