DELMAR — In the days of vikings, the Norsemen told stories of Heimdall guarding the burning rainbow bridge to Asgard, armed with his ringing horn they named Gjallarhorn. The watchman of the gods was so astute at his task, it was said he could hear the grass as it grew in the meadows. Legend had it that his trumpet would summon the gods, resonating through heaven, hell and the earth below, as the end of days approached.
Christopher Rouse drew inspiration from that myth as he composed “Heimdall’s Trumpet” in 2012. After it premiered at Symphony Center in Chicago later that year, critics called it one of the late composer’s finest works. Lawrence A. Johnson of the Chicago Classical Review wrote, “this should find a wide audience (for those hardy trumpeters who can handle its tortuous demands.”
Albany Symphony Orchestra’s principal trumpet is set to tackle the nearly 24-minute work when the Grammy Award-winning ensemble performs next at the Palace Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 11.
The evening is to include favorite selections from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” with the orchestra at center stage. The concert also includes Richard Strauss’ dynamic “Don Juan,” and a second work from Rouse, “Bassoon Concerto,” in what will be a tribute to the late Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who died in 2019.
Berlin joined Albany Symphony Orchestra as Principal Trumpet in 1998. He has since helped David Alan Miller carry the torch for contemporary composers in the classical music scene. On Saturday, he takes on the task of singing the life of a Norse god. For Berlin, it’s a performance he’s spent more than a year for which to prepare.
“Chris’ music is demanding,” Berlin said, adding how the acclaimed composer can shift from the most violent to the most tender. “It’s extreme — It’s extreme for the demands it places on an orchestra. It’s extreme, emotionally. … He gets the fullest range out of an orchestra’s performance.”
Before Rouse’s death, Berlin was to visit with the composer to prepare for a performance of the demanding piece. He was on sabbatical from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he is a pedagogue. He had plans to pursue several endeavors, including “Heimdall’s Trumpet.” Rouse died just months before he was originally set to perform last April. “I regret not being able to sit down and talk to him,” the trumpeter said.
Rouse had a dynamic range of interests that included Disney, Wagner and rock and roll. The latter of which he taught a class at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. It all played an influence on his writing.
“There’s this kind of interesting combination of a hard-rocking sentiment and a very great refinement and interest in the grand tradition,” Miller said of his friend, adding how Rouse would go on an annual pilgrimage to Disneyland with his family. “He was a real student and lover of American popular culture and even American kitsch sort of way. And that sort of forms his music. What I love most about his music, he is one of the most deeply emotional composers. He really cared about the emotion he was projecting in the music, more than anything.”
Berlin won’t listen to the Chicago premiere. Charles Schlueter, his former mentor and once principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, taught him to never play a piece the same way twice. Nonetheless, he has absorbed Rouse’s music. So much so, he said it is “in my ears” even while he’s not playing. He wasn’t able to meet with the composer but he has the sheet music. The program notes lend some foresight, in which Rouse calls upon a “whirlwind” of a movement before the marathon piece comes to a dramatic, forceful end.
“It’s inside of me very deeply,” Berlin said, “and I look forward to presenting it to everybody.”
Tickets start at just $20. Livestream access is also available for The Nutcracker. Order at 518-694-3300 or albanysymphony.com.
