‘Blue Electra’ soars
ALBANY — The Albany Symphony’s latest recording takes listeners skyward — from Amelia Earhart’s final flight to Buddy Holly’s last dance and Neil Armstrong’s leap onto the Moon — in a new album of world premiere works by Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty.
Released Friday by Naxos, “Blue Electra” features the Albany Symphony under the direction of David Alan Miller and violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. The album presents three orchestral works inspired by defining figures in 20th-century American history — all tied by the theme of flight, both literal and symbolic.
The centerpiece is the violin concerto “Blue Electra,” a four-movement reflection on the life and legacy of Amelia Earhart. Two movements draw from her poetry, unpublished until decades after her disappearance in 1937, while others imagine the pioneering aviator during her record-breaking transatlantic flight and the final attempt that led to her vanishing over the Pacific.
“I’ve always been fascinated by Amelia Earhart,” Daugherty said. “She flew high above like the violin soars over the orchestra. Her story — dramatic, brave, and unfinished — felt like it needed to be expressed in music.”
Daugherty, who is known for compositions rooted in American culture and history, immersed himself in Earhart’s personal writings and biography. He said the discovery of her poetry during research at Purdue University, where Earhart once taught aviation, gave him a new sense of her inner life. “She had an artistic side not everyone knows,” he said. “That gave me another way into her character.”
The album also includes “Last Dance at the Surf,” a one-movement orchestral piece commemorating the final performance of rock ’n’ roll legend Buddy Holly at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa — not far from Daugherty’s hometown. Holly, along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, died in a plane crash shortly after the show in February 1959.
“This was personal,” Daugherty said. “My father was a dance band drummer who played that same ballroom. I grew up nearby. I went back there before composing, just to take it all in.” While the work doesn’t quote Holly’s music directly, Daugherty said he channeled the spirit of those early rock melodies and the energy of the dance hall. “It’s about the joy and the tragedy — capturing that moment in time,” he said.
The album’s final work, “To the New World,” marks a shift in tone — a celebration of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. Focused on astronaut Neil Armstrong, the three-movement composition includes references to Dvořák’s New World Symphony (a recording Armstrong brought with him to the Moon), space-age bachelor pad music, and even a soprano line designed to imitate the theremin, a favorite sound of the astronaut.
“There’s some fun in that piece, no question,” Daugherty said. “It’s got quotes, it’s got textures like Ligeti from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it’s got the full range of the orchestra. I think it’s a real synthesis of everything I’ve done as a composer over the last 40 years.”
Music Director David Alan Miller, who has conducted Daugherty’s work for more than three decades, said the three pieces offer a powerful range of color and feeling. “Each one has its own sound world,” he said. “As a conductor, your goal is to help the orchestra find that
world and shape it. And with Michael’s music, the sound just fills the room beautifully.”
Miller called Blue Electra “a thrilling cliffhanger of a piece” and praised violinist Anne Akiko Meyers for her performance. “She’s phenomenal — and brings out the drama and emotion of the work in a way that makes it feel almost cinematic.”
Daugherty, a six-time Grammy Award-winner and longtime professor at the University of Michigan, has partnered with the Albany Symphony on multiple recordings. He credits Miller and the musicians for their commitment to new music. “David is a rare force in American music,” he said. “He champions living composers in a way that very few conductors do. The energy and dedication in Albany is special.”
Miller said the feeling is mutual. “To have a composer of Michael’s stature bring us this project — and trust us with it — is a real honor.”
