Masquerade

Masquerade opens with a burst of rhythmic energy, brass and strings trading quick, syncopated figures that suggest the bustle of a crowded outdoor party. Clyne builds the piece around two contrasting ideas: one bright and dance-like, built from a repeating folk-like tune, the other slower and more lyrical, giving the strings room to sing before the energy rebuilds. Listen for a melody borrowed from an old English dance tune, planted early on, that keeps resurfacing in new instrumental costumes, sometimes in the brass, sometimes buried in fast string patterns. The orchestration is bright and percussion-forward, with bells, xylophone, and other tuned percussion adding a glinting, festive color throughout. As the piece proceeds, fragments of the opening material return faster and more layered, giving a sense of a party gathering more guests and more noise. There is no slow movement to rest in for long: the piece is a single continuous span, roughly four minutes long, that keeps circling back to its opening burst of energy for a decisive, festive close. First-time listeners can simply enjoy it as a concert opener, a quick jolt of color and rhythm before the main works of the evening begin.

Anna Clyne wrote Masquerade in 2013 on a commission from the BBC for the Last Night of the Proms, the exuberant final concert of London's famed summer festival. She took her starting point from the 18th-century pleasure gardens of London, public parks where masked balls, fireworks, and popular entertainments drew large, mixed crowds of aristocrats and commoners alike. Clyne wove in a fragment of an old English dance tune, letting it surface and dissolve within her own rhythmically driven material. The piece received its premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2013, conducted by Marin Alsop, and was an immediate audience favorite for its color and momentum. It has since become one of Clyne's most frequently performed orchestral works, taken up widely by American orchestras as a concert opener.