Review: Michael Kurek’s Symphony No. 3: English
NOTE: Michael Kurek’s Symphony No. 3: English is available now for preorder on Amazon.
Exploring England: A Journey Through Music
I visited England for two and a half weeks with my daughter this summer. I toured the entire country, from Kent to Cornwall and Dorset up to Newcastle, catching every site I could stuff into my already-bloated itinerary. It was an experience both moving and memorable, something that stirred me to learn more about all things English.
Introducing Michael Kurek’s Symphony No. 3
Thus, with great interest, I heard about Catholic composer Michael Kurek’s new album, Symphony No. 3: English. Michael Kurek is a musician of extraordinary distinction. He has an Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (the Academy’s top lifetime achievement award in composition) and has served on the Classical Nominations Committee for the Grammy Awards. His 2017 album, The Sea Knows, was No. 1 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart. Perhaps his most distinguished achievement, however, is being a fellow instructor at Homeschool Connections, where he teaches music theory and appreciation.
Kurek’s new English-themed symphony came along at the perfect time to pique my interest, as I had the memories of my trip still fresh in my mind and was eager to see how well this piece exemplified England. I was thrilled with what I heard.
Kurek’s symphony is divided into four movements, each addressing a different aspect of English life. Together, the four movements encompass England’s geography, history, literature, and legend, a fitting tribute to the heritage of this extraordinary country…
1. Upon a Walk in the English Countryside
This movement sets the tone for the entire symphony: it is vast and cinematic in scope, evoking a sense of journey that is entirely consistent with the theme. As the movement unfolds, the music increasingly takes on a tone of grandeur, even becoming epic in its proportions. Despite this ascent, Kurek is careful to retain several moments of “littleness” throughout the movement, spaces for the small, simple beauty one encounters in the countryside.
If the majestic moments call to mind sweeping English vistas seen from afar, these moments of littleness focus on the multitude of small things that constitute those vistas—the flowers, hedgerows, and stonewalls. Overall, this movement expresses the majestic and the quaint, showing beauty in the grand and the ordinary. It resolves in a pastoral theme, setting the stage for the second movement.
2. Stonehenge
I have been to Stonehenge. It sits entirely alone on the Salisbury Plain, its sarsen stones brooding like a solitary company of sentinels upon a barren expanse. Kurek’s second movement captures the mystique of Stonehenge admirably; this movement is monumental, calling to mind the ancient splendor of the site. While the movement is monumental, it is not triumphalist. The music has a wistful, nostalgic aspect. It speaks to the monument’s grandeur but from the vantage point of a modern traveler contemplating it thirty centuries removed from its heydey. As someone who has occasionally poked around ancient ruins, I know this movement exemplifies the charm of such antiquarian excursions.
3. The Lady of Shalott
The Lady of Shalott is a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, which tells the story of a young woman trapped in a tower, cursed to never look directly at Camelot nor the outside world, which she can only see through a mirror. Eventually, unable to bear her solitude, she takes a boat and floats down the river toward Camelot but dies before she arrives. I thought Kurek’s arrangement of this story had a very medieval feel, almost troubadourish at some points. The mood alternates between the playful and the soaring. I was delighted to hear some tambourine, which adds considerably to the medieval aesthetic. The movement resolves with a sense of peaceful stillness, evocative of the lady’s final journey to Camelot.
4. The Major Oak of Sherwood Forest
This was my favorite of the four movements, and I think it had the most unique and discernible sound. There is the same soaring mood we have encountered in the previous movements, but Kurek’s Sherwood movement adds chirping woodwinds, harps, and bright chimes, stressing its sylvan theme. I also enjoyed the occasional military drum rolls and tympany, which recall the conflicts with which Sherwood is synonymous.
Kurek’s music is described as “neo-Romantic,” and in this section, I could really see why. While lacking the overtly medieval mood of the previous movement, the Sherwood section nevertheless possessed what I would call a “neo-medieval” feel. It reminded me of a 19th-century antiquarian of the Victorian era reconstructing what they imagined the medieval world to look like, which I found extremely interesting. This movement concludes the entire symphony with a powerful crescendo and a series of forceful unison strikes that seem to encapsulate the power, beauty, and glory of England’s history.
A Cinematic Musical Experience
I admit I had never heard Michael Kurek’s music before, but this symphony motivated me to dig through his back catalog. If I had to summarize what I heard in Symphony No. 3, it is a preference for the heightened, the soaring, and the sublime. More than once, when listening to this album, I thought the music belonged in Middle Earth. (Not surprising, honestly, since Tolkien based the Shire on England.)
In college, my buddies and I listened to movie soundtracks while we worked. Three of my favorites were the scores of Gettysburg, Braveheart, and Last of the Mohicans. Kurek’s Symphony No. 3 belongs in this category of “cinematic” music in terms of its style. Its content was almost reminiscent of the incredible Danny Elfman score from Tim Burton’s 1988 Batman: plenty of swelling bass tones, soaring mid-tones, and flighty highs. It’s the kind of music I would want to play in the background if I was embarking upon an epic adventure. This would absolutely be my soundtrack if my life were a fantasy video game.
Final Thoughts: A Rewarding Musical Journey
Michael Kurek’s Symphony No. 3 was a delight to review. I listened to it multiple times, sometimes leaving it on in the background while I worked on other things, sometimes laying in my recliner with a headset on to feel its full emotional weight. If I had to offer one critique, it would be I oftem wished there was a more discernible motif throughout the piece, some kind of repetitive melody I could hum. But then again, art has to be judged according to the creator’s intent, and as I listen to these swelling strings and dreamy serenades, I don’t think pithy melodies were Kurek’s intention. Kurek wants to evoke a mood, not give you a ditty to hum. It is thus the musical equivalent of a well-done impressionist painting—beautiful to look at, but difficult to tease out any sharp lines.
Overall, I found Symphony No. 3 to be a very rewarding musical experience. If you love cinematic music that feels like flying over the Misty Mountains, you’ll want to preorder this album. Michael Kurek’s Symphony No. 3: English is available now for preorder on Amazon.