MASTERWORKS • 2016/2017 Colorado Symphony 2016/17 Season Presenting Sponsor:
ON THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE DANUBE COLORADO SYMPHONY KEVIN JOHN EDUSEI, conductor GABRIEL PREISSER, chansonnier Friday, April 21, 2017, at 7:30pm Saturday, April 22, 2017, at 7:30pm Boettcher Concert Hall
J. STRAUSS
On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314
HK GRUBER
Frankenstein!! – INTERMISSION –
BRAHMS/orch. SCHOENBERG Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 Allegro Intermezzo: Allegro, ma non troppo Andante con moto Rondo alla zingarese: Presto
SOUNDINGS 2016/2017 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 1
MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIES KEVIN JOHN EDUSEI, conductor Kevin John Edusei is one of today’s most promising young conductors. With an exceptionally wide ranging repertoire from baroque to contemporary music, Edusei is known for his delicate, clear conducting, which creates space for new nuances. He first attracted international attention in 2008 when he won the first prize of the prestigious “International Dimitris Mitropoulos Competition” in Athens. Since the season 2014/2015, he brings exceptional new vision to the Münchner Symphoniker as their chiefconductor. Starting in the season 2015/16, he also acts as chief conductor at the Konzert Theater Bern, where he succesfully continues his artistic collaboration. As a guest conductor, he has been invited by European orchestras as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the KonzerthausOrchester Berlin, the Residence Orchestra The Hague, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the Tonkünstler-Orchester Wien, the Wiener Kammerorchester, and the Ensemble Modern Frankfurt among others. In the year 2009, he gave his successful debut with the Staatskapelle Dresden leading a series of performances of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Semperoper Dresden. In March 2010, he stepped in for maestro Fabio Luisi on short notice to take over Paul Hindemith’s Cardillac, which was highly praised by the press. In 2013, he will present himself to the Viennese audience with Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Volksoper Wien. Further engagements in the season 2012/13 included the Landestheater Innsbruck and the Konzert Theater Bern, where he subsequently held the position of 1st guestconductor. In Bern, he conducted the acclaimed productions of Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Salome, and Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. During the seasons 2004 until 2011, he held the position of 1. Kapellmeister and associate General music director at the opera houses of Augsburg and Bielefeld, Germany. Highlights of his work in the field of opera were his acclaimed renderings of Fidelio, Don Carlos, Aida, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Orfeo ed Euridice, Adriana Lecouvreur, Der ferne Klang, and Tristan und Isolde. He was one of the three winners of the 2007 Lucerne Festival’s conducting competition under the artistic direction of Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös to conduct Karlheinz Stockhausens opus magnum Gruppen für drei Orchester. Furthermore, Kevin was awarded the “Dirigentenforum” stipend of the German Music Council, the fellowship of the International Ensemble Modern Academy, and the stipend of the Deutsche Bank affiliated organization “Akademie Musiktheater heute”. Kevin John Edusei received important artistic guidance from maestros Kurt Masur, Jorma Panula, Sylvain Cambreling, and Peter Eötvös. During the Aspen Music Festival 2004, maestro David Zinman awarded him the fellowship for the American Academy of Conducting, which gave him the possibility to work with distinguished artists as Leon Fleisher, Julius Rudel, David Robertson, and Michael Stern.
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MASTERWORKS BIOGRAPHIES GABRIEL PREISSER, chansonnier Praised for his “matinee idol charm and charisma,” “a beautiful, luscious baritone,” and “a compelling, commanding stage presence” by publications such as Opera News, the Star Tribune, and the Houston Chronicle, Gabriel Preisser received rave reviews once again for his performance of Lt. Gordon in the world-première of Kevin Putz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night with Minnesota Opera. He then took his portrayal of Lt. Gordon to Opera Philadelphia and Cincinnati Opera. This season, Mr. Preisser reprises the role of Lt. Gordon in Silent Night in his Michigan Opera Theatre début and he sings Maximilian in Candide with Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette and Dandini in La Cenerentola with Opera Tampa, the title role in Don Giovanni with Opera Orlando and Skylark Opera, and will narrate HK Gruber’s Frankenstein and sing the baritone solo in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Colorado Symphony. Last season, Mr. Preisser sang Harold Hill in The Music Man at Colorado Symphony; Tommy in Brigadoon with Gulf Shore Opera; Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Marchese in La traviata and Masetto in Don Giovanni with Opera Tampa; Le Mari in Poulenc’s surrealist two-act opéra bouffe Les mamelles de Tirésias with Opera Orlando; and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro at the historic James J. Hill House. He also appeared in concert singing the baritone solo in Belshazaar’s Feast with Canterbury Chorale and as a soloist in Dayton Opera’s New Year’s Eve concert.
ble! Now Avaovilean 9
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SOUNDINGS 2016/2017 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 3
MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES JOHANN STRAUSS, JR. (1825-1899): On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314 (1867) Johann Strauss, Jr. was born on October 25, 1825, in Vienna and died there on June 3, 1899. On the Beautiful Blue Danube was composed in 1867 and premiered on February 15, 1867, in Vienna, conducted by Johann Herbeck. The score calls for woodwinds in pairs plus piccolo, four horns, two trumpets, trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. Duration is about 10 minutes. Matthias Kuntzsch was on the podium when the piece was last performed on a Masterworks series the weekend of January 5-7, 1996. “This fiend of German birth, destitute of grace, delicacy and propriety, a disgusting practice,” spluttered one English writer of the 1830s about that diabolic instrument of immorality, The Waltz. Why, in this depraved display, he ranted, the couple actually danced in each other’s arms, refusing to keep the respectable distance that characterized all the good, old dances. And it was that crafty pair of Viennese tunemongers, Johann Strauss the Elder and his buddy Josef Lanner, who were the main perpetrators of this insult to humanity, dispensing a concoction of sounds that Richard Wagner described as “a stronger narcotic than alcohol” arousing “passions bordering on mad fury.” Alas for the poor Englishman, anything that delicious was bound to be a success. The waltz was descended from an Austrian peasant dance called a Ländler, a heavy-handed (footed?) affair in moderate triple meter that gained great popularity during Mozart’s last years in Vienna. (He wrote music for such German Dances when they were first allowed to join the staid, old minuet in the imperial balls in 1788.) The Viennese went mad over the new dance, and spent many nights literally dancing until dawn. Michael Kelly, a friend of Mozart and a participant in the premiere of The Marriage of Figaro, noted such dedication in the 1790s to this sort of merriment that, “for the sake of ladies in the family way who would not be persuaded to stay at home, there were apartments prepared, with every convenience for their accouchement, should they be unfortunately required.” It was really in the 1830s and 1840s, however, that the waltz established its form and style and became a European mania. Strauss the Elder led a crack orchestra in his own compositions, faster-tempo and more lilting modernizations of the old Ländler. So great was the popularity of the waltz during his lifetime that, during at least one carnival season, the ballrooms of Vienna could accommodate 50,000 people in an evening — in a city with a population of 200,000. His reputation spread well beyond the Austrian capital, and he was called on to play 72 public concerts in England during the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837. Papa Johann tried to discourage his sons from going into the music business, but Johann, Jr. was determined to be part of the waltz madness. He established a rival orchestra to that of his father and both prospered for some time, but, at his father’s death in 1849, the son merged the two ensembles. Strauss the Younger was soon dubbed “The Waltz King,” and he ruled over his domain as had no one in the history of music. He not only made money — he made people happy. One French journalist wrote in 1852, “In every house, on every piano in Vienna, lie Strauss waltzes.... They are sung and trilled and played throughout Europe. Plebeian and aristocrat hum and pipe them; orchestra and barrel organ play them. We hear them on the street, at the ball, in the garden, and at the theater.” “At its best,” wrote Hans Fantel, “in such creations as The Blue Danube, the Emperor Waltz or Tales from the Vienna Woods, the waltz is perhaps the closest
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MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES description of happiness ever attained in any art.” The waltz continued to flourish into the 20th century, becoming almost an opiate in those feverish years before World War I when the old Austro-Hungarian Empire was rapidly decaying. The waltz became, and remains, a symbol of a better, more care-free time, when an elegantly beribboned captain would whirl away the night with his dazzling companion. The door to this beautiful past is still held open by those who created it — Johann Strauss, father and son. “The universe of the waltz can be epitomized in about fifteen minutes simply by playing On the Beautiful Blue Danube,” according to former New York Times critic Hans Fantel. “More eloquently, more concisely than any other work, it embodies the essence of the waltz in form and spirit.” On the Beautiful Blue Danube, however, almost sank beneath the waves at its launching. Johann Herbeck, director of the Vienna Men’s Chorus, asked Strauss if he could provide some music in a popular style for the concerts of his ensemble. Strauss was uneasy setting words during those years before he began composing for the stage, but he did send Herbeck a melody inspired by a line from a poem of Karl Isidor Beck: “On the Danube, on the beautiful, blue Danube.” Herbeck assigned Josef Weyl, a police clerk who sang in the chorus and a poet-manqué, to concoct some verses to fit Strauss’ exquisite melody. “Vienna, be gay! And what for, pray? The light of the arc! Here it’s still dark!” was the best that Weyl could do. (Hans Fantel suggests that this doggerel may have been prompted by the carbon-electrode lights just beginning to sprout on Vienna’s street corners.) The members of the chorus almost mutinied at the prospect of mouthing such drivel, but were finally convinced by Herbeck to go through with the performance, which took place at the hall of the Imperial Riding School (home of the famous Lipizzaner stallions) on February 15, 1867. The press notices were not unkind, but Strauss judged the whole thing a marginal fiasco, and quietly tucked On the Beautiful Blue Danube in his desk. Later that year, Strauss was invited to take part in the International Exhibition in Paris that Napoleon III was staging in honor of himself. His music proved so successful in the French capital that he dusted off On the Beautiful Blue Danube, and displayed it to the delirious Parisians. Within weeks, demand for the work spread across the western world. During his visit to the United States in 1872 to take part in the “International Peace Jubilee” organized by Patrick S. Gilmore in Boston, Strauss conducted 20,000 singers and 10,000 instrumentalists (under the frantic guidance of 100 sub-conductors) in a gigantic performance of the work.
SOUNDINGS 2016/2017 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 5
MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES H[EINZ K[ARL] GRUBER (B. 1943): Frankenstein!! A Pan-Demonium for Baritone Chansonnier and Orchestra after Children’s Rhymes by Hans Carl Artmann (1976-1977) HK Gruber was born on January 3, 1943, in Vienna. Frankenstein!! was composed in 1976-1977 and premiered on November 25, 1978, in Liverpool, conducted by Simon Rattle with the composer as chansonnier. The score calls for flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, clarinet, bassoon, three horns, trumpet, trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celesta, strings, and toy instruments. Duration is about 28 minutes. The work was last performed on February 18, 2004, with Marin Alsop conducting. Mary Shelley’s cautionary novel about Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the monster he created in his laboratory is perhaps even more relevant in these days of DNA sequencing and genetic engineering than it was when it was published in 1818, and it is the title of the work that won for HK Gruber (his preferred professional name) international recognition in 1978. Gruber — composer, conductor, chansonnier and double bassist — was born in Vienna in 1943 and sang in the famed Vienna Boys Choir as a child and later studied composition, performance, and dance at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik. While he was playing double bass with the contemporary music ensemble “die reihe” and the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra in the 1960’s, Gruber was also composing actively, and his Concerto for Orchestra won a prize at the Österreichische Jugendkulturwoche (“Austrian Youth Culture Week”) in 1966, the same year he began appearing as an actor and singer. During the following decade, he played bass in the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra and founded the “MOB art & ton ART Ensemble” with composers Kurt Schwertsik and Otto Zykan to perform new and unconventional works that often tempered modern and traditional styles with elements of popular music. Gruber also gained a reputation as a cabaret-style performer during those years, and he created a sensation as the “chansonnier” in the premiere of his Frankenstein!! in Liverpool in November 1978; he has since appeared around the world in the role. He has continued to conduct (he was Composer-Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester from 2009 to 2015); perform as chansonnier; serve as a resident composer (at the BBC Proms, Wiener Konzerthaus, and the festivals of Gstaad, Lucerne, Grafenegg, and Bregenz); and compose, earning special recognition for his orchestral and concerted works (for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Ernst Kovacic, percussionist Evelyn Glennie, trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger, percussionist Colin Currie, and other prominent soloists) and his operas Gomorra, Gloria von Jaxtberg, Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald, and Der Herr Nordwind, about which a critic for the London Sunday Times wrote that “nostalgic frisson and the ironic surprise are technical means used by Gruber with absolute authority to create forthright masterpieces.” Gruber wrote of Frankenstein!!, “The origins of this ‘pan-demonium’ go back to the Frankenstein Suite of 1971 — a sequence of songs and dances written for the Vienna ‘MOB art and tone ART Ensemble,’ which was then active in the field of instrumental theater. Although the Suite was a success, I was unhappy about its improvisatory structure, and also needed the resources of a full orchestra. So in 1976-1977, I completely recomposed the work in its present form. It was first performed on November 25, 1978, by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Simon Rattle, with myself as soloist. For the 1979 Berlin Festival, I wrote an alternative version for soloist and twelve players (first performed that year by the Vienna ensemble ‘die reihe’ under Kurt Schwertsik, again with myself as soloist). Since then, the two versions have happily co-existed, and in 1983, at the Espace Cardin in Paris, Frankenstein!! entered the theatre for the first time — an unforeseen development, but one that proved PROGRAM 6 SOUNDINGS 2016/2017 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG
MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES suited to Artmann’s multi-layered fantasy. [Vienna-born avant-garde writer and poet Hans Carl Artmann (1921-2000) established his reputation with verses in Viennese dialect and went on to win the Grand Austrian State Prize, Georg Büchner Prize and a doctorate from the University of Salzburg.] “The title of the volume from which I took the poems of Frankenstein!! – Allerleirausch, neue schöne kinderreime (‘Noises, noises, all around: lovely new children’s rhymes’) — promises something innocuous, but Artmann himself has described the poems as being, among other things, ‘covert political statements.’ Typically he refused to explain what he meant. But his reticence is eloquent: the monsters of political life have always tried to hide their true faces, and all too often succeed in doing so. One of the dubious figures in the pandemonium is the unfortunate scientist who makes so surprising an entry at mid-point. Frankenstein — or whomever we choose to identify with that name — is not the protagonist, but the figure behind the scenes whom we forget at our peril. Hence the exclamation marks in the title. “Artmann’s demystification of heroic villains or villainous heroes finds a musical parallel in, for instance, the persistent alienation of conventional orchestral sound by resorting to a cupboard-full of toy instruments. However picturesque or amusing the visual effect of the toys, their primary role is musical rather than playful — even howling plastic hoses have their motivic/ harmonic function. In order to do justice to the true significance of the texts it would be enough to provide some extra exercises in structural complexity. By analogy with Artmann’s diction, my aim was a broad palette combining traditional musical idioms with newer and more popular ones, thus remaining true to the deceptive simplicity of texts whose forms at first glance suggest a naive and innocently cheerful atmosphere.” Poems by Hans Carl Artmann English translation by Harriett Watts Fanfare, Prologue little mouse, little mouse takes me to his mousey house, now he nibbles out my eye lost without my eye — I must bake a currant pie — currant pie with raisins sweet pick two out, but not to eat, stick them in to be my eyes. ah, the sunshine, bright surprise!
take a page, sit and think. don’t compose delightful prose. any sprite could write in white. it should reach through blood and bone to your heart’s own little home. Ib. Miss Dracula
Ia. Dedication something learned is something earned. purchase then some ink and pen. dip your pen into the ink,
biddy bat that soars so high faster than the clouds can fly gliding through the moonlight bright muzzle smeared from bloody bite. if she grabs you by the hair, you’ll fly with her through the air. disappear without a trace, SOUNDINGS 2016/2017 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 7
MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES to a wild and far-off place, to her secret hiding place, lonely castle like a tomb with a dark red dining room, she brings children to their doom, sipping blood from tiny veins — quite a legend, where she reigns! back in transylvania where she keeps her bat villa she is called miss dracula.
IIc. Monster
IIa. Goldfinger and Bond
III. A Mi Ma Monsterlet
this is the thumb sticks to the gums this is the goldfinger it pulls the trigger this is the long finger scratches the wall-safe this is the nose-finger rubs out goldfinger and this is the itzy itzy bitzy jimmy bond
a little mi ma monsterlet is dancing round our house. [an itzy bitzy monsterlet is dancing round our house it takes itself, it shakes itself, strews thumbtacks all about itself. that’s how the mi ma monsterlet goes dancing through our house.]
monster races down the stairs grubby hands, dishevelled hair so that’s why he never lingers there’s blood on his dainty fingers look! there’s a fine old urinal with water rushing just like niagara falls in he skips and all is flushed away hands as fresh as new-mown hay.
IV. Fanfare, Intermezzo IIb. John Wayne a john wayne he must have now two tall boots made for walking little fist made for hitting a casket for a basket wo bright spurs upon his boot heels — which no pony’s flank will feel. mean hombres made to shoot at and golden bullets in his gat. just you dare doubt his honor — you poor guy, you’re a gonner off he goes, what a speed, through Texas on his trusty steed learn from him, gentle child, why heroes act so wild you shouldn’t mix with rough guys if you’re not a tough guy so when you’re chasing baddies don’t be sweet and soft like dad is.
when the logs are burning in the stoves winter laughs in snowflake droves, taps the window, wants to play, ’tis the merry werewolf’s favorite day. merrily he crosses fields winter silence at his heels fur is bristling out in fun freest soul beneath the sun. little children, leave your house, scurry out quick as a mouse take along some christmas cake, follow in the werewolf’s wake.
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MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES V. Frankenstein
poing poing — crash crash crash crash — poing poing she’s out to trap you in a snare and I, the holy kryptonus, am there so heed my warning!
frankenstein is dancing frankenstein is dancing with the test-tube lady, with the test-tube lady, my little daughter dear, my daughter dear, it’s you! my little daughter dear; little daughter, it’s you!
VIII. Finale VIIIa. The Green-Haired Man
VI. Rat Song and Crusoe Song little rat now come with me, happy playmates we shall be, angel wings tie to your toes, take you to the circus shows. children will be standing by when they see you fly they’ll cry — goodness me! is that a rat? no, a flying circus bat! do you see good robinson sneaking off to have some fun? he’s had too much roasted goat watch him wading to his boat, the next island is his goal robinson, intrepid soul. listen how the oars are lapping listen to the wet sails flapping. as he sees the pale moon rise there he meets a new surprise. cannibals live on this shore (any child can tell you more!) robinson is in for a treat dining on some rare fresh meat!
swing wide the door, swing wide the door here comes a bright pink wagon. who’s sitting there? who’s sitting there? a man with bright green hair, dear. what does he want? what does he want? he’s come to fetch marie, dear. but why marie? but why marie? because her blood’s so sweet, dear. what is his name? what is his name? he does not give a name, dear. what would he like? what would he like? he likes to eat the ladies. give him marie, give him marie. we should not wish to cross him, else from his eyes, I do surmise he’d make us into mince-meat pies. VIIIb. Batman and Robin batman and robin still lie in their bed robin’s a nice boy but batman’s ill-bred. batman ta-ta and robin too-too coffee is on, and it’s breakfast for two.
little rat now come with me, etc. VIIIc. Monsters in the Park VII. Mr. Superman mister superman, put on your pants else someone’s bound to know you. that lois lane is on her way to jump in bed with you, sir,
there’re monsters hiding in the city park never go there after dark. so hang on tight to your school books hurry through while no one looks. evil lurks in monster’s eyes,
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MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES he has plans for those he spies. ya, holding out a red cherry casts his eyes on mark, or mary or on both, two heads for one monster also finds that fun. tender skins are what he’s after, strung like toys across his rafter so, children, listen and take care see him waiting over there, laughing back behind the leafy trees eats the cherries, spits out cherry seeds while the evening whip-poor-wills start their song behind the hills!
and the brilliant brain as well that’s throbbing in his skull now two little eyes I’ve planted in to gaze up at the moon with. good medicine is practiced here with minor aberrations. and see the slender backbone there, I’ve turned it on the lathe tonight, with my own hands I did the installation. thank you, thank you, herr frankenstein my caspar can now walk again and when he wants and feels the need chase the pretty, pretty little girls.
VIIId. Litany VIIIf. Grete Muller’s Adieu dear mama and dear papa baby vampire’s biting me. give a small clout to his small snout baby’s cross will drive him out. VIIIe. Hello, Hello, Herr Frankenstein hello, hello, herr frankenstein are you my good doll’s doctor? say, is my caspar healthy again? ah, yes, there in the back he sits his old stuffed heart has been exchanged for a heart of living flesh. how pleased I am, how pleased I am his little lungs make noises. why shouldn’t they be noisy, dear? those lungs are from a criminal
grete müller is my name nipping neckies is my game, little vampire teeth to bite little sharpened nails to fight never dead, if I should die, always in the evening sky when the shadows start to sing hear the rustling of my wing. Fanfare, Epilogue this little book is done see the mouse run catch the mouse then you can make from him such a fine pistol holster
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MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897): Quartet for Piano and Strings in G minor, Op. 25 (1857-1861) ORCHESTRATED (1937) BY ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951) Johannes Brahms was born on May 7, 1833, in Hamburg and died on April 3, 1897, in Vienna. Arnold Schoenberg was born on September 13, 1874, in Vienna and died on July 13, 1951, in Brentwood, California. Brahms composed his G minor Piano Quartet in 1857-1861; Schoenberg’s orchestration dates from 1937. The original chamber version was premiered on November 16, 1862, in Vienna by the composer as pianist and members of the Hellmesberger Quartet. Schoenberg’s orchestration was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on May 8, 1938, conducted by Otto Klemperer. The score calls for three flutes (second and third doubling piccolo), three oboes (third doubling English horn), E-flat clarinet, two clarinets (second doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (third doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings. Duration is about 42 minutes. This is the first performance by the orchestra. Despite the persistent charges of wild-eyed modernity leveled at Arnold Schoenberg, he always insisted that he was an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary composer. He maintained that his music was the logical extension of the great German tradition, and he pointedly traced his stylistic roots back through the compositions of Mahler, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn to Bach and Handel. He investigated this older music not just as the foundation upon which to erect his own original works, but also to use as the principal teaching material for his composition and theory students at U.C.L.A. He arranged for publication works by the Austrian pre-Classicists Georg Matthias Monn, Johann Christoph Mann, and Franz Tuma, and made a free transcription of Handel’s Concerto Grosso, Op. 6, No. 7. In the 1920’s, he orchestrated three organ works by Bach, a song by Carl Löwe and the Emperor Waltzes by Johann Strauss. The capstone of these projects was Schoenberg’s masterly orchestration of the G minor Piano Quartet, Op. 25 of Johannes Brahms. In a letter written in English on March 18, 1939, to Alfred Frankenstein, music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, Schoenberg wrote: “Here are a few remarks about the ‘Brahms.’ “The reasons: “1. I like this piece. “2. It is seldom played. “3. It is always very badly played, because, the better the pianist, the louder he plays, and you hear nothing from the strings. I wanted once to hear everything, and this I achieved. “My intentions: “1. To remain strictly in the style of Brahms, and not to go farther than he himself would have gone if he lived today. “2. To watch carefully all these laws which Brahms obeyed and not to violate such, which are only known to musicians educated in his environment. “How I did it: “I am for almost fifty years thoroughly acquainted with Brahms’ style and his principles. I have analyzed many of his works for myself and with my pupils. I have played as violist and SOUNDINGS 2016/2017 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 11
MASTERWORKS PROGRAM NOTES cellist this work and many others numerous times: I therefore knew how it should sound. I had only to transpose this sound to the orchestra, and this is in fact what I did. “Of course, there were heavy problems. Brahms likes very low basses, for which the orchestra possesses only a small number of instruments. He likes a full accompaniment with broken chord figures, often in different rhythms. And most of these figures cannot easily be changed, because generally they have a structural meaning in his style. I think I have resolved these problems, but this merit of mine will not mean very much to our present day musicians because they do not know about them and if you tell them there are such, they do not care. But to me it means something.” Schoenberg began his arrangement on May 2, 1937; the first movement was completed on July 16th, the third on August 22nd, and the finale on September 19th. Except for the very occasional doubling of a melodic line in thirds and the harmonization in the finale of the piano cadenza (scored for solo clarinet), he changed none of the notes of the original score. The orchestral style of the first three movements is closely related to the procedures of Brahms, though there is somewhat more emphasis on the writing for brass than the earlier master would have allowed. In the gypsy-dance of the finale, however, Schoenberg, not a man or composer known for joviality, seems to have given himself over to some good-natured fun. The trombone glissandi, the brass flutter-tonguing, the clattering of xylophone and glockenspiel are decidedly un-Brahmsian. Perhaps these effects are the reasons he chuckled when he referred to this transcription as “Brahms’ Fifth.” Debates on the relative merits of Schoenberg’s orchestration versus Brahms’ original can never yield a satisfactory conclusion. It is, however, always of benefit to have the views of one great artist on the work of another (much of Stravinsky’s output is just such “music about music”), and Schoenberg’s polished orchestration of Brahms’ wonderful Quartet provides a deeper appreciation for the accomplishments of both composers. The first movement contains an abundance of thematic material woven into a wonderful seamless continuum through Brahms’ consummate contrapuntal skill. Balanced within its closely reasoned sonata form are pathos and vigor, introspection and jubilance, storm and tranquility. The second movement (“Intermezzo”) is cast in the traditional form of scherzo and trio. It is formed from long-spun melodies in gentle, rocking rhythms. The third movement is in a broad three-part structure, with the middle section taking on a snappy, martial air. The “Gypsy Rondo” finale is a spirited essay much in the style of Brahms’ invigorating Hungarian Dances. ©2016 Dr. Richard E. Rodda
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