Editor’s note: Art and the City is a special project by The Dallas Morning News arts and entertainment staff. We asked more than 100 members of North Texas’ creative community to tell us in their own words how they are living life and making art during the great shutdown of 2020. We also asked artists to share a piece of work that is especially meaningful to them right now. You can contribute to this project by emailing us at artslife@dallasnews.com or share your work online with the hashtag #DFWArtMatters. We are sharing work weekly in our free Arts & Entertainment newsletter. Sign up at join.dallasnews.com/newsletter.
Want to see more from Art and the City 2020? Check out the links below:
- Photography
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- Creative writing
- Classical music
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- Pop music
- Theater
- Dance
- Gallery art
- Curated art
- Indie art
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Phantasy Quartet is a dream
There are so many pieces I find meaningful, but one that stands out to me is the Benjamin Britten Phantasy Quartet for oboe and strings. I’ve crossed paths with this piece many times in my life, first on my junior recital as a student at Oberlin Conservatory, then repeatedly at some of the most poignant points and places during my professional career. It’s a beautiful piece in form and instrumentation, and he wrote it at age 19! Throughout the piece, you’ll hear so many textures: Everything from gorgeous string trio playing (without oboe) to an ethereal oboe cadenza accompanied by a vamp in the strings. The main tune is wonderful, and it’s a timeless crowd-pleaser.
— Erin Hannigan is principal oboe for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
What joy sounds like
Beethoven’s 7th symphony is a work that has been with me since I was a student. It was the symphony I had to conduct during my final examination at the High School of Music in Graz, Austria, chosen by my teacher, maestro Milan Horvat. I conducted the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Ljubljana. I love the energy in the first and last movements. The mood of the slow movement, a funeral march, is that of despair, but with moments of comfort and hope for a better future. [Composer] Richard Wagner described this piece — thinking about first and last movements, I believe — as “apotheosis of dance,” but I don’t share this opinion. It’s not dance, but it is a positive and insisting expression of joy and juvenile energy.
— Fabio Luisi is the music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
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