CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES

“The temperature continues to rise as we move into Crescent City, which examines the destructive force as water grows from the small-scale to the enormous. This is illustrated in a theme-and-variations form in which the opening melody, at first quiet and lyrical, gradually accumulates a trail of echoing figuration behind it. In a nod to New Orleans, which knows the power of water all too well, the instruments trail the melody in a re-imagination of Dixieland swing. The electronics — silent in this movement until now — enter in the form of a distant storm. At the peak of the movement, the orchestra is buried in an electronic hurricane of processed storm sounds. We are swept into the muffled depths of the ocean. This water-covered world, which relaxes into a kind of balmy, greenhouse paradise, is where the symphony ends with On the Wannsee. A simple, lazy tune bends in the strings above ambient sounds recorded at a dock on Lake Wannsee. Gentle beats echo quietly in the moist heat. At near-pianissimo throughout, the melody floats lazily upwards through the humidity and, at the work’s end, finally evaporates.”

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 43

Sergei Rachmaninoff was born on April 1, 1873 in Oneg (near Novgorod), Russia, and died on March 28, 1943 in Beverly Hills, California. He composed the Paganini Rhapsody, his last work for piano, in 1934 and was soloist in the premiere at Baltimore’s Lyric Theater on November 7, 1934 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. The score calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings. Duration is about 22 minutes. The last time the Orchestra performed this piece was April 29-May 1, 2016 with Andrew Litton conducting and Kirill Gerstein on piano.

The legend of Nicolò Paganini has haunted musicians for over two centuries. Gaunt, his emaciated figure cloaked in priestly black, Paganini performed feats of wizardry on the violin that were simply unimagined until he burst upon the European concert scene in 1805. Not only were his virtuoso pyrotechnics unsurpassed, but his performance of simple melodies was of such purity and sweetness that it moved his audiences to tears. So far was he beyond the competition that he seemed almost, well, superhuman. Perhaps, the rumor spread, he had special powers, powers not of this earth. Perhaps, Faust-like, he had exchanged his soul for the mastery of his art. The legend (propagated and fostered, it is now known, by Paganini himself) had begun.

Paganini, like most virtuoso instrumentalists of the 19th century, composed much of his own music. Notable among his oeuvre are the breathtaking Caprices for Unaccompanied Violin, works so difficult that even today they are accessible only to the most highly accomplished performers. The last of the Caprices, No. 24 in A minor, served as the basis for compositions by Schumann, Liszt, Brahms and others, and was also the inspiration for Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Rachmaninoff’s work is a series of variations on this theme, which is characterized as much by its recurrent rhythm (five short notes followed by a longer one) as by its melody. Taking his cue from the Paganini legend, Rachmaninoff combined another melody with that of the demonic violinist — the Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”) from the Requiem Mass for the Dead.

The Rhapsody, a brilliant showpiece for virtuoso pianist, is a set of 24 variations. The work begins with a brief, eight-measure introduction followed, before the theme itself is heard, by