Pulitzer Prize winner for music has Atlanta ties

ATLANTA, Georgia (Atlanta News First) – Tyshawn Sorey Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith) is not like other concertos.

“When people think of a concerto, they think of virtuosity. They think the composer is going to show the limits of what this instrument is capable of. And we’re going to be dazzled, but this piece is a paradox, because it doesn’t give us any of that,” said conductor Stephen Mulligan.

Minute twenty and more Adagio Instead, it moves at a glacial pace of 36 beats per minute.

“It’s very difficult to go that slow,” Mulligan said. “To move your arm that slow and draw the bow that slow, and still have the support of the breath. And the discipline to control it all without speeding up is very difficult. But it makes the piece special.”

The Pulitzer Prize committee recognized the The Adagios The 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Music recognizes a work that is unique in its character. The prize often honors a single performance. The performance awarded by the committee took place at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) on March 16, 2023, as part of its “Sax and Sebelius” series.

In its citation, the committee said: “This majestic yet understated work is a welcome respite from the chaos and intrusion of modern life.”

Mulligan was the guest conductor at the performance. The principal soloist was saxophonist Tim McAllister.

In an interview with Atlanta News First, Mulligan echoed that sentiment.

“Many composers explore extreme complexity, pushing the upper registers of instruments and often quite fast tempos,” he said.

“We often find ourselves with this dazzling music of the information age, where things seem to happen too quickly for us to process. And that can be very exciting. But (Sorey) took things in the complete opposite direction,” Mulligan said.

This does not mean that Adagio is without its complexities.

“It could be extremely challenging in the form of a lot of difficult rhythms, nested rhythms and those kind of micro-textures essentially,” McAllister said.

Mulligan said he had to create a piano reduction to truly understand the piece.

“The score is designed in a non-traditional way and with non-traditional harmonies,” Mulligan said.

THE Adagio was commissioned by the ASO and the Lucerne Festival, and the piece received its world premiere in Lucerne.

McAllister said the orchestra received Sorey’s score just months before the Lucerne performance. But the wait was worth it.

“But then I got it and I heard the MIDI. And I only heard a MIDI demo. We’re not talking about the orchestral acoustic demo, or you know, or hearing it with strings for the first time,” he said. “Just realizing it with MIDI made me cry. Because it was like this was a piece of work that I had been waiting my whole life to be a part of.”

Sorey could not be with the ASO for its performances, so the orchestra relied on McAllister’s experience and his relationship with Sorey.

“If there was a question, (McAllister) could contact (Sorey),” Mulligan said.

The piece is written for saxophone and strings, but it is nothing like what this duo evokes. It reverses the listener’s perception of the instruments.

“Most people associate the saxophone with something brutal, gruff and tough,” said McAllister, also a lead soloist.

But in the Adagio, the saxophone operates in a higher register, while the strings occupy the space that a saxophone would normally occupy.

“Can the saxophone exist in multiple worlds,” McAllister asked. “Can I mimic the strings in the opening? Can I capture the essence of the flute sound? So I like, I appreciate that sort of chameleon quality that the saxophone has to adopt throughout the piece as well.”

The piece was named after trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, but it was written with McAllister in mind.

This wasn’t McAllister’s first time working with Sorey. Sorey had composed pieces for McAllister’s Prism Saxophone Quartet in 2017.

“I think that’s when I knew I was in the presence of a mind, an intellect and an artistic soul that I had rarely come into contact with before,” McAllister said.

Sorey trained as a classical trombonist and originally got his start as a drummer, but with this win his name is forever etched in history as a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer.

THE Adagio is the first piece written for saxophone to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

McAllister called the victory an “incredible upset.”

“It’s an incredible honor,” he said. “It could be a career honor, the greatest honor of my life, to be associated with it. I’ve had the opportunity to be a vehicle. I’ve been able to convey Sorey’s vision, I’ve been able to convey my vision of the saxophone through his voice.”

Said Mulligan said: “We hope that with the recognition of the Pulitzer Prize, people will pay a little more attention to (Sorey) and his great work.”

The Atlanta performance was not released in its entirety – the first three minutes are available on the orchestra’s Facebook page.

A previously unreleased archival recording of the Lucerne performance is available on Sorey’s SoundCloud page.

Sorey declined an interview, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra could not be reached for comment.

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