Fanfare for the Common Man
Lincoln Portrait
Harmonium
Words and music intertwine memorably in works by America’s greatest classical composers, as Britten Sinfonia and the mighty Brighton Festival Chorus join forces for a programme inspired by great speeches and poetry. In 1942, shortly after the USA entered WW2, Copland was commissioned to write a work to fortify and comfort people during the time of national distress.
The resulting Lincoln Portrait is a stirring setting of extracts from great speeches made by Abraham Lincoln, including the Gettysburg Address. Fanfare for the Common Man was inspired by a speech given in the same year by Vice President Henry A. Wallace.
John Adams’ Harmonium, harnessing poetry by Donne and Dickinson, is a glittering symphony that, drawing on the full power of a massed chorus, brings the Festival to a resplendent close.