Lowry: Portrait in Yellow and Silver, for Chamber Orchestra (WORLD PREMIERE)

Christopher Lowry (b.1988)
“Portrait in Yellow and Silver, for Chamber Orchestra, Opus 47” (2022)
Commissioned for Chamber Music Amarillo’s 25th Concert Season
World Premiere Performance: January 7, 2023
Amarillo Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra; Peter Bay, conductor
Amarillo Botanical Gardens; Amarillo, TX
Audio recorded by Carlos Casso (www.audiorefinery.com) and Christopher Lowry.
Edited, Mixed, and Mastered by Christopher Lowry.
Video by Christopher Lowry
About the piece:
“Written to commemorate the 25th concert season of Chamber Music Amarillo, ‘Portrait in Yellow and Silver’ is a quirky, forward-driven concert overture that pays homage to the city of Amarillo and its vibrant musical scene. In the same vein as my earlier orchestral work ‘Golden Rhapsody,’ written for a 50th anniversary (gold), and concert band piece ’10 (Tin [sic {not SiC}]),’ written for a 10th anniversary (tin), this piece draws inspiration from the color (and metal) silver (associated with the 25th anniversary) and yellow (the translation of the Spanish word “Amarillo”). Rather than an attempt at a “synesthetic” journey that correlates specific pitches and key centers with colors, this work aims to abstractly represent these two colors and the relationship between them, as though they were being painted in real time.
“The primary thematic material of the piece depicts silver through vibrant, shimmering timbres and articulations and striking intervallic leaps; the secondary motive represents yellow through lyrical melodic arcs and slightly more linear movement. The accompanimental content is largely quartal and at times quintal, providing a sense of harmonic openness through which these two themes can develop, both independently of each other and together.
“With the exception of a short, slow respite in the middle, the piece is unrelenting in its quick-footed progression and celebratory nature. Though this work is not meant to be programmatic, I imagine it as a sojourn of sorts-almost like a fast-paced drive down Route 66 broken up by a short stop in Amarillo to rest and admire the remarkable yellow-tinged sunsets that are typical of the area. This said, I invite the listener to paint their own picture of what this piece represents; whatever images are conjured up, it is my hope that this piece succeeds at honoring and celebrating CMA and representing the hard-won victory that is a 25th concert season in a post-pandemic world.
“’Portrait in Yellow and Silver’ was commissioned by David Palmer for Chamber Music Amarillo; the world premiere performance was given on January 7, 2023, by the Amarillo Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Peter Bay and with the composer as principal violist.”
©Copyright 2022, Christopher Lowry Music (ASCAP). For information on renting performance materials for this work, please inquire at [e-mail]

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Brilliant!