At the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic, timpanist Glenn Paulson rehearses Philip Glass’s “Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra.” Photo by Angela Stover Anderson.
In Friday’s (10/4) Washington Post, Michael Andor Brodeur writes, “On Sunday, the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic opens its 53rd season with a heaping serving of fantasy. ‘Fantastic Explorations’ will feature works by Dai Wei, Leoš Janáček, and Josef Suk, but the main attraction is the finale. From its title alone, Philip Glass’s ‘Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra’ signals itself as not like the other concertos, taking an instrument commonly (and unfairly) associated with dramatic sound effects and punctuational accents and granting it an extended stay in the spotlight…. Sunday’s performance, led by National Symphony Orchestra timpanist Scott Christian and former Barcelona Symphony Orchestra timpanist Glenn Paulson, will assemble no fewer than 17 [timpani] onstage…. Premiered in 2000, Glass’s ‘Concerto Fantasy’ was composed for timpanist Jonathan Haas but grew into a double concerto, requiring two players and nine timpani, according to the composer’s program note … On Sunday, at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, the soloists and their array of timpani will be onstage, with the orchestra set below them—a prime position not typically afforded to the timpani, but one that feels earned and just.”
