Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
One of my favorite pieces is Hector Berlioz' Harold in Italy, a tone poem for solo viola and orchestra. Having grown up in Hunterdon and Somerset counties in north-central New Jersey, I got to play 'Harold' with Somerset County's symphony orchestra, but never with Hunterdon County's....until now:
April 26th, 2025 at 7:30pm in Flemington, NJ. Click here for tickets.
This concert will be dedicated to the memory of another violist-composer who grew up in Hunterdon County, Carlton Cooley. Cooley was the principal violist of Toscanini's NBC Symphony and can be heard as the soloist for the NBC's 1956 recording of Harold in Italy.
In addition to 'Harold', the Hunterdon Symphony will be performing Cooley's composition Caponsacchi and my own Nocturne in its version for string orchestra.
To address the elephant in the room, yet not belabor the point: I committed to playing 'Harold' well before the last US presidential election. Many musicians have been cancelling their US concerts, and I agree with their concerns. Until the thin veneer of American civilization can somehow be restored, this will be my last trip to the US to play a concert.
One of Scott's earliest musical attempts in Hunterdon County, 1970's
In 1988, the Hunterdon Symphony was one of the first orchestras to play something I wrote, and the piece ended with a viola solo, which the principal violist, Vic Bauer, suggested I play from the back of the section. In retrospect, that concert--- thirty-seven years ago--- was probably the first thing I ever did (in public at least) as a 'violist-composer'.
After our violacentric concert on the 26th, I'll fly away via Newark, where I was born. This whole trip creates something of a palindrome of my time in the US, and the symmetry appeals to the composer in me.
The Red Mill in Clinton New Jersey viewed from across the Raritan River.
(Photo by Christopher Lotito)
Hunterdon County, where I lived until I was fourteen, is mostly rural with some suburban towns here and there. It is on the western edge of the New York metropolitan area and is about an hour straight west by car from Manhattan (where I spent most of my teen years.) The red mill, pictured above, is probably Hunterdon County's most recognized image.
I'd like to thank Barbara Volkov for organizing all of this and Fred Oster Violins in Philadelphia for loaning me an Italian viola (from Milan) by Celestino Farotto!
one of their fine violas for the concert. I hope you can join us on the 26th!
Listen to the concert here!