April 14-20, 2005

musicpicks

Jennifer Higdon

classical

Eclecticism is all the rage these days in the world of concert music. This is a good thing, basically, giving young composers a huge basket of tools to choose from when constructing new work. But it also makes it more challenging to form a coherent structure, and the old nationalistic styles that can be comforting to the listener are getting more blurry. And so it is refreshing to hear a truly original voice working within a consciously native framework. Jennifer Higdon — born in Brooklyn, raised in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and now Philadelphia's own — is such a composer. She can sing the praises of the city skyline and conjure the flow of a mountain creek. A program of songs and chamber music concluding the Curtis Alumni Recital Series definitely leans toward the pastoral side of her musical personality, with pieces inspired by the open skies of the American West, cool summer breezes and bright fall colors. Higdon is a fast rising star among American composers (she had three Grammy nominations this year) because she has established music with a winning combination of attributes: interesting and original but expressed in a lyrical and accessible way. This concert presents a nice range of the state of her art.

Sun., April 17, 3 p.m., $25, Curtis Institute, Field Concert Hall, 1726 Locust St., 215-893-7902.

—Peter Burwasser