On Stage with Branford Marsalis

Friday 9 June / 7:30PM

Jack Singer Concert Hall Specials

Supported by

Concert Supporter: Heather Edwards Program

Rune Bergmann, conductor Branford Marsalis, saxophone Richard

Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24

Richard Strauss

(1864 to 1949)

Shortly after Strauss completed Don Juan, his second tone poem and the first to win success, he set to work on a third such piece, Death and Transfiguration. He conducted the premiere in Eisenach, Germany, on 21 June 1890. Five years later, he revealed his inspiration for this piece. A man dies, but the music offers the heartening possibility of a life to follow the one we know. It is a purely imaginary work, since the 25-year-old composer had not undergone any lifethreatening experiences by that point in his life. Nevertheless, it displayed remarkable maturity for one so young, in terms of creative confidence, philosophical ambition, and the skillful handling of the large, post-romantic orchestra. In it, he led listeners on a harrowing but ultimately heartening, Beethoven-like journey from darkness to light.

Escapades

John Williams (b. 1932)

John Williams is the world’s bestknown film music composer, and a highly successful conductor and recording artist. His film scores alone have received more than 50 Academy Award nominations. He also composes concert music. It adopts selected modern techniques without abandoning the fundamentals of romantic traditions. He and director Steven Spielberg have created dozens of joint projects, including many of the most popular films of the last 45 years, such as Jaws, E.T., and the Indiana Jones movies. Set during the 1960s, the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can tells the true-life story of a clever young forger (Leonardo DiCaprio) and the veteran FBI agent (Tom Hanks) who doggedly pursues him. William’s jazz-flavoured score includes a prominent role for alto saxophone, as does this appealing concert piece that he fashioned from it.

La valse, poème chorégraphique (The Waltz, Choreographic Poem)

Maurice Ravel (1875 to 1937)

Maurice Ravel had considered composing a tribute to the Strauss family of Vienna as early as 1906.

Had he gone ahead with it at that time, it would probably have sounded as carefree as The Blue Danube. But by the time he composed La valse in 1919–1920, both he and Europe had experienced catastrophic changes due to war. This piece reflects those changes strongly and with a mounting sense of impending catastrophe.

Boléro

Maurice Ravel

In 1928, dancer Ida Rubinstein commissioned a new ballet score from Maurice Ravel. He used the opportunity to conduct an experiment. As he put it, the score would be “uniform throughout in its melody, harmony, and rhythm, the latter being tapped out continuously on the drum. The orchestral crescendo supplies the only element of variety.” Instrumental colouring also plays a major role, an area in which Ravel had attained supreme mastery. After its premiere as a ballet, Boléro quickly won even greater success in the concert hall. Ravel found its overwhelming popularity somewhat embarrassing. Composer Arthur Honegger recalled, “Ravel said to me (possibly with tongue in cheek) 'I've written only one masterpiece, Boléro Unfortunately, there's no music in it.'” Audiences beg to differ. It may not be wise to hear it too often, but when everything falls into place, it has the power to mesmerize the senses and quicken the pulse more effectively than any other piece of music. It also gives many of the orchestra's section leaders the opportunity to perform solo passages.

Branford Marsalis

Saxophone

Branford Marsalis is an awardwinning saxophonist, band leader, featured classical soloist, and film and Broadway composer. Over a decades long career, he has won three Grammys, Emmy and Tony nominations, a citation by the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master, and more. Marsalis is increasingly sought-after as a featured soloist with such acclaimed orchestras as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the Chicago, Detroit, North Carolina, and Düsseldorf Symphonies. Emerging from the global pandemic in January 2022, Marsalis returned to the New York Philharmonic to perform John Adam’s Saxophone Concerto and then launched a tour with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He also performed John Williams’ Escapades in Tanglewood’s celebration of Williams’ 90th birthday. Even as he tours the world as a classical soloist, Marsalis continues to perform with The Branford Marsalis Quartet, formed in 1986. His work on Broadway has garnered a Drama Desk Award and Tony nominations and as a composer for film and television, his credits include original music composed for: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks starring Oprah, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman, and the Emmynominated Tulsa Burning.

“Already a fixture in the jazz world with five albums by only the age of 16, Alexander is clearly charting his own path.” NPR