Next weekend, April 3-5, BSO subscribers will be hearing guest conductor Dima Slobodeniouk lead Adolphus Hailstork’s Lachrymosa: 1919, Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, and the Elgar Violin Concerto with violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann. We had a pleasant conversation with Hailstork, a composer well represented at the BSO and Pops.

Next weekend should be busy and exciting for you. While the BSO is giving us Lachrymosa 1919, the Vista Philharmonic in Groton will be playing your Symphony No. 4, “Still Holding On.” Details HERE. Why did the BSO pick Lachrymosa and why now?

I think because of the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, they turned to a work on a relevant theme, the 1919 Red Summer uprising where angry white mobs murdered black migrants who had sought jobs in the north.  Your Lachrymosa sounds a little bit like the Barber Adagio. And. I’m just wondering how considering the horrible events you were reacting to, your anger, if any, is muted and turned inward. The overall tone is resignation. Shouldn’t those events make us angry as well as sad?

I did not know about these events until that year that I wrote it, some 30 years ago, so my reaction was sadness.

It’s surprising that you hadn’t heard of it. Is it because you grew up in a tolerant upstate New York? Did you experience any segregated education or any personal racism?

No.

I noticed that you won a 1971 Ernest Bloch prize for your choral composition Mourn Not the Dead, and I have the feeling that you sound more like a composer who studied with Bloch than one who studied with Boulanger. I mean, his music is more emotionally direct and warm and Boulanger seems more abstract. Do you have a Boulanger side and, and do you have any feelings about Ernest Bloch?

No, I never studied with him at all. It’s just a contest that I entered, and I did have success.

How did Nadia Boulanger influence you?

She emphasized listening very carefully and the coloration of the moment, as well as awareness of the background of a piece. It was a much more complex approach to music than I had experienced before that time.

And do you think that it was helpful?

Oh yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

You’re very prolific.  Does most of your music sound emotionally direct like Lachrymosa?

Most of my music does have some kind of background story, you might say, because I came up principally as a singer in choirs. The texts have meaning, and so abstract writing was not natural to me.

And Nadia didn’t try to break you of that?

Well, I was only there with her in Paris for three months, and there’s no reason for her to have tried to break me of anything. She told us to be ourselves.

You wrote Lachrymosa for the Virginia Symphony. But it’s not celebratory like your Fanfare on Amazing Grace which the BSO played a while back.

JoAnn Falletta commissioned it for an anniversary.  At the time, I had just heard about that particular piece of history and was deeply affected.

Are you getting a lot of commissions these days?

I’ve kind of sworn off commissions. I have one pending, actually, a couple pending. I have had a lot in the past six and seven years, and it’s an exhausting experience.

Are you responding to current events musically?

 I’m just writing for friends now, and having fun, okay?

You must be a great friend to have. You’ve written such warmly accessible things and a lot of beautiful choral music.

Thank you!

This may be a silly question, maybe, but I was thinking Lachrymosa for my eventual funeral. Does it make the list for yours?

I don’t think so. It’s a little too dour. There are other pieces that are more lyrical and actuallyrepresent me better. Lachrymosa was a surprise to me. I never ever expected that it would be picked up and performed, especially by major companies; it’s 30 years old. I do remember having asked my wife for myNdemara.  I wrote this symphonic nocturne in 2017 for a French chamber orchestra. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things I ever wrote. The second movement of my first piano concerto was gorgeous. I love that. I have pieces that I love a lot, and I think music people could be touched by.

Any recordings coming out?

As a matter of fact, the Mannes School Orchestra is going to be recording Ndemara on a disc with my Fourth Symphony. These are some of the good things that are happening. Great things.

I know that you have written “America is in a very fragile spot right now, with so much ugliness, so much vulgarity even from our leaders, that I think the country’s in trouble. What I try to address in some of my compositions is pulling for a sense of unity for us to look at ourselves, and see what we’ve done to our people and to each other, and see if we can do better.” But I’m happy that you feel good things are happening. I’m sure the BSO and Vista audiences will show their pleasure.

Good to talk.