SASKATOON SYMPHONY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA SERIES
Bach Beyond na d
Guy Few, trumpet
Maestro Victor Sawa, conductor
SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2011 Third Avenue United Church Saskatoon, SK saskatoonsymphony.org
January 29, 2011 7:30 p.m. Third Avenue United Church, Saskatoon
BACH AND BEYOND Saskatoon Symphony Chamber Orchestra Maestro Victor Sawa conductor Guy Few trumpet
concert program George Handel Concerto Grosso No. 1 in G Major Allegro Adagio Allegro Allegro J. S. Bach Brandenburg Concerto, No. 2 in F Major (BWV 1047) for flute, oboe, trumpet, violin – Guy Few, trumpet Allegro Andante Allegro assai —intermission— Arcangelo Corelli Christmas Concerto, No. 8 in G minor, Op.6 Vivace – Grave, Arcate, sostenuto e come stà Allegro Adagio – Allegro – Adagio Vivace Allegro Largo Pastorale George Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks (HWV 351) Ouverture: Adagio, Allegro, Lentement, Allegro Bourrée La Paix: Largo alla siciliana Allegro La Réjouissance: Allegro Menuets I and II
meet guy few Guy Few is a virtuoso, in demand as a trumpeter, cornist, pianist and singer. Montreal’s Le Devoir calls him “outrageously gifted” and “quite simply phenomenal”.
Photo: Bo Huang
Equally at home in classical or contemporary genres, Guy has debuted new works by Canadian composers including Glen Buhr, Peter Hatch, Alain Trudel, Melissa Hui, Boyd McDonald, Mathieu Lussier and Jacques Hétu among others. He has recorded for S.N.E., Arsis Classics, CBC Musica Viva, CBC SM5000, Naxos, MSR and the Hänssler Classics labels. Hänssler recordings include the Grammy Award winning Credo of Penderecki with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Helmuth Rilling conductor. June 2008 marked the release of Romanza (Hummel, Lachner, Weber), with Nadina Mackie Jackson and The Toronto Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan conductor for MSR Classics. Guy has been invited as a professor, adjudicator, soloist, principal and recitalist to hundreds of festivals including The Festival of the Sound, Scotiafest, The Orford Festival, The Kiwanis National Music Festival, The Ottawa Chamber Festival, The Elora Festival, Tanglewood, Takefu International Music Festival and The Oregon Bach Festival. Clinics and master classes have been presented for festivals worldwide including Scotiafest, Takefu International Music Festival, Orford Arts Centre and The Banff Centre for the Arts as well as post-secondary institutions such as the Montreal Conservatory, the University of Toronto, Memorial University of Newfoundland, State University of New York at Fredonia and Sonoma State University. Guy is a gold medal graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario and holds a Fellowship Diploma from Trinity College, London, England. He performs and records on a regular basis with Nadina Mackie Jackson (bassoon), Stephanie Mara (piano) and Bellows and Brass. He has appeared on CBCTV, CTV, BRAVO, TV5 and European television broadcasts and is heard regularly on CBC Radio and NPR. Guy Few and Nadina Mackie Jackson were recently appointed as co-artistic directors of the Grand River Baroque Festival. Guy is a sessional lecturer at Wilfrid Laurier University where he conducts the Wilfrid Laurier Brass Ensemble and teaches trumpet and duo piano. He is a Yamaha Artist. www.guyfew.com
meet maestro sawa Music Director / Conductor, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra
Victor Sawa is a triple threat of talent, experience and personal dynamism in the orchestral world. Now Music Director of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, he holds similar positions with orchestras in Sudbury and Regina. He was previously Resident Conductor with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (19931997), Music Director with the North Bay Symphony, the Guelph Youth Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Orchestra. He also served as Principal Clarinet with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. He has been guest conductor for orchestras across the country.
Maestro Sawa has received many awards and honours, including three Canada Council awards for Conducting, a Grand Prix du Disque—Best Chamber Music Recording (Canadian Chamber Ensemble), a Grammy award (with the New England Ragtime Ensemble), and the Tanglewood Festival award for Outstanding Musician. A Montreal native, Mr. Sawa holds a Bachelor of Music with Distinction from McGill University and an Honours Masters of Music Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and is also a graduate of the Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Conductors.
meet the chamber orchestra Violin 1 Michael Swan (Concertmaster) Martha Kashap (Assistant Concertmaster) Mary Lou Day Lillian Jen-Payzant Violin 2 Oxana Ossiptchouk (Principal) Karen Bindle Karen Ogle Arthur Boan Viola Jim Legge (Principal) Saache Heinrich Cello Scott McKnight John Payzant Bass Richard Carnegie (Principal) Flute Randi Nelson (Principal)
Oboe Erin Brophey (Principal, temporary) Kevin Junk Brian Doell Bassoon Peter Gravlin (Principal) Marie Sellar Danielle Robertson-Boersma Horn Carol-Marie Cottin (Principal) Arlene Shiplett Dubrena Myroon Trumpet Terry Heckman (Principal) Daniel Funk Frank Harrington Timpani Darrell Bueckert (Principal) Percussion Roy Sydiaha (Principal) Harpsichord Renee de Mosiac
program notes George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): Concerto Grosso, No. 1 in G Major, Op.6 George Frideric Handel achieved fame and success at an early age and continued to produce consistently great work through a career that lasted nearly fifty years. His work was celebrated during his lifetime and has continued to be performed ever since. No other composer from before the nineteenth century has had such an unbroken performance tradition. Much of Handel’s fame during the two centuries following his death was based on relatively few pieces; he was known primarily for his oratorios, especially Messiah, and then also for his Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. In the last half century more attention has been focused on his magnificent operas, cantatas, and instrumental music including solos, trio-sonatas, and large-scale concertos. As a performer, Handel worked primarily in the theatre and many of his published concertos originated as overtures or interludes to operas and oratorios. The concerto grosso is Italian for big concerto, a form of baroque music in which the music is passed between a small group of soloists and the full orchestra. Handel’s Concerto Grosso in G Major is something of an exception to either of these formats, since it contains five movements, only one of which is slow. The first short movement of the concerto is solemn and majestic: the orchestra goes down step by step towards a more sustained section, followed by a downward shape that first comes from the full orchestra, and then echoed by the solo violins. This grandeur brings out a gentle and
eloquent response from the concertino string trio, much like in Corelli’s music, with imitations and passages in thirds in the violins. The orchestra and soloists continue their dialogue ending with a chromatic passage and simply descending to the final drooping cadence. The second movement is a lively allegro. The material is derived from the first two bars and a half bar figure that occurs in sequences and responses. The movement is a combination of unpredictable interchanges between orchestra and soloists. The third movement is a dignified adagio. Charles Burney wrote in 1785, “In the adagio, while the two trebles are singing in the style of vocal duets of the time, where these parts, though not in regular fugue, abound in imitations of the fugue kind; the base, with a boldness and character peculiar to Handel, supports with learning and ingenuity the subject of the two first bars, either direct or inverted, throughout the movement, in a clear, distinct and marked manner.” The fugal fourth movement has a tune first heard from the soloist. Despite being a piece of classical music developing a simple tune, it does not hold on to the strict rules of counterpoint, surprising the listener with creative moments until the closing. However, at the ending where a bold restatement of the theme would be expected, Handel playfully curtails the movement with two pianissimo bars. The last concerto-like movement is an energetic gigue in two parts, with the soloists echoing responses to the full orchestra.
program notes
Statue of J. S. Bach outside his childhood home in Eisenach, Germany
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): Brandenburg Concerto, No. 2 in F Major All six of Bach’s concertos have something different to offer: No. 2 in F contains a high trumpet part which is considered to be one of the most difficult pieces in trumpet repertoire. Between 1719 and 1721, Bach assembled six concertos for Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg, either on commission or as a job application. The Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 may have been one of the last to be written, and it certainly seems like a specialoccasion piece. It features four prominent instruments—trumpet, recorder, oboe, and violin—against a foundation of strings and continuo. It basically follows the Italian concerto grosso pattern, punctuating the solo group’s music with tutti outbursts for the strings, although here the soloists are often more integrated into the musical fabric than in the Italian model. The strongly rhythmic first movement, lacking a tempo indication, positions the soloists both as members of the overall ensemble and as out-front players, in varying combinations. The orchestra introduces an energetic eight-bar theme, then, two at a time and separated by restatements of the opening melody, the soloists jump in with their own two-bar motif.
From this point on, the soloists rarely recede completely, constantly toying with their short motif and picking up fragments of the initial theme as well. The trumpet retires from the plaintive Andante, leaving the other three soloists, with bare continuo accompaniment, to focus on a sighing phrase. One instrument’s entrance overlaps another’s last notes in a sort of counterpoint that, despite several efforts, never gets off the ground. Revamping a theme from the first movement, the Allegro assai takes counterpoint more seriously. In the earlier movements, Bach had passed a melody from one instrument to another, fully exploiting their contrasting colours. Now, in this final movement, the soloists each provide different voices in a fullfledged fugue, with the string orchestra merely reinforcing key moments. This fugue is no academic exercise; the music is bright and festive, clearly intended to show how a learned structure could be incorporated into popular entertainment at the margrave’s court. Originally, the composer meant for this to be played on the clarino (a valveless trumpet used for playing rapid passages in the high register). The playing skills for this instrument were lost in the eighteenth centuries and the clarino was replaced with the valved trumpet. The trumpet does not play in the second movement, as is common practice in baroque era concerti due to the construction of the natural trumpet, which allows it to play only in one key. Because concerti often move to a different key in the second movement, concerti that include a trumpet in their first movement and are from the period before the valved trumpet was commonly used, exclude the trumpet from the second movement.
program notes Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713): Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No.8 (known commonly as Christmas Concerto in G minor) Corelli was the most influential musician of the generation before Handel and his concertos were especially popular in Handel’s London. Many of Handel’s contemporaries, including Telemann and Vivaldi, published music modeled closely on Corelli’s work, but none had as close a connection with Corelli as Handel. During his early years in Rome, Handel had worked closely with him; he learned a lot from Corelli and Corelli performed some of Handel’s works as well. Corelli is considered to be the father of the Concerto Grosso form; this is his most famous. His twelve concerti grossi were likely composed during the last two decades of his life and first performed at the composer’s weekly concerts in Rome. Corelli began revising and preparing them for publication in 1708; the preface is dated December 3, 1712. They were published posthumously in 1714. Each concerto is scored for a solo concertino of two violins and cello, string orchestra and continuo. Arcangelo Corelli was known in his day as an extraordinary violinist, but as the son of a wealthy landowner he was able to limit his compositional output to those types of works that interested him. He was the first composer to achieve widespread fame purely for instrumental music, never composing an opera or (as far as we can tell) any vocal music. Corelli’s Op. 6 set of twelve concerti grossi are often considered pinnacles of the Italian concerto grosso style. (Handel used them as a model for his own famous Op. 6 set of concerti.) Although Corelli
Portrait of Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli by Jan Frans Douven
assembled these works for publication at the end of his life, he had composed many of them much earlier, polishing and refining them through repeated performances. Among the dozen works in his Op. 6, the first eight are in the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) style, while the last four follow the sonata da camera (chamber sonata) format. By far the most famous is No. 8, dubbed the Christmas Concerto because of its final movement, marked Pastorale. This term is derived from the Italian word pastori, referring to the shepherds who gathered at the manger in Bethlehem. By Corelli’s time it had become an Italian tradition for rural shepherds to journey into a nearby town on Christmas Eve and play their pipes in front of nativity scenes. The music most often associated with this tradition was a gentle, lilting siciliano in 12/8 meter. Corelli may have been the first composer to use this type of tune in a concert work in order to musically depict the nativity scene, but he would certainly not be the last: both Handel (the “Pastoral Symphony” in Messiah) and Bach (the opening sinfonia of the second cantata in the Christmas Oratorio) adopted the technique.
program notes George Frideric Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks (HWV 351) A huge figure in England in the first half of the 18th century, the German-born Handel was composer to the courts of King George I and II, writing chamber, keyboard and orchestral works, as well as ceremonial works such as Music for the Royal Fireworks. The orchestral suite—an overture leading into a set of dances—was commissioned by George II to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession. The king asked for music as spectacular as the show of fireworks that would accompany its performance, and he got more than he bargained for. First played in a public rehearsal, a crowd of more than 12,000, each paying admission, rushed the venue, causing the collapse of a section of the newly erected London Bridge. Six days later, at its official premiere, fireworks caused a fire and pandemonium in the audience. Another source stated it was rainy and many of the fireworks simply fizzled, and because of all the mishaps, very little is reported about Handel’s music.
Etching showing the “Royal Fire‑workes and Illuminations” in Whitehall and on the River Thames on Monday 15 May 1749, the occasion for which Handel composed his Music for the Royal Fireworks.
The huge crowds for the Fireworks performances are significant. Public concerts would arise only in the late 18th century. Before then, performances of opera, concerti and all the other secular Baroque works we now revere were strictly for royalty and their entourages. The general public had no access aside from trickle-down versions by itinerant musicians, and indeed, many would pass their entire lives without ever hearing a skilled artist perform great music. While the suite begins with the stately French Overture style, it has a decidedly martial and celebratory feel, even in its dance movements. Handel organized another concert a few months later, to raise funds for the completion of the Foundling Hospital. This indoor performance was much reduced and included strings and harpsichord. Handel and the Foundling Hospital continued a connection for the remainder of his life, notably with his annual Messiah performances in the chapel.