f(x)=sin^2 x-1/x
Symphony Orchestra
Gabriella Smith
About
When I think about music (my own and others’), I often first think about it in terms of the overall arc and shape of the piece. I picture it as a curve that moves horizontally from left to right as time progresses and moves up and down as the energy and dynamic content of the music changes. You can describe any of these curves as a mathematical function. This way of thinking about the shape of music is independent of the normal way we think about form in music, which typically involves the recurrence of themes. So you can think of any piece of music this way regardless of whether it’s a sonata or a pop song or a work without any codified form-it’s fun, try picturing a curve as you listen to music. The energy and dynamic contour of this work look roughly like the following curve:
Mathematically, if you’re into that sort of thing, the curve follows a section of the function f(x) = sin^2 x-1/x (on the interval x = -2π to x = 0) where the horizontal axis, x, represents time and the vertical axis, f(x), indicates the energy and dynamic content of the piece. In practical terms, this means the music begins quietly and builds up to a small climax, decays, and then builds again and continues to build to the end of the piece.
The function serves as an overall map for the piece, but the individual musical ideas were intuitively generated. The title f(x) = sin^2 x-1/x describes the form of the piece, in the same way that composers of the past titled pieces sonata or rondo in reference to their form. So while the inspiration for this work comes from a mathematical function, you don’t need to remember your high school math to experience and enjoy it!
Performance
| Gabriella Smith |
f(x)=sin^2 x-1/x |
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Duration
05:00 |
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Commissioning Year
2019 |
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Premiere
September 28, 2019 Music Hall, Cincinnati, OH |
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Recording
February 5, 2020 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA |
Artists
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Gabriella Smith Composition
Gabriella Smith is a composer whose work invites listeners to find joy in climate action. Her music comes from a love of play, exploring new instrumental sounds, and creating musical arcs that transport audiences into sonic landscapes inspired by the natural world. An “outright sensation” (LA Times), her music “exudes inventiveness with a welcoming personality, rousing energy and torrents of joy” (NY Times).
Lost Coast, a concerto for cello and orchestra, written for her longtime collaborator Gabriel Cabezas, received its world premiere in May 2023 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This work joins her organ concerto, Breathing Forests, written for James McVinnie also premiered by the LA Phil, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Other current projects include a large-scale work for Kronos Quartet, commissioned in celebration of their 50th anniversary season, and an album-length work for yMusic featuring underwater field recordings. In December 2023, her work Tumblebird Contrails was performed on the Nobel Prize Concert by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Her first full-length album, titled Lost Coast, was recorded with Gabriel Cabezas and producer Nadia Sirota at Greenhouse Studios in Iceland and named one of NPR Music’s “26 Favorite Albums Of 2021” and a “Classical Album to Hear Right Now” by The New York Times. Gabriel and Gabriella, as a cello-violin-voice-electronics duo, have performed together around the world, including in Reykjavík, New York City, and Paris.
Gabriella grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking, and volunteering on a songbird research project.
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Curtis Symphony Orchestra
Acclaimed for its “otherworldly ensemble and professional level of sophistication” (New York Times), the Curtis Symphony Orchestra offers a dynamic showcase of tomorrow’s exceptional young talent. Each year the 100 extraordinary musicians of the orchestra work with internationally renowned conductors, including Osmo Vänskä, Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, and Yannick Nézet Séguin, who also mentors the early-career conductors who hold Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowships. This professional training has enabled Curtis alumni to assume prominent positions in America’s leading orchestras, as well as esteemed orchestral, opera, and chamber ensembles around the world.
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Osmo Vänskä Conductor
Music Director of Minnesota Orchestra for 18 years and of Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra since 2020, Osmo Vänskä is recognised for compelling interpretations of repertoire of all ages and an energetic presence on the podium. His democratic and inclusive style of work has been key in forging long-standing relationships with different orchestras.
Celebrating the last year of his tenure with Minnesota Orchestra this season, Osmo Vänskä presents some of his signature repertoire. He is joined by favourite guest soloists including Joshua Bell and Lisa Batiashvili, and continues with This Is Minnesota Orchestra, an Emmy Award-nominated series of performances for TV, radio and online audiences launched in 2020, developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vänskä has undertaken five major European tours, as well as historic trips to Cuba in 2015 – the first visit by an American orchestra since the two countries re-established diplomatic relations – and South Africa in 2018, as part of worldwide celebrations of Nelson Mandela’s Centenary – the first visit by an American orchestra, drawing together South African and American performers in musical expressions of peace, freedom and reconciliation, on a five-city tour following a successful return to London’s BBC Proms.
After a successful first season with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, including opening and closing the Lotte Concert Hall Festival and recording works by Korean composer Isang Yun, he embarks on his second year with numerous concerts and community outreach projects.
He returns this season to the Symphony and Philharmonic orchestras of Pittsburgh, Antwerp, Helsinki, Netherlands Radio and Tokyo Metropolitan. While past guest conducting invitations include renowned international ensembles such as The Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago symphony orchestras in North America; Orchestre de Paris, Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester in Europe, and London Philharmonic Orchestra in the UK; and the Shanghai Symphony and China, Hangzhou, Hong Kong and Taiwan philharmonic orchestras in Asia.
100 for 100
100 for 100 celebrates contemporary music with a showcase of bold, original compositions and fresh perspectives.
