Composers Datebook

On today’s date in 2002, a new work by the American composer Michael Torke had its premiere performance at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, at a concert by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop. Torke was the orchestra’s composer-in-residence at the time, and wrote a 20-minute tone poem entitled “An American Abroad” to fulfill his second commission for the Scots. Here’s how Torke himself describes the piece: “Unfolding melodies and themes express the natural naïveté an American might feel traveling abroad. Wonderment and curiosity kindles the traveler’s energy, yet there remains an unintended lack of sophistication. Being an outsider, how can a traveler truly understand the depths and subtleties of a new culture?” Or, as a Scottish newspaper critic put it, “the gee-whiz factor Scots know only too well when we spot a guddle of Americans gawping at Edinburgh Castle.” Actually, the piece could just as well be titled “A European in America,” as Torke explained: “I currently live in New York City, and when visitors from the ‘outside’ are in town, I am inspired by their simple energy and appreciation of what my hometown has to offer, which often opens my eyes to new ways of seeing New York.” But, to let the Scottish critic we quoted earlier have the last word: “The music is immediately appealing; Copland, Bernstein and Gershwin are apparent influences in a piece of music that is almost dangerously attractive. Contemporary music is not supposed to be so easy.”