Program Notes

JOHN ADAMS

born: February 15, 1947 in Worcester, Massachusetts

Short Ride in a Fast Machine

(1986)

premiere: June 13, 1986 in Mansfield, Massachusetts

The Great Woods Festival commissioned American composer John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine, in celebration of the inaugural concert at Great Woods, Mansfield, Massachusetts. The premiere took place on June 13, 1986, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Short Ride in a Fast Machine is precisely what its name suggests — a fleeting, hectic, and breathless journey that keeps its passengers on the edges of their seats from start to finish. Since its premiere, Short Ride in a Fast Machine has proven to be immensely popular, and remains one of the most performed of all contemporary orchestral works.

ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD

born: May 29, 1897 in Brno, Czech Republic died: November 29, 1957 in Los Angeles, California

Violin Concerto in D Major

Opus 35 (1945)

premiere: February 15, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri

In 1934, Austrian composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold traveled to Hollywood to arrange a film score based upon Felix Mendelssohn’s Incidental Music to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Korngold’s opera, Der Kathrin, was scheduled for its Vienna premiere in the spring of 1938; however, the Nazi Anschluss forced its cancellation. Korngold then emigrated to the United States, returning to Hollywood. There, he applied his prodigious talents to the cinema, composing numerous film scores, two of which — Anthony Adverse (1936) and Robin Hood (1938) — received Academy Awards. With the conclusion of World War II, Korngold was able to return his attention to music for the concert hall. In 1945, he completed his Violin Concerto, a work he had begun in the late 1930s. Korngold dedicated the score to Gustav Mahler’s widow, Alma Mahler-Werfel. To some extent, the D-Major Concerto represents a synthesis of Korngold’s dual careers as a composer of film and concert music. Several of the Concerto’s principal melodies first appeared in the composer’s film soundtracks. The work is a fine example of Korngold’s melodic genius and late-Romantic style that made him a sensation in both Vienna and Hollywood. The Violin Concerto is in three movements. The first movement (Moderato nobile) begins with the soloist’s introduction of the wide-ranging principal melody, derived from the score to the film, Another Dawn (1937). The second movement Romance (Andante) opens with a brief, evocative orchestral introduction featuring a magical combination of vibraphone, harp, and celesta. The soloist enters with the principal theme of the Romance, originally from the score to Anthony Adverse (1936). The virtuoso Finale (Allegro assai vivace) is based upon a theme from the movie The Prince and the Pauper (1937).

AARON COPLAND

born: November 14, 1900 in Brooklyn, New York died: December 2, 1990 in Tarrytown, New York

Symphony No. 3

(1946)

premiere: October 18, 1946 in Boston, Massachusetts

Aaron Copland remains America’s foremost composer of concert music. Copland’s masterful and heartfelt incorporation of American folklore and melodies into such works as the ballets Billy the Kid (1940), Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944), the Lincoln Portrait (1942) for speaker and orchestra, and his arrangements of Old American Songs (1950 and 1952), have long inspired the affection and admiration of performers and concert audiences. Despite the immense popularity of such works (or perhaps, because of it), Aaron Copland also sought to compose pieces that built upon the traditions of European concert music. The Clarinet Concerto (1948), written for Benny Goodman, represents one such venture, although the stylistic influence of American jazz is also quite prominent. Copland’s Third Symphony, commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation, represents perhaps the composer’s most ambitious work in this traditional vein. Copland’s Third followed two relatively brief Symphonies, completed in 1925 and 1933. The composition of the Third Symphony took place between 1944 and 1946. Copland finished the orchestration of the final movement on September 29, 1946, just a few weeks before the Symphony’s premiere on October 18, with Serge Koussevitsky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The New York Music Critics Circle selected Aaron Copland’s Third Symphony as the best work by an American composer played during the 1946-7 season.

Aaron Copland Discusses his Third Symphony

In Copland’s program notes for the premiere of his Third Symphony, he cautioned:

One aspect of the symphony ought to be pointed out: it contains no folk or popular material. During the late twenties it was customary to pigeonhole me as a composer of symphonic jazz, with emphasis on the jazz. More recently I have been catalogued as a purveyor of Americana. Any reference to jazz or folk-material in this work was purely unconscious.

While it is true that all of the melodies are Copland’s own, the spirit of such works as Appalachian Spring and Lincoln Portrait may be found in the Symphony’s transparent orchestration and beautiful, arching themes. In addition, Copland acknowledged the presence in the Third Symphony of one of the most familiar and beloved American concert works:

I do borrow from myself by using Fanfare for the Common Man (1942) in an extended and reshaped form in the final movement. I used this opportunity to carry my Fanfare material further and to satisfy my desire to give the Third Symphony an affirmative tone. After all, it was a wartime piece — or more accurately, an end-of-war piece — intended to reflect the euphoric spirit of the country at the time.

The Third Symphony is in four movements. Copland describes the first (Molto moderato) as “broad and expansive in character”. The second movement (Allegro molto) serves the function of the Symphony’s lively scherzo. Copland describes the slow-tempo third movement (Andantino quasi allegretto) as “the freest of all in formal structure. Although it is built up sectionally, the various sections are intended to emerge one from another in continuous flow, somewhat in the manner of a closely knit series of variations.” Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man (Molto deliberato) serves as the introduction to the main portion of the Symphony’s finale (Allegro risoluto) that propels to a majestic close.