Santa Rosa Symphony

SRSYO - Great Composers Revisited
2024-01-18 00:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Repertoire subject to change

Ticket Information

Pre-concert Door$15 Adult $20 Adult$5 Youth $10 Youth

Please note: pre-concert price is valid until 11 AM of the Friday preceeding the concert. After that, tickets can only be purchased at the door.

To purchase group tickets, please contact the Santa Rosa Symphony Patron Services Office at 707-546-8742 or click here.

Group sale tickets (10+) are not available at the door. They must be purchased in advance and before the 11 AM deadline on the Friday preceeding the concert.

Ticket fees apply for online and phone orders. Tickets are non-refundable and subject to availability.

SRS Patron Services Hours: M-F: 9 AM- 5 PM | W: 10:30 AM- 5 PM | Closed Saturday & Sunday | 50 Santa Rosa Ave, 1st Floor, Santa Rosa

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We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from the following:

Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra sponsored by the George L. Smith Jr. M.D. and Nancy Doyle M.D. Fund of the Community Foundation Sonoma CountySavannah Hill Music Scholarship Fund

Photos by Susan & Neil Silverman Photography

Bond and Beyond
2024-01-18 00:00
Free Pre-Concert Talks

Included with your ticket purchase, join Principal Pops Conductor Michael Berkowitz one hour prior to every concert for a discussion of the afternoon’s program, along with personal anecdotes and memories from his storied career working on Broadway, and with Liza Minnelli, Henry Mancini, and Marvin Hamlisch, among many others.

All Carlton Senior Living Symphony Pops Series performances are at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. Tickets can only be purchased from the Luther Burbank Center Box Office, (707) 546-3600 or lutherburbankcenter.org

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We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from the following:

Gordon BlumenfeldFreeman Lexus-Toyota

Banner photo by Susan and Neil Silverman Photography

Holly Jolly Pops
2024-01-18 00:00
Free Pre-Concert Talks

Join Principal Pops Conductor Michael Berkowitz one hour prior to every concert for a discussion of the afternoon’s concert, along with personal anecdotes and memories from his storied career working on Broadway and with Liza Minelli, Henry Mancini, and Marvin Hamlisch among many others.

All Carlton Senior Living Symphony Pops Series performances are at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. Tickets can only be purchased from the Luther Burbank Center Box Office, (707) 546-3600 or lutherburbankcenter.org

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Symphonic Sinatra
2024-01-18 00:00
Free Pre-Concert Talks

Included with your ticket purchase, join Principal Pops Conductor Michael Berkowitz one hour prior to every concert for a discussion of the afternoon’s program, along with personal anecdotes and memories from his storied career working on Broadway, and with Liza Minnelli, Henry Mancini, and Marvin Hamlisch, among many others.

All Carlton Senior Living Symphony Pops Series performances are at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. Tickets can only be purchased from the Luther Burbank Center Box Office, (707) 546-3600 or lutherburbankcenter.org

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Learn more about the Discovery Rehearsal Series

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We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from the following:

Freeman Lexus-Toyota

Banner photo by Susan and Neil Silverman Photography

Raiders of the Lost Ark In Concert
2024-01-18 00:00
Tickets available through the Green Music Center ONLY

To purchase tickets, please call 707-664-4246 or visit their websiteTickets starting at $25

Concert-goers may bring in food (but no beverages) to enjoy a picnic on the lawn or at terrace tables outside Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center. Food and beverages may also be purchased on site. Water bottle filling stations will also be available.

Seating on the lawn is general admission and filled first come, first serve. Patrons are permitted to bring blankets and/or lawn chairs. We request patrons bring low lawn chairs that sit a few inches off the ground, however, we understand this may not be feasible for all patrons and therefore do not have a height limit on chairs. All patrons are asked to be considerate of those around them and the Front of House staff reserves the right to request patrons with higher chairs to move to areas that do not obstruct the view of the hall/screen for those around them.

For the safety of all guests, all items brought into the Green Music Center including coolers, picnic baskets, bags, backpacks and purses are subject to search upon entry. Patrons who choose not to subject their personal belongs to a security search will not be permitted to enter the grounds. For more information regarding these SSU policies, visit https://gmc.sonoma.edu/go/.

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We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from our sponsors:

Bruce and Susan Dzieza

The Four Seasons of Sonoma County - Our free community concert
2024-01-18 00:00
Lawn seating will be available the day of the concert.

Hall and Table seating is SOLD-OUT

All ticket holders must be in assigned seat(s) by 6:40pm or will forfeit the seat to another guest (Hall & Terrace Tables ONLY).

Santa Rosa Symphony and the Green Music Center present

The Four Seasons of Sonoma County – Our Free Concert for the Community

Celebrate the exquisite beauty of Sonoma County through the eyes of its residents, displayed on screens during Vivaldi’s iconic ode to nature, The Four Seasons. Photography of Sonoma County landscapes, depicting the corresponding seasons, will enhance Vivaldi’s four violin concertos, performed by the Symphony.

This co-produced program, conducted by SRS Music Director and Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong, is free to the public, but a ticket is required.

“These concertos were the most innovative and groundbreaking music of their time – three-hundred years later they will feel as fresh and vibrant as ever against the backdrop of our own surroundings. I look forward to this celebration of music, nature, and our unique community.”

– Francesco Lecce-Chong

The Four Seasons of Sonoma County Photography Contest is now concluded

A free concert to celebrate community and the exquisite beauty of Sonoma County. The Museum of Sonoma County is seeking photographs of Sonoma County landscapes and pastoral scenes, depicting the corresponding seasons, to enhance Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Selected photographs from this juried photo contest will be displayed on digital screens during this iconic ode to nature.

We thank all of the photographers who submitted their photos for consideration.

Photography of Sonoma County was organized by the Museum of Sonoma County.

All ticket holders must be in assigned seat(s) by 6:40 PM or will forfeit the seat to another guest (Hall & Terrace Tables ONLY).

Concert-goers may bring in food (but no beverages) to enjoy a picnic on the lawn or at terrace tables outside Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center. Food and beverages may also be purchased on site. Water bottle filling stations will also be available.

Seating on the lawn is general admission and filled first come, first serve. Patrons are permitted to bring blankets and/or lawn chairs. We request patrons bring low lawn chairs that sit a few inches off the ground, however, we understand this may not be feasible for all patrons and therefore do not have a height limit on chairs. All patrons are asked to be considerate of those around them and the Front of House staff reserves the right to request patrons with higher chairs to move to areas that do not obstruct the view of the hall/screen for those around them.

For the safety of all guests, all items brought into the Green Music Center including coolers, picnic baskets, bags, backpacks and purses are subject to search upon entry. Patrons who choose not to subject their personal belongings to a security search will not be permitted to enter the grounds. For more information regarding these SSU policies, visit https://gmc.sonoma.edu/go/.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from our sponsors:

Lead sponsor: Shanna Thompson Trust, in memory of Shanna ThompsonSupporting Sponsor: Wells Fargo Bank

Landscape photo by Susan and Neil Silverman Photography

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SRS @ Home - Family
2024-01-18 00:00
Concert Program

Excerpts from….JOHANNES BRAHMS: Serenade No. 2MICHAEL DAUGHERTY: Asclepius, Fanfare for Brass and Percussion ARTURO MÃ_x0081_RQUEZ: DanzÃ³n No. 4 for Chamber OrchestraWILLIAM GRANT STILL: SerenadeELLEN TAAFFE ZWILICH: Peanuts® Gallery for Piano and Orchestra

About The Concert

Enjoy excerpts curated by Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong from the Symphony’s 2020-2021 SRS @ Home concerts in this one-of-a-kind SRS Family Concert. Prior to each piece, Lecce-Chong, joined each time by a different SRS musician, will describe the featured section of the orchestra and its instruments and provide an engaging introduction. Before the final selection, SRS Artistic Partner, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich will share insights about composing. This free, virtual, family-friendly concert will include the second movement of Brahms’ Serenade No. 2 in A major for Orchestra and excerpts from: Michael Daugherty’s Asclepius, Fanfare for Brass and Percussion; Arturo MÃ¡rquez’ DanzÃ³n No. 4 for Chamber Orchestra; William Grant Still’s Serenade for String Orchestra; and Zwilich’s Peanuts® Gallery for Piano and Orchestra. The concert will run for less than one hour. There will be no intermission.

Concert Sponsors

Concert Sponsors: The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust and Victor and Karen Trione Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura TietzSRS @ Home Lead Sponsor: Charles M. Schulz Museum, dedicated to the Peanuts CreatorSRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: Victor and Karen TrioneSRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek VineyardSRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: County of Sonoma – Board of Supervisors

Video credit:Diversified Stage, Inc

Photos by Susan and Neil Silverman Photography

Peter and the Wolf
2024-01-18 00:00
Pre-concert fun for kids of all ages…Come one hour early to visit our Instrument Petting Zoo.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from the following:

Family Concert Series sponsored by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust and Victor and Karen TrioneIt’s Elementary Family Series Ticket Sponsor Willow Creek Wealth Management

Instrument Petting Zoo sponsored by Macy’s

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Halloween in January with Harry Potter
2024-01-18 00:00
About the Concert

This interactive concert with storytelling, music and delightful mayhem will entertain, engage and educate children of all ages. Audience members will recognize music from Harry Potter and more, that conjure images of fantastical creatures and magic.

Concert runtime: approximately 60 minutes. No intermission.

Pre-concert fun for kids of all ages…Come one hour early to visit our Instrument Petting Zoo and FREE photo booth.

Replacement tickets for the January 5, 2020 concert will be mailed on Wednesday, December 18, 2019.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from the following:

Family Concert Series sponsored by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust and Victor and Karen TrioneConcert Supporting Sponsor Donald and Maureen GreenIt’s Elementary Family Series Ticket Sponsor Willow Creek Wealth Management

Riveting Rachmaninoff
2024-01-18 00:00
Meet Composer-in-Residence Matt Browne

Learn about Matt Browne’s Symphony No. 1, The Course of Empire

Thomas Cole’s paintings, The Course of Empire

Learn About the Music on the Program

Concert Conversations with Francesco Lecce-Chong

Concert Conversations are general seating and free to Classical Series concert ticket holders. Approximately 30 minutes in Weill Hall.

Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 6:30 PM

Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 2:00 PM

Monday, February 10, 2020 at 6:30 PM

Listen to this Concert’s Music on Spotify

Music selections handpicked by Francesco!

Plan Your Visit

Learn more about the Discovery Rehearsal Series

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Before the Concert

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We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from the following:

Sponsored by Linda Castiglioni Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne ByrdGuest Artist Natasha Paremski underwritten by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust World Premiere underwritten by First Symphony project commissioners: Nancy and David Berto, Gordon Blumenfeld, Chuck and Ellen Wear, Chloe Tula and Francesco Lecce-Chong, and Creighton White in loving memory of DorothyRachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 underwritten by Dr. Larry Schoenrock Endowment FundDiscovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek VineyardPre-Concert Talks Sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard GrundyVideo underwritten by Chuck & Ellen Wear

February 2020 Program Notes By Steven Ledbetter

Ludwig Van Beethoven
Leonore Overture No. 3 for Orchestra, Opus 72b Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany, on December 17, 1770, and died in Vienna on March 27, 1827. He began composing Fidelio (under the title Leonore) in 1804, but only after several revisions and a change of title, to Fidelio, in 1814, did it finally hold the stage. The score calls for flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons in pairs, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings. DURATION IS ABOUT 14 MINUTES.

Beethoven’s struggles with musical drama in his single completed opera are well documented not only in the different versions of the opera itself (the earliest of which has been recorded, as Leonore, along with the definitive Fidelio) but also in the overtures—no fewer than four!—that Beethoven composed for his work. Of these, three are called “Leonore Overtures,” according to the title that Beethoven preferred, and the fourth is called simply the Fidelio Overture.

Beethoven wrote what we now call No. 3 for a revised version of the opera given in March 1806. But he eventually chose to replace it; the problem with the overture when connected to the opera is that it is too powerful, utterly overwhelming the light-hearted opening scene. It remains one of the most dramatic and exciting overtures ever written.

Beginning with a slow introduction that slips surprisingly from the tonic C major to a dark B minor and then to Aâ€‘flat (where Beethoven briefly quotes the aria of the political prisoner Florestan), it takes some time for Beethoven to return to his home key for the Allegro and the main body of the movement. The Allegro presents music of tense excitement not found in the opera itself, then modulates to a bright E major for the secondary theme (Florestan’s aria again, stated by clarinet). The taut development CULMINATES in a climactic gesture borrowed from the opera—an offstage trumpet signaling the arrival of help and the downfall of the villainous Don Pizarro’s murderous intentions. This short orchestral work brilliantly encapsulates the dramatic thrust of Beethoven’s sole opera.

Matt Browne
Symphony No. 1 for Orchestra, The Course of Empire [First Symphony Project World Premiere] Matt Browne was born in Burlington, Vermont on November 16, 1988 and lives in New York. The Course of Empire, his first symphony, was commissioned by the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Eugene Symphony, with funding from four patron households from each of the symphonies, including Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong. The four-year “First Symphony Project” commissions four young American composers, of which Matt Browne is the first, to compose their first full-fledged symphony. These are the first performances. The score bears the dedication “to my roommate, landlord and grandmother Helen Brenner.” The score calls for three each of flutes doubling piccolos, oboes with english horn, clarinets with bass clarinet and e-flat clarinet, bassoons with contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, three percussion, harp, piano, and strings. DURATION IS ABOUT 35 MINUTES. Matt Browne has composed orchestral works, tone poems and concertos, with catchy titles that signal something about the mood and character of a work: How the Solar System Was Won, Barnstorming Season, Cabinet of Curiosities (a concerto for four saxophones and orchestra), among others. His work also includes a number of pieces for wind ensemble, chamber music of various kinds, including a subset featuring the saxophone, and vocal music, including a one-act “anti-opera” with the appealing title Better Than It Sounds.

Browne earned his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his Doctor of Musical Arts in composition at the University of Michigan. His principal teachers have included Michael Daugherty, Kristin Kuster and Carter Pann.

The title of his symphony, The Course of Empire, evokes the westward drive of the United States in the 19th century and more particularly a series of five landscape paintings by Thomas Cole (1801-1848), regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School. In the mid-1830s he painted a series of five allegorical landscapes in which a mountain of a particularly identifiable shape appears, while the remainder of each painting passes through a series of changes over time, from the simple landscape, through habitation and growth of an urban environment, to ultimate decay. Each of the paintings, in sequence, is the subject of a single movement of the work, which Browne describes in his program note. Program Note by composer, Matt Browne:Cole’s The Course of Empire has been seen as a critical response to the election of populist president Andrew Jackson just a few years prior. He drew direct inspiration from Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, specifically: There is the moral of all human tales;‘Tis but the same rehearsal of the past.First Freedom and then Glory—when that fails,Wealth, vice, corruption—barbarism at last.And History, with all her volumes vast,Hath but one page. The symphony is in five movements, each one corresponding to a painting. In it there are several musical motives analogous to themes in the paintings, all tied together by an expansive and imposing minor 7th interval heard in each movement, representing the large boulder atop a mountain seen in every painting, itself representing fate and inevitability.

Ascension, after Cole’s The Savage State, depicts a wild landscape inhabited by hunter-gatherers at daybreak just as a morning storm has blown over. The music captures both the grandiose and magical nature of a sunrise over an untouched earth, as well as the feverish efforts by early humans to carve out a place in the world for themselves, represented by a deer hunt. The large boulder sitting atop a mountain in the distance overlooks the scene.Pastorale, after Cole’s The Pastoral or Arcadian State, is depicted in a peaceful morning far into the future, as the land has been settled and cultivated. The scene is carefree and in harmony with nature.

Apotheosis, after Cole’s The Consummation of Empire, shows an expansive and ostentatious city, covered with grandiose marble statues, arches and fountains. The scene is the largest of the five paintings, and takes place at midday, during what appears to be a decadent parade attended by the city’s immense crowds. The boulder once prominent in the earlier scenes is now pushed far off into the background. The music charges along confidently, but is eventually overcome with a soft, contemplative meditation. This, however, is short lived and we quickly return to the assertively patriotic revelry as we race to what appears to be a rousing finale.

Hubris, after Cole’s Destruction, follows directly and abruptly after Apotheosis’ attempted happy ending. It begins with frightening drums, and dissonant calls of the fate motive from the brass. A terrifying afternoon tempest roars as an invading force burns the city to the ground in a violent sacking. The music, just as these scenes throughout history are, is relentless.

Ephemera, after Cole’s Desolation, emerges from the rubble with a lonely viola tune, eventually and cautiously joined by other string sections, accompanied sparsely by meandering twinkles in the harp, piano and percussion. Occasionally, we hear a distant conversation between two birds across the scene. Here we see the remains of the city, having been abandoned long ago and now being reclaimed by nature. We are in the early evening, and see the moon’s reflection glistening softly on the still water. The music is numb, desolate, at times pained, but eventually settles into a resolute and calm reprise of the sunrise theme falling gently into the music with which the symphony began. We hear a distant memory of Calon LÃ¢n in the piano, one or two unrequited bird calls, and a few more utterances of the “boulder” motive, once again prominent in the scene, though now it no longer strikes us as grandiose and commanding. It is simply there.

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Concerto No. 3 in D minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 30Sergei Vassilievich Rachmaninoff was born at Semyonovo, district of Starorusky, Russia, on April 1, 1873, and died in Beverly Hills, California, on March 28, 1943. He composed his Piano Concerto No. 3 during the summer of 1909, in preparation for an American tour and played the first performance at the New Theatre in New York on that November 28, with the New York Symphony Society, conducted by Walter Damrosch. In addition to the solo piano, the score calls for two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, side drum, cymbals, bass drum and strings. DURATION IS ABOUT 39 MINUTES. When Rachmaninoff wrote his Second Piano Concerto, there was a question whether he would ever compose again. His confidence and self-esteem had been shattered by the catastrophic premiere of his First Symphony in 1897. Only after extensive counseling sessions, partly under hypnosis, was he able to compose—and the result was the Second Concerto, which was instantly established as an audience favorite.

By 1909, when he began work on the Third, he had to compete with his younger self. He spent the summer planning his first American tour, of which the culminating event took place in New York City on November 28, when he premiered the new piano concerto, which he played three times in six weeks with two different orchestras. It was considered a qualified success—respected, though by no means the instant hit of the previous concerto.Everyone mentioned its difficulty. Of course Rachmaninoff wrote it for himself, one of the most gifted keyboard artists of all time. Yet he begins quietly, with a muted muttering in the strings of a subdued march character and then a long, simple melody presented in bare octaves in the piano. Like so many Russian tunes and so many of Rachmaninoff’s, this one circles round and round through a limited space. He insisted that this was an original tune, though musicologist Joseph Yasser found a marked similarity with an old Russian monastic chant, which the composer might have heard as a boy. In any case, its essential Russianness is palpable.

The orchestra takes over the theme while the piano begins rapid figuration to a solo climax and preparation for the second theme, a dialogue between soloist and orchestra emphasizing a rhythmic motif that soon appears in a leisurely, romantic cantabile melody sung by the piano. A literal restatement of the concerto’s opening bars marks the beginning of the development, which culminates in a gigantic solo cadenza which takes the place of the normal recapitulation, commenting in extenso on the motivic figures of first the principal theme, then the secondary theme; after its close, only a brief reference to both themes suffices to bring the movement to a close.

The slow movement, entitled Intermezzo, seems to start in a “normal” key, A major (the dominant of D minor) with a brief languishing figure in the strings that generates an elegiac mood. But the piano enters explosively to break the mood and carry us to a distant key of D-flat, where Rachmaninoff presents a sumptuous and lavishly-harmonized version of the main theme in a texture filled with dense piano chords. A seemingly new theme, presented as a light waltz in 3/8 time, heard in the solo clarinet and bassoon against sparkling figuration in the piano, is a subtle trick: it is, in fact, the opening theme of the entire concerto, but beginning at a different level of the scale (the third instead of the tonic) and so changed in its rhythm as to conceal the connection almost perfectly! Not one person in a thousand will recognize it by hearing alone!

The soloist “interrupts” the end of the slow movement with a brief cadenza that leads back to the home key of D minor for the finale. This is the ne plus ultra of virtuosic concerto finales, filled with impetuous and dashing themes, rhythmically driving, syncopated and sunny by turns. A lively middle section in E-flat involves acrobatic and lightly-spooky variations on a capricious theme that turns out to be related to the opening of the finale and the second theme of the first movement. Moreover, Rachmaninoff inserts a reminder of both themes of the first movement. Following the restatement of all the thematic material, the piano builds a long and exciting coda that brings this most brilliant and challenging of concertos to a flashing, glamorous close.

© Steven Ledbetter (www.stevenledbetter.com)

Shadows and Sunshine
2024-01-18 00:00
Learn about the Music on the Program

Concert Conversations with Francesco Lecce-Chong

Concert Conversations are general seating and free to Classical Series concert ticket holders. Approximately 30 minutes in Weill Hall.

Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 6:30 PM

Sunday, January 12, 2020 at 2:00 PM

Monday, January 13, 2020 at 6:30 PM

Listen to this Concert’s Music on Spotify

Music selections handpicked by Francesco!

Plan Your Visit

Learn more about the Discovery Rehearsal Series

Directions & More

Seating Map

Before the Concert

At the Concert

Dining & Hotels

Sponsored by The Peggy Anne Covington FundSupporting sponsor: The Press Democrat and The E. Nakamichi Foundation Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne ByrdGuest Artist Simone Porter underwritten by Ava and Sam GuerreraDiscovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek VineyardPre-Concert Talks Sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard GrundyVideo underwritten by Chuck & Ellen Wear

January 2020 Program Notes by Steven Ledbetter

Missy Mazzoli
Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) for Orchestra Missy Mazzoli was born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, on October 27, 1980. Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) was composed for chamber orchestra, and first performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, John Adams conducting, on April 8, 2014. An enlarged version was performed by the Boulder Philharmonic, Michael Butterman conducting, on February 12, 2016. The score calls for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons (doubling harmonicas), horns (doubling harmonicas), trumpets (doubling harmonicas), trombones (doubling harmonicas), one tuba, percussion for two players, piano (doubling synthesizer; organ sound) and strings. DURATION IS ABOUT 12 MINUTES.

Missy Mazzoli, who can easily be called a superstar composer today on the strength of her growing list of powerfully-conceived works, including several operas, received her Bachelor’s degree at Boston University and a Master’s at Yale University, followed by additional study at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. Her music has been performed widely by soloists such as pianist Emmanuel Ax, violinist Jennifer Koh, cellist Maya Beyser and mezzo Abigail Fischer; by ensembles like the Kronos Quartet, eighth blackbird, and the NOW Ensmble; and a growing list of major orchestras. She has also written three operas with librettist Royce Vavrek and has been commissioned to write a new work for the Metropolitan Opera (one of two women to receive such a commission) based on George Saunders’ recent, highly-successful novel Lincoln in the Bardo.

Her description of Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) captures the uniqueness of her conception of the piece.

Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) is music in the shape of a solar system, a collection of rococo loops that twist around each other within a larger orbit. The word “sinfonia” refers to baroque works for chamber orchestra, but also to the old Italian term for a hurdy-gurdy, a medieval stringed instrument with constant, wheezing drones that are cranked out under melodies played on an attached keyboard. It’s a piece that churns and roils, that inches close to the listener only to leap away at breakneck speed, in the process transforming the ensemble turns into a makeshift hurdy-gurdy, flung recklessly into space. Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. — Missy Mazzoli

Jean Sibelius
Concerto in D minor for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 47 Jean (Johan Julius Christian) Sibelius was born at Tavastehus (Humeenlinna), Finland, on December 8, 1865, and died at JÃ¤rvenpÃ¤Ã¤, at his country home near Helsingfors (Helsinki), on September 20, 1957. He began work on his violin concerto in 1902, completed it in short score in the fall of 1903, and finished the full score about New Year 1904. After the first performance, in Helsingfors on February 8, 1904, with Viktor NovaÄ_x008d_ek as soloist and with the composer conducting, Sibelius withdrew the work for revision. In its present form it had its premiere in Berlin on October 19, 1905, with Karl Halir as soloist and Richard Strauss on the podium. The orchestra consists of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, all in pairs; four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings. DURATION IS ABOUT 31 MINUTES.

A failed violin virtuoso is responsible for what became surely the most popular violin concerto composed in the twentieth century. Though he knew he would never play it himself, Sibelius poured into the concerto all his love for the instrument and his understanding of its peculiar lyric qualities.In September 1902, he wrote to his wife that he had just conceived “a marvelous opening idea” for a violin concerto, and if he was speaking of the way that the work actually begins in its finished form, “marvelous” is indeed the term to apply: against a hushed D-minor chord played by the strings of the orchestra, tremolo, the soloist enters delicately on a dissonant note, yearning as it leans into the chord. The magic begins already during the first few seconds of the piece.

But it takes more than a wonderful opening idea to generate a large-scale work. Sibelius struggled with it for years. He drank heavily. He even virtually insulted the German violinist, Willy Burmester, who had encouraged him to write such a piece. In the 1890s, when Sibelius was beginning to make his mark as a composer, Burmester had spent some time as the concertmaster in Helsingfors, and he had become an early champion of the budding composer. While working on the concerto throughout 1903, Sibelius kept Burmester apprised of his progress, and when he sent him the completed work, Burmester was enraptured. “Wonderful! Masterly!” he wrote. “Only once before have I spoken in such terms to a composer, and that was when Tchaikovsky showed me his concerto!” At one point, Sibelius mentioned dedicating the work to Burmester, too.

The violinist proposed to premiere it in Berlin in March 1904, where his fame as a soloist would have guaranteed something of a splash. But Sibelius found himself in a fiscal emergency (and also perhaps unsure of himself, one of the consequences of his heavy drinking), and he scheduled a concert of his works in Helsinki, with the new concerto as its centerpiece. But Burmester was unable to appear at that time. Instead, Sibelius made a choice that guaranteed failure, by offering the premiere to an undistinguished violin teacher named Viktor NovaÄ_x008d_ek. (As difficult as the work is now, it was even more difficult in its first version.) Neither soloist nor orchestra were up to the demands of the piece, and one of the leading critics, Karl Flodin, a long-standing supporter of Sibelius, wrote that the concerto was “a mistake.”Nonetheless, Burmester wrote to Sibelius, generously overlooked the slight to himself, and offered again to play the piece in October 1904, nobly promising, “All my twenty-five years’ stage experience, my artistry and insight will be placed to serve this work . . . I shall play the concerto in Helsingfors in such a way that the city will be at your feet!” But Sibelius was determined to revise the work before allowing another performance. He dawdled with the changes and finally brought himself face to face with his revisions in June 1905, when his publisher told him that he had gotten the concerto scheduled in a prestigious concert series directed by Richard Strauss. But by this time, Burmester’s schedule was full and he was not available. The solo part was given to Karl Halir. After the second slight, Burmester never played the piece that he had been the prime mover in bringing to creation.

The revisions to the Violin Concerto were far more drastic than simply touching up details of the scoring, such as composers usually undertake after a first round of rehearsals and performances of a new piece. Referring to what he considered the flaws in the work as his “secret sorrow,” Sibelius insisted that the revision would not be ready for two years (though in the end, he accomplished them in about a month once he really set to work). Sibelius evidently took Flodin’s critique of the first version very much to heart. He greatly reduced the amount of sheer virtuosic display in the solo part. The first movement had contained two solo cadenzas, the second of which was possibly inspired by Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin; it disappeared in the revision. He also shortened the finale. Only the slow movement, which met with general favor at the premiere, remains substantially unchanged. (It is always extremely interesting to hear an alternate version of a standard repertory work, because it gives us an insight into the composer’s own thought processes; fortunately, we can now make a direct aural comparison between the two versions of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, because the original version has now been recorded by violinist Leonidas Kavakos with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Osmo VÃ¤nskÃ¤. The original version was more dramatic, more rugged, closer perhaps to the spirit of Beethoven, and certainly more virtuosic. The final version of the concerto, which has become established as one of the handful of most popular violin concertos of all time has more of a lyric quality without denying itself a strong symphonic development in the opening movement, a heartfelt song in the slow movement, or the wonderful galumphing dance (“evidently a polonaise for polar bears,” as Donald Francis Tovey once wrote) in the rondo of the finale.

Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 73 Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany, on May 7, 1833, and died in Vienna on April 3, 1897. The Symphony No. 2 was composed in 1877, during a productive summer stay at PÃ¶rtschach, Carinthia (southern Austria). The first performance took place under the direction of Hans Richter in Vienna on December 30, 1877. The symphony is scored for two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani and strings. DURATION IS ABOUT 40 MINUTES.

It is a wellâ€‘known fact that Brahms put off allowing a symphony to be brought to performance until his fortyâ€‘third year, so aware was he of the giant shadow of Beethoven. But once he had broken the ice, he did not hesitate to try again. His First Symphony was completed in 1876. The Second came just the following year. Brahms spent the first of three happy and musically-productive summers at Lake WÃ¶rth, near PÃ¶rtschach in the southern Austrian province of Carinthia. Between 1877 and 1879, he composed a major work each summer—the Second Symphony, the Violin Concerto and the Gâ€‘major Violin Sonata. Richter’s performance of the symphony in Vienna was an enormous success, and it received similar acclaim in Leipzig two weeks later. (To be sure, Vienna and Leipzig were the centers of the Brahms cult, with critic Eduard Hanslick in the former and Clara Schumann in the latter.)

Elsewhere, the notices were more varied. The criticism most frequently encountered was that Brahms’ music was too intellectual, too calculated, had too little emotional quality. Today, most listeners regard Brahms’ Second Symphony as the most spontaneous, the most sensuous, a work that pulses with the sounds of nature. It feels much more relaxed than the tense, driven First Symphony.

Nonetheless, the Second Symphony is, if anything, even more finely precisionâ€‘ground than before; the parts fit as in a fine watch. Everything in the first movement grows out of some aspect of its opening phrase and its three component parts: a threeâ€‘note “motto” in cellos and basses, the arpeggiated horn call, and a rising scale figure in the woodwinds. One of the loveliest moments in the first movement occurs at the arrival of the second theme in violas and cellos, a melting waltz tune that is first cousin to Brahms’s famous Lullaby.

The second movement, a rather dark reaction to the sunshine of the first, begins with a stepwise melody rising in the bassoons against a similar melody descending in the cellos, the two ideas mirroring each other. Rising and falling in slow, graceful shapes, each grows organically into rich and sinuous patterns.

Beethoven would have written a scherzo for his third movement. Brahms avoids direct comparison by writing more of a lyrical intermezzo, though shaped like a scherzo with two trios. A serenading 3/4 melody in the oboe opens the main section, which is twice interrupted by Presto sections in different meters, the first in 2/4, the second in 3/8 time. A century ago this was regarded as “the giddy fancies of a wayward humor.” It makes sense, though, when we realize that each interruption is a variation and further development of the oboe tune.

The final Allegro is as closeâ€‘knit as the first movement and is based on thematic ideas that can ultimately be traced back to the very beginning of the symphony, including the motto figure. Here Brahms’ lavish invention makes familiar ideas sound fresh in new relationships. The great miracle of the Second Symphony is that it sounds so easy and immediate, yet turns out to be so elaborately shaped, richly repaying the most concentrated study, yet offering immediate delight to the casual listener.

© Steven Ledbetter (www.stevenledbetter.com)

Mozart's Swan Song
2024-01-18 00:00
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Unmasking the Stars
2024-01-18 00:00
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Concert Conversations with Francesco Lecce-Chong

Concert Conversations are general seating and free to Classical Series concert ticket holders. Approximately 30 minutes in Weill Hall.

Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 6:30 PM

Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 2:00 PM

Monday, October 7, 2019 at 6:30 PM

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Sponsored by Jim LambConductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by Norma Person, In memory of Evert Person Guest Artist Garrick Ohlsson underwritten by Marcia Wagner, In memory of Hap WagnerDiscovery Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek VineyardPre -Concert Talks Sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard GrundyVideo underwritten by Chuck & Ellen Wear

October 2019 Program Notes by Steven Ledbetter

Anna Clyne
Masquerade for OrchestraAnna Clyne was born in London on March 9, 1980, and currently resides in the United States. The first performance of Masquerade, commissioned by the BBC for the Last Night of the Proms in 2013, took place at the Royal Albert Hall on September 7, 2013; Marin Alsop conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The score calls for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani (plus tambourine), three percussionists playing bass drum, two suspended and two sizzle cymbals, castanets, three kazoos, side drum, two cowbells, crash cymbals, motor horn, whip, tom-tom, suspended cymbals (with brushes), ratchet, vibraslap, triangle and harp (with two guitar picks or plastic cards) and strings. Duration is about 6 minutes.

Anna Clyne began composing before entering her teens. She studied music at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with honors, then continued with a master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music. She has attracted the attention of conductors, including Ricardo Muti at the Chicago Symphony, who chose her, along with Mason Bates, to be co-composers in residence in Chicago from 2010 to 2014.

After that, Marin Alsop invited her to be composer-in-residence at the Baltimore Symphony.

Her work is highly picturesque, filled with color and energy, as Masquerade is from the first gesture, a rushing whirlwind of sound, suggesting a wildly diverse group of colorful people, possibly in disguise, so that they can behave with joyous disregard for polite behavior. For a few seconds the hullabaloo relaxes to bright, sweet charms, before the joyous madhouse begins again.

The composer provided the following commentary for the first performance:

Masquerade draws inspiration from the original mid-18th century promenade concerts held in London’s pleasure gardens. As is true today, these concerts were a place where people from all walks of life mingled to enjoy a wide array of music. Other forms of entertainment ranged from the sedate to the salacious with acrobatics, exotic street entertainers, dancers, fireworks and masquerades. I am fascinated by the historic and sociological courtship between music and dance. Combined with costumes, masked guises and elaborate settings, masquerades created an exciting, yet controlled, sense of occasion and celebration. It is this that I wish to evoke in Masquerade.

The work derives its material from two melodies. For the main theme, I imagined a chorus welcoming the audience and inviting them into their imaginary world. The second theme, Juice of Barley, is an old English country dance melody and drinking song, which first appeared in John Playford’s 1695 edition of The English Dancing Master. –Anna Clyne

Ludwig Van Beethoven
Concerto No. 4 in G major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 58Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany, on December 17, 1770, and died in Vienna on March 26, 1827. The Fourth Piano Concerto was composed in 1805 and early 1806 (it was probably completed by spring, for the composer’s brother offered it to a publisher on March 27). The first performance was a private one, in March 1807, in the home of Prince Lobkowitz, and the public premiere took place in Vienna on December 22, 1808, with the composer as soloist. In addition to the solo piano, the score calls for one flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns and strings; two trumpets and timpani are added in the final movement.Duration is about 34 minutes.

During the years immediately following the composition and private first performance of the Eroica Symphony, ideas for new compositions crowded the composer’s sketchbooks, and he completed one important work after another in rapid succession—an opera, three piano sonatas, three concertos, three string quartets, the Fourth symphony and preliminary work on the Fifth. Truly a heady outpouring of extraordinary music—and among these, the Piano Concerto No. 4 is among the most original.

The very beginning is one of the most memorable of any concerto. Beethoven establishes the presence of the soloist at once—not with brilliant self-assertion (he was to do that in the Emperor concerto), but with gentle insinuation, a quiet phrase demanding an orchestral response. But the orchestra is both quiet and startling, seeming to come in an entirely unexpected key (though it quickly works back to the expected home base).

That remarkable opening is only the first of many fresh, surprising and treasurable ideas that Beethoven offers in the concerto. At the end of the first movement exposition, for example, the soloist works up to an extended trill, which from long conditioning, we expect will lead to a fortissimo orchestral close to the section. That close eventually comes, but not before the pianist coyly inserts a sweetly expressive version of a theme that is otherwise grand and overpowering. And immediately after that, an unexpected pitch (reiterating the ubiquitous rhythmic pattern which this concerto shares with the Fifth Symphony) marks the beginning of the development.

In some ways the middle movement is the biggest surprise of all. Winds are silent; piano and strings are strictly segregated. It seems to demand an explanation. In 1859 a critic, Adolph Bernhard Marx, proposed that Beethoven created this movement as the most thoroughgoing program music he ever wrote, to express the “power of song” by depicting the great singer Orpheus pleading with the Furies to allow him to pass to the netherworld to recover his wife Eurydice. Certainly the orchestral strings, with their perpetual unison and sharp staccatos throughout avoid any feeling of softness or even humanity, while the piano (as Orpheus) pleads with increasing urgency, finally overcoming the opposition of the strings sufficiently to end their hard unison, persuading them to melt into harmony.

The first movement opened with a harmonic surprise at the orchestra’s entrance; the last movement plays similar games, first by seeming to start in the “wrong” key, by way of a link from the closing chord of the second movement. Beethoven uses this unexpected harmony to play many tricks during the course of the finale. Many of the thematic ideas grow from four tiny melodic and rhythmic figures contained in the rondo theme itself. Most of the movement rushes along at a great pace, but Beethoven also pauses sometimes for moments of delicate and even romantic coloring, then returns to the fundamental high spirits that close the concerto with some last prankish echoes.

Matt Browne
How the Solar System Was Won for Symphony OrchestraMatt Browne was born in 1988 and lives in New York. He composed How the Solar System Was Won in 2012. It was first performed by the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rodrigo Ruiz, on February 10, 2013. The score calls for three each of flutes (including piccolo), oboe (including English horn), clarinet (including E-flat clarinet), and bassoon (including contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones (including bass trombone), harp, piano, timpani and three percussionists, and strings. During is about seven and a half minutes.

Matt Browne earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and his doctorate in composition at the University of Michigan, studying with Michael Daugherty, Kristin Kuster, Carter Pann, and Daniel Kellogg. On his website he quotes, favorably, the command from impresario Serge Diaghilev to Jean Cocteau: “Astonish me!” It suggests a goal that is surely met in his colorful and dramatic single-movement score that is, in part, a reaction to his favorite film, with a philosophical echo. How the Solar System Was Won offers a frequently-changing series of musical outbursts that suggest excitement, color and drama. In the note that he has written for the piece, he describes the various elements that went into his planning for it:

Commentary by Matt Browne:

“How the Solar System Was Won” was the working title of the Kubrick classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, my favorite film. Using the title as an impetus, this piece is about three very different but related things: one astronomical, one musical, and one deeply personal.

The astronomical narrative is about how the solar system became what it is today through the chaotic mess of celestial mechanics and cosmic collisions. Over billions of years, various gasses, rocks, and other debris have interacted with each other in these ways to create this tentative orbital balance we have around us, still slowly (but consistently) changing. It is interesting that some of the most recognized astronomical objects (Saturn’s rings, the asteroid belt, the moon) came as a direct result of a collision of some sort that has momentarily thrown off the balance that gravitational forces have been working so hard to create.

The second narrative deals with my use of musical grooves. I repeatedly set them up one by one for only a few bars at a time – just before the audience can be lulled into a comfortable, restful languor (much like an orbit) – and then quickly subvert them in chaotic and surprising ways to make something new and exciting –a musical version of Saturn’s rings.

The final narrative is about how the most chaotic and devastating moments in our normally groove-filled lives are what contribute most to shaping our personalities, and help give us our own personal rings of Saturn.

Richard Strauss
Also sprach Zarathustra [Thus Spoke Zarathustra] (tone poem) for Orchestra [after Nietsche], Opus 30Richard Strauss was born in Munich on June 11, 1864, and died in Garmischâ€‘Partenkirchen, Bavaria, on September 8, 1949. He began the composition of Also sprach Zarathustra in Munich on February 4, 1896, and completed it on August 24. Strauss himself conducted the Municipal Orchestra of Frankfurt-am-Main in the first performance on November 27, 1896. The score calls for a large orchestra consisting of piccolo, three flutes (third doubling as second piccolo), three oboes, English horn, two clarinets plus Eâ€‘flat clarinet and bass clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon, six horns, four trumpets, three trombones, two bass tubas, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, orchestral bells, a deep bell, two harps, organ and strings. Duration is about 33 minutes.

Surely no major philosopher has ever had a closer relationship to music and musicians than Friedrich Nietzsche, and no work of philosophy has inspired more musical compositions than his Also sprach Zarathustra. Nietzsche was an excellent pianist and an amateur composer as well, having turned out a fair number of choral works both sacred and secular, songs, and piano pieces by his thirtieth year.

But in addition to being drawn to some of the musical questions of the day, Nietzsche was also a source for music in others. His bestâ€‘known essay, Also sprach Zarathustra (1883-1885), served as the basis for songs by Schoenberg, Delius, Medtner, and Taneyev, as well as larger works by Mahler (Third Symphony), Delius (A Mass of Life), and Strauss.

The essay has an unusually poetic text for a work of philosophy, loosely narrative in character, recording the (invented) sayings of Zarathustra (Zoroaster to the Greeks) covering all sorts of diverse topics; each section ends with the formula “Also sprach Zarathustra” (“Thus spoke Zarathustra”).Strauss became acquainted with Nietzsche’s work while reading in preparation for his first opera, Guntram. What interested him most of all was the philosopher’s criticism of the established church and ultimately of all conventional religion. Strauss was the last composer who could be called an intellectual, but he made the courageous decision to attempt to deal with Nietzsche’s philosophical ruminations as a symphonic poem. He chose to emphasize one particular theme of the work; he said he wanted “to convey in music an idea of the evolution of the human race from its origin, through the various phases of development, religious as well as scientific.

Strauss conceived one enormous movement that has little in common with the traditional musical forms used in his earlier tone poems. He selected a limited number of section titles from Nietzsche’s work and arranged them in a way that made possible musical variety. The most important of the unifying musical ideas—it comes up again and again—is the use of two keys, C and B, whose tonic notes are as close together as they can be melodically, though harmonically they are very far apart, to represent the natural world on the one hand and the inquiring spirit of man on the other. Time and again these two tonalities will be heard in close succession—or, indeed, even simultaneously.

The opening of the tone poem is a magnificent evocation of the primeval sunrise, with an important threeâ€‘note rising figure in the trumpets representing Nature and the most glorious possible cadence in C (alternating major and minor at first before closing solidly in the major). That trumpet theme is the single most important melodic motive of the work.

Immediately there is a drastic change of mood to the section entitled Von den Hinterweltlern (“On the Afterworldly”), the most primitive state of man. Gloomy, insubstantial phrases soon introduce an important new theme (heard here in B minor) leaping up, pizzicato, in cellos and basses; this theme is used throughout to depict man’s inquiring mind. Strauss satirizes those inquiries that lead to religion by quoting the opening phrase of the plainsong Credo in the horns and moves into a lush passage of conventional sweetness for the strings divided into sixteen parts.

This leads into Von der groÃŸen Sehnsucht (“On the Great Longing”), to depict man’s yearning to move beyond ignorance and superstition. The section combines the B minor “inquiring mind” motive with the C major “nature” motive. A vigorous new figure rushes up from the depths of the orchestra, gradually overpowering everything else. With a harp glissando it sweeps into Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften (“Of Pleasures and Passions”).

This section, in C minor, links man’s sensual life with Nature (through the key relationship). A passionate new theme followed by an important motive blared out by trombones and heard frequently thereafter, sometimes identified as the theme of “satiety.” Das Grablied (“The Tomb Song”), follows immediately in B minor and related keys.

It dies away into the depths as cellos and basses begin a passage in strict imitation labeled Von der Wissenschaft (“On Science”). What could be more scientific than a fugue? And this one begins with the notes of the Nature theme, in C, followed immediately by the three notes of the Bâ€‘minor triad, then continuing to all the remaining pitches of the chromatic scale. The imitations work the tonality around to B minor again, and a new developmental section gets underway, climaxing in Der Genesende (“The Convalescent”) in which the themes lead up to a powerful C major tripleâ€‘forte for full orchestra, breaking off into pregnant silence. The next chord? B minor, bringing in an extended new development of several of the major ideas, treated with extraordinary orchestral virtuosity.

This comes to an end in an utterly unexpected way—by turning into a Viennese waltz, and a waltz in C major at that! For this section Strauss borrows Nietzsche’s title Das Tanzlied (“The Dancing Song”). Here, for the very first time in Strauss’s life, he seems ready to take on his older namesakes, the other Strausses who were renowned as the waltz kings. And here, already, we can get more than a tiny glimpse of Der Rosenkavalier, still some sixteen years in the future. This waltz begins as an amiable and graceful dance with a theme based on the Nature motive, but it soon builds in energy and vehemence, as many of the earlier themes make their appearance, only to be destroyed in turn by the “satiety” motive, which takes over fiercely at the climax of the score (corresponding to a similar climax in the book), as a great bell tolls twelve times.

Strauss marks this passage in the score Nachtwandlerlied (“Night Wanderer’s Song”). The bell rings every four measures, ever more softly, as the music settles onto a chord of C major, only to slip, with magical effect, into a gentle, bright B major for the coda, in which the violins present a sweet theme representing “spiritual freedom.”

This luminous B is softly but insistently undercut by cellos and basses, pizzicato, with the rising threeâ€‘note “Nature” motive, as if to say: Earth—the natural world—abides in spite of all. Four more times the upper instruments reiterate their chord of B, only to find that the bottom strings repeat the C with quiet obstinacy, finally bringing the work to an end.

© Steven Ledbetter (www.stevenledbetter.com)

Master of the Modern Banjo
2024-01-18 00:00
On Stage Comments at Nov. 2-4 Concerts After Wildfires & Outages

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“…winning Grammy Awards for country and jazz in the same year and also winning in pop, world music, classical crossover and, yes, folk. That’s a lot of territory for five strings.” – The New York Times

Concert Conversations with Francesco Lecce-Chong

Concert Conversations are general seating and free to Classical Series concert ticket holders. Approximately 30 minutes in Weill Hall.

Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 6:30 PM

Sunday, November 3, 2019 at 2:00 PM

Monday, November 4, 2019 at 6:30 PM

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We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions from the following:

Sponsored by Joseph A. and Judith M. Gappa Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne ByrdGuest Artist BÃ©la Fleck underwritten by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek VineyardDiscovery Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek VineyardPre -Concert Talks Sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard GrundyVideo underwritten by Chuck & Ellen Wear

November 2019 Program Notes By Steven Ledbetter

Aaron Copland
Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo for OrchestraAaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1900, and died in New York City on December 2, 1990. He wrote the ballet Rodeo on a commission from the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, composing it in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, between May and September 1942. The work was premiered at the (old) Metropolitan Opera House on October 16 that year, with Franz Allers conducting. Agnes de Mille choreographed and danced the lead role. The concert piece “Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo” comprises all but about five minutes of the full ballet. The score calls for three flutes (second and third doubling piccolo), two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, xylophone, glockenspiel, cymbals, wood block, snare drum, slapstick, bass drum, triangle, celesta, piano, harp and strings. Duration is about 18 minutes. Rodeo is the second of the three popular Copland ballets on American subjects, but it is one that Copland did not, at first, look forward to composing. Billy the Kid, composed for Eugene Loring and the Ballet Caravan, had achieved a great success in 1938. Four years later, as the composer recalls in Copland: 1900 through 1942, conductor Franz Allers took him to meet Agnes de Mille, who had an idea for a ballet.

When de Mille explained that she wanted to create a cowboy ballet, Copland said he had already written one of those and didn’t want to repeat himself. But “Agnes was after something lighter and more bouncy,” he recalled, after she demonstrated some of the steps she was planning to use. So, he agreed. He began composing in May 1942 and had much of the score in his head already before leaving to spend the summer at Tanglewood.

It was the war that gave Agnes de Mille the opportunity to create the ballet. The management of the Ballet Russe decided that an American subject and an American choreographer might be a good patriotic idea. The Russian-trained dancers required extra rehearsals, because their Russian classical training had not prepared them for cowboy lopes and folkâ€‘dance groupings. In addition, they needed to have the humor of the piece explained to them. But they got it, and the ballet was a huge success. The company gave seventyâ€‘nine performances in the first year alone.

Rodeo tells a simple story with warmth and humor. The tomboyish heroine on a western ranch is pining for the handsome head wrangler, but, despite her skill with horse and rope, he pays no attention to her. When the cowgirl is thrown by a bucking bronco, the city girls who have come to the ranch for the evening’s party tease her, while the head wrangler goes off with the rancher’s daughter. At the Saturday night dance, still in her ranch clothes, she is unnoticed until she turns in her chaps and cowboy boots for a pretty dress and a bow in her hair. When she returns, looking just as pretty as any of the other girls, she turns all heads—especially that of the head wrangler. But when he invites her to dance, she turns him down in favor of another cowhand who had been friendly before her transformation. (In an interview late in her life, de Mille said, “You can’t imagine some of the letters people have had the idiocy to write me—one said that Women’s Lib should take action against this ballet! Well, in 1895 or 1900 a woman had to have a man or she was considered an outcast and became the family drudge.”)

As with Billy the Kid, Copland chose real cowboy songs as part of the basic material of his ballet, though here, too, he does more than simply quote them literally. Rodeo gives him the opportunity to treat the tunes with welcome humor, emphasizing certain details to make them stand out. Early in the first movement, “Buckaroo Holiday,” Copland treats part of the tune “Sis Joe” to irregular drum punctuation to emphasize its energetic and clipped character. Later on, the solo trombone plays “If he’d be a buckaroo by his trade” with humorous portamentos and witty exaggerated pauses. (Copland found both these tunes in Our Singing Country by John and Alan Lomax.) The second movement, “Corral Nocturne” has no borrowed tunes. “Saturday Night Waltz” begins with the sound of country fiddlers tuning up, then offers a danceable near-quotation of “Goodbye, old Paint.” The final “Hoe Down” is based on the traditional fiddle tune “Bonyparte” (along with a brief citation of “McLeod’s Reel”); Copland found the tunes in Ira Ford’s Traditional Music of America.

In Rodeo, as in Billy the Kid, Copland uses the old tunes to give a melodic “feel,” a way of evoking the specific time and place. But his score is far more than a simple orchestration of a couple of old songs; he takes over the tunes fully, developing and elaborating them with wit, rhythmic verve, and varied orchestral color, transmuting them fully into the characteristic and instantly recognizable musical personality that we know as Aaron Copland.

Béla Fleck
Juno Concerto for Banjo and OrchestraBéla Anton LeoÅ¡ Fleck was born in New York City on July 10, 1958, his three given names paying homage to three 20thcentury composers, BartÃ³k, Webern and JanÃ¡Ä_x008d_ek. He composed the Juno Concerto for the Canton Symphony, Gerhardt Zimmermann, conductor, and played the solo part in the first performance on March 19, 2016. In addition to the solo banjo, the score calls for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons and contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, two tenor trombones and bass trombone, timpani, three percussionists (vibraphone, maraca, shaker, tambourine, bass drum, gong, tenor drum, side drum, suspended cymbals, claves, crash cymbals, triangle, chimes) and strings. Duration is about 30 minutes.

The banjo has traditionally been regarded as an instrument created for folk music, originating in Africa and being further developed once it was brought by enslaved Africans to the New World. Over the centuries, the banjo has been a frequent part of ensembles performing traditional dance and country music, gradually spreading into different categories. Fleck developed an interest in the banjo, first of all from hearing the theme of the television show Beverly Hillbillies, which featured Earl Scruggs. After getting a banjo as a present on his fifteenth birthday, he studied—largely through books by Pete Seeger and others. After graduating from New York’s High School of Music and Art, he began what has been a busy and varied career playing the banjo in all kinds of ensembles, becoming a highly regarded soloist on the instrument and increasingly recognized as a composer, including partnerships with various classical composers, with whom he joins his banjo.

The Juno Concerto is his second concerto for banjo and orchestra, named after his son, Juno. It is cast in the traditional three movements. The first opens with fanfares and open harmonies that recall, in a way, the music of Aaron Copland, especially his cowboy ballet Billy the Kid. The banjo solo is playful, anticipating and echoing the orchestral themes. It becomes increasingly virtuosic in the second half of the opening movement.The middle movement begins with a kind of hesitating vamp in the banjo, to which sustained low tones in the orchestral strings add depth. Soon the banjo begins suggesting a gentle dancelike figure that is developed into a cadenza-like middle passage for the soloist. The last half of the movement offers poignant themes, especially with the winds in dialogue with the banjo.The orchestra sets up a fast opening for the finale, building quickly to a climax on which the banjo enters with racing figures that bring the various sections of the orchestra in an energetic debate that continues to a dynamic climax.

Modest Mussorgsky (maurice Ravel, Arranger)
Pictures at an Exhibition for OrchestraModest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born at Karevo, district of Pskov, on March 21, 1839, and died in St. Petersburg on March 28, 1881. He composed Pictures at an Exhibition as a suite of piano pieces in June 1874. Maurice Ravel made his orchestral transcription in the summer of 1922, for Serge Koussevitzky, who introduced it at one of his own concerts in Paris on October 22, 1922. Ravel’s orchestration calls for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, alto saxophone, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, glockenspiel, bells, triangle, tam-tam, rattle, whip, cymbals, side drum, bass drum, xylophone, celesta, two harps and strings. Duration is about 35 minutes.

Mussorgsky’s music is the triumph of genius over technique. Though he had possibly the least formal training of any of the Russian “Five” (nationalist composers—including also Cui, Balakirev, Borodin, and Rimsky-Korsakov—who sought to create a purely Russian musical style) and was regarded as little more than a dilettante by composers of far greater polish, Mussorgsky had a burning originality that at times was able to conquer both his lack of technique and a sad addiction to the bottle that led to an unstable life and an early demise. His genius expressed itself most directly in opera, for he had the ability to translate verbal and physical gestures into extraordinarily imaginative, lifelike music.

His best-known, non-operatic composition is the suite Pictures at an Exhibition for piano solo, one of the great achievements of Russian nationalism. Even here Mussorgsky was inspired by a kind of dramatic event. The exhibition in question was a real one, a memorial showing of works by an architect named Victor Hartman, who had died at the age of forty in July 1873. Mussorgsky was a close friend of the artist.

The news of Hartman’s death shocked Vladimir Stasov, critic and spokesman for a whole generation of Russian artists and friend to both Mussorgsky and Hartman. At Stasov’s initiative, a special exhibition of Hartman’s work was put together in St. Petersburg, where it opened in early 1874. The exhibition had a powerful effect on Mussorgsky. Within a week of seeing it, he wrote to Stasov with good news: “Hartman is boiling as Boris boiled.” This was his way to say that he was deeply involved in composition and that it was going well. He continued: “Sounds and ideas have been hanging in the air; I am devouring them and stuffing myself—I barely have time to scribble them on paper…My profile can be seen in the interludes…How well it is working out.”Composing at a terrific pace, Mussorgsky finished the work by June 22. The suite was immediately hailed by his friends, particularly Stasov, to whom he dedicated it. Yet few people played the suite; it is fiendishly difficult. Pictures only became famous and popular in the brilliant orchestral guise created by Maurice Ravel in 1922 at the suggestion of conductor Serge Koussevitzky. The various “pictures” are linked here and there by references to the opening Promenade, which, as Mussorgsky reported, was his own self-portrait, “roving through the exhibition, now leisurely, now briskly in order to come close to a picture that had attracted his attention, and at times sadly, thinking of his departed friend.” Most of the pictures are lost, but we haveStasov’s description of the exhibition to tell us about them.

The Gnome was a grotesque drawing for a child’s toy, “something in the style of the fabled Nutcracker, the nuts being inserted into the gnome’s mouth.” [Promenade] The Old Castle depicted an Italian landscape with a troubadour singing his lay. Ravel makes this an extended saxophone solo, one of the most famous passages for that instrument in the orchestral repertory. [Promenade] Tuileries, a Parisian scene, showed children quarreling at play in the famous gardens, an image perfectly captured in the taunting musical figure (the universal children’s cry of “Nyah, nyah!”). Bydlo is the Polish word for “cattle”; Hartman’s picture showed a heavy oxâ€‘cart lumbering along. [Promenade] The unlikely sounding Ballet of unhatched chicks consisted of designs for an 1871 ballet with choreography by Petipa, who always included a scene with child dancers. In this case the children were dressed as canaries “enclosed in eggs as in suits of armor, with canary heads put on like helmets.”

Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle: Mussorgsky himself owned Hartman’s drawings (two separate images, not one) of “A rich Jew wearing a fur hat” and “A poor Jew.” He transmuted these into a single movement, contrasting the arrogance of wealth to the cringing obsequiousness of poverty.[Promenade] Hartman’s lively drawing of The Market at Limoges becomes a brilliant scherzo, for which he even imagined some of the conversation of the shopping housewives, for he entered bits of their dialogue in the margin of the score. The scherzo ends with dramatic suddenness in the powerful contrasting scene of the Catacombs (A Roman Sepulchre) in Paris. Mussorgsky noted in the margin: “The creative spirit of the dead Hartman leads me toward skulls, apostrophizes them—the skulls are illuminated gently from within.” The mood is continued in the passage headed Con mortuis in lingua morta (“With the dead in a dead language”), in which Musorgsky himself becomes our guide through the city of the dead with a ghostly version of his Promenade. The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga) evokes the fearsome witch of Russian fairy tales; Mussorgsky’s music suggests rather the witch’s wild flight in a mortar in chase of her victims. Her ride brings us to the powerful finale of the suite, The Bogatyr Gate (at Kiev, the Ancient Capital), described by Stasov as “unusually original,” a design for a series of arched stone gates to replace the wooden city gates to commemorate Tsar Alexander II’s from an attempted assassination. Mussorgsky filled his musical image with the perpetual ringing of bells large and small, recreating the sounds heard around a Russian public monument, and Ravel has seconded him in this, capping off the score with sonorous fireworks.

© Steven Ledbetter (www.stevenledbetter.com)
