Where Quality Endures…And New Traditions Begin 91st Annual Concert Series
Jerusalem String Quartet Friday, October 22, 2010
www.uniontheater.wisc.edu 608-265-ARTS 800 Langdon St., Madison, WI 53706
Wisconsin Union Theater 1
Presented by the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee, directed this year by Kiley Groose. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts Additional support provided by the Wisconsin Union Theater Endowment Fund ETC, WORT 89.9 FM, Wisconsin Public Radio, and AV Club
UW-Madison students: to join the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee, and help program our upcoming events, please contact Kiley Groose at kgroose@gmail.com
2 Wisconsin Union Theater
T H E J E R U S A L E M S T R I N G Q UA R T E T Alexander Pavlovsky............................................................................................................violin Sergei Bresler...........................................................................................................................violin Ori Kam........................................................................................................................................ viola Kyril Zlotnikov.......................................................................................................................... cello PROGR A M String Quartet in F-minor, Op. 20, No. 5...................................................Franz Josef Haydn Allegro moderato 1732-1809 Menuet Adagio Finala (“Fuga a 2 Soggetti�) String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10.................................................................. Claude Debussy Anime et tres decide 1862-1918 Assez vif et bien rythme Andantino doucement espressif Tres modere - Tres mouvemente et avec passion **INTERMISSION** String Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1 .................................................. Johannes Brahms Allegro 1833-1897 Romanze (Poco adagio) Allegretto molto moderato e comodo - un poco piu animato Finale (Allegro) The Jerusalem Quartet appears by arrangement with David Rowe Artists, www.davidroweartists.com The Jerusalem Quartet record for Harmonia Mundi www.jerusalemstringquartet.com
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Wisconsin Union Theater 3
ABOUT THE MUSIC BY PERRY ALL AIRE Haydn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 20, No. 5 In the years 1771 and 1772, Joseph Haydn composed two sets of string quartets which established him as the founder of the Classical string quartet and assured both his contemporary fame and his distinguished place in the history of the genre. They are the quartets of Op. 17 and Op. 20, each set consisting of six works; of the collection the Op. 20 are the more assured compositions, astonishing for their wealth of musical ideas, depth of feeling, and formal invention. The most famous publication of the Op. 20 set--Hummel, 1779--features an image of the sun on its front page, resulting in the works becoming known as the “Sun Quartets”. Of them, the impassioned F minor Quartet, Haydn’s most tragic quartet in his most tragic key, is probably the most often played. Its opening movement, grand and serious, rises out of a powerful intertwining melody. This movement is built on rich thematic and rhythmic contrasts, and ends with a coda whose power and proportion looks forward to Beethoven. Within the Op. 20 set, Haydn varied the placement of the Menuetto movement: here it comes second and is of the new “serious” type. Indeed, its profusion of ideas vies with those of the opening movement. Its F major trio raises visions of the pastoral life, complete with folk dances. The following F major Adagio in 6/8 time has a distinctly Sicilian flavor, with improvisation-like figures in the first violin featured throughout, but becoming especially important in the recapitulation. One of the most significant innovative ideas of the Op. 20 Quartets are the fugal finale movements. Three of the six quartets have them, and they range from two-to three-to four--subject fugues. The one that concludes the F minor Quartet has only two subjects, but it is one of Hayden’s most significant fugues. It takes a tone of imposing stature from Haydn’ religious choral writing, and in fact it is of the “Dorian fugal theme” family familiar from Handel’s Messiah and J. S. Bach’s “Well-tempered Clavier“; Mozart would use the same device in his Requiem. To Haydn’s great F minor Quartet it provides a truly suitable ending, full of passion and grandeur. Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 Much of the audience who heard the first performance of Claude Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor on December 29, 1893 left the concert surprised and perplexed. The Quartet had been played by a fine group led by the famous Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaye at a concert of the Societe Nationale where the audience expected a quartet to present the highest level of musical discourse in forms perfected by the Classical masters, especially sonata form. In this they were disappointed and confused, for Debussy’s use of sonata form was accomplished only along the most general outlines. He had in fact found a most remarkable fusion of the cyclic form pioneered by Cesar Franck and the variation form in which the point is not contrast and development by fragmentation as with the Beethoven model, but a fluid kind of constant variation with kaleidoscopically shifting harmonies and subtle melodic twists. As Edward Lockspeiser puts it “There was in Debussy’s musical nature a predisposition to a form in which more significance should be attached to the recurrence and transformation of motives than to their contrast and logical development.” The first movement, marked “Animated and very determined”, begins immediately with the motive from which all other material in the quartet will derive . Here is in the Phrygian mode. In the exposition there are two episodes which seem like possible counter-themes but are not; they come and go with no structural effect and in fact are never reintroduced. Only at the very end of the exposition is the real second subject heard. What stands for a development section is actually a series of minute variations based mainly on the second subject placed together in a kind of mosaic. The closing section brings us not a clearer idea of the significance of the subject matter as in Beethoven but a further wonder of variation of design with more shifting harmonies. A short codetta completes the movement. 4 Wisconsin Union Theater
A B O U T T H E M U S I C B Y P E R R Y A L L A I R E ( c o n t .) The Scherzo (“Rather lively and very rhythmic”) startles the listener with its novel effect: a new version of the basic theme for viola recast in rhythm and mode with scintillating pizzicato accompaniment. The oriental influence suggested by the Gamelan orchestra which Debussy had heard at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889 is very strong in this movement, a sonority cherished by Ysaye and his quartet in the first performance. The lightness of touch and whirlwind of motion in this movement make it one of the real gems of string quartet literature. The following slow movement, also in ternary song-form, is marked “Andantino, with restrained expression” and shows a broadspanned languorous unfolding that reminds us of Debussy’s Prélude to L’Apres-midi d’un faune which was only a year away and would bring its composer instant and lasting fame. This quartet movement features moving soliloquies for both viola and cello along with a sumptuous modulation to D-flat. The concluding movement (“Very moderate, (then) more animated and impassioned”) attempts at the beginning to form a synthesis of the themes of the preceding movements according to the dictates of cyclic form, then launches into an Allegro Finale that sweeps us along with its impetuousness. We are treated to even further variation and transformation: at one point Debussy even brings back the scherzo version of the main theme as a fugato and then toys, uncharacteristically for him, with the scholarly device of inversion. But nothing can impede the flow of this movement to its final destination, and when it is over we are aware that Debussy has filled his form with the most astonishing variety of material, all derived from a single generating motive. Brahms: Quartet in C, Op 51, No 1 “Is your string quartet in C minor finished yet? If so, could you let us have it for the 18th?” This inquiry was sent to Johannes Brahms by his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim. The year was 1865, the date referred to was in December, and the “us” was Joachim’s string-quartet, whose playing Brahms knew well. Of course, it is not certain that the quartet mentioned is the one now known as the first of Op. 51, but we do know that Brahms began to work on the Op. 51 pair about this time. Still, it would be another eight years before the reticent composer would let the world see and hear a string-quartet of his. The reasons for the delay were many. Robert Schumann’s ecstatic introductory article about Brahms in the October, 1853 issue of his Neve Zeitschrift fur Müsik hailing Brahms as the “young eagle” of German composers made the hypersensitive youth even more self-critical and caused him to feel with increasing weight the burden of being a successor to Beethoven and others. Schumann had written of having seen “quartets for stringed instruments” by his young friend. Brahms had certainly written some, but he kept them to himself, perhaps as many as twenty by the time he published his Op. 51 in 1873. In 1869 we find Brahms’ publisher Simrock begging the composer for promised quartets and being put off with pleas for patience, Brahms saying with typical modesty “How difficult it is to master various techniques when one is not especially adapted for them.” This from the composer of the two beautiful String Sextets of Op. 18 and Op. 36. But the quartet held the severity of the Classical tradition and Brahms was determined that when a string quartet left his “workshop” for public consumption, it would be as perfect as he could make it. And with the C minor quartet of Op. 51 he succeeded brilliantly. It is a marvel of cyclic unity, the well-wrought consequence of all Brahms’ labors. Its first movement opens with the first violin’s eight-note theme which ascends in dotted rhythm until the last two notes suddenly drop to form a diminished seventh. This is not only the main theme of this movement, it will also become the springboard of the Finale and be part of the main melody of the Romanza. The pulsating eighth-notes of viola and cello announce the tragic nature of the first movement, but almost immediately there is a shift to F minor introducing triplet gestures and hints of the major mode, material that will be used later. Then we are plunged back into the turbulence of the main theme, now accompanied by a leaping figure in the first violin. This figure is continued in the viola when a new idea, the second theme, is introduced in the violins--more organic unity. The Wisconsin Union Theater 5
A B O U T T H E M U S I C B Y P E R R Y A L L A I R E ( c o n t .) climax of the development section is a dazzling burst into E major, but it quickly clouds over into the prevailing C minor. Just before the coda, where the prevailing 3/2 becomes a more urgent 2/2, a moment of C major is heard, and it is in this key that, after some more C minor turbulence in the coda, the movement ends. As mentioned, the Romanza begins with a melody based in part on the first movement’s opening theme, and we find ourselves in the idyllic world of A-flat major. The second theme in the parallel minor perhaps suggest with its gentle rocking motion and hushed atmosphere the Cavatina of Beethoven’s Op. 130 Quartet, while the return of the “A” theme in this ABA form may recall Schubert’s lyricism and constant shifting of major and minor mode. But Brahms has certainly found here his own bitter-sweet voice and masterful technique in the way he subtly combines these ideas in this final section. The third movement in the “Scherzo” place underlines Brahms’ developing concept of “his” kind of scherzo: more like an intermezzo, flowing with a long melodic line. The brooding melody here is in F minor with much chromatic sighing pointing to the major mode. But even when F major is realized in the trio section, the sobriety remains, and even the rustic plucked accompaniments seem strangely heavy. Yet this movement, too, like the opening one, ends in the major, and we wonder if perhaps a brighter fate is in store. Not at all. The stabbing rhythm and ultimate drop of a diminished seventh that opened the work return, this time the actual pitches employed are those that began the Romanza. Once again cyclic unity rules. The form of the Finale is sonata-rondo, but it is freely used; the development section is merely a structural gesture, for the movement is so compact and highly charged that it seems to comprise a single organic growth. Every turn to C major--turns we have come to expect by our previous experience in the earlier movements whose echoes we hear--is opposed and thwarted. And finally all this onrush of momentum is channeled into a culminating coda whose grim and resolute C minor is inescapable. The strongest possible cadence ends this work, marking for Brahms an absolute triumph as the composer of a truly masterful string quartet, the one he would finally give to the world.
COMING SOON Spring Awakening, the National Tour Saturday, October 23, 7 pm and Midnight Sunday, October 24Pm 7 pm Vietnam – Land of Surprises with Buddy Hatton Monday-Tuesday, October 25-26, 7:30 pm Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band Friday, November 5, 8 pm Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel® The Romantic Music of Robert Schumann: Fantasies Forbidden and Fulfilled Tuesday, November 9, 7:30 pm, Mills Hall
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Edo de Waart, Conductor Sunday, November 21, 7:30 pm Great Rocky Mountains RV Adventure! New Mexico to Yellowstone, with John Holod Monday-Tuesday, November 29-30, 7:30 pm Cantus All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 Saturday, December 11, 7:30 pm 6 Wisconsin Union Theater
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Where Quality Endures…And New Traditions Begin 91st Annual Concert Series
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Edo de Waart, Conductor
Sunday, November 21, 2010
www.uniontheater.wisc.edu 608-265-ARTS 800 Langdon St., Madison, WI 53706 8 Wisconsin Union Theater
Presented by the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee, directed this year by Kiley Groose. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts Additional support provided by the Wisconsin Union Theater Endowment Fund, Fan Taylor Fund for the Performing Arts, ETC, Wisconsin Union Theater Endowment Fund, WORT 89.9 FM, Wisconsin Public Radio, and AV Club
UW-Madison students: to join the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee, and help program our upcoming events, please contact Kiley Groose at kgroose@gmail.com
Wisconsin Union Theater 9
PROGR A M Suite No. 1 from Peer Gynt, Opus 46.................................................... EDVARD GRIEG Morning Mood 1843-1907 Ase’s Death Anitra’s Dance In the Hall of the Mountain King Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 14.................................... SAMUEL BARBER Allegro 1910-1981 Andante Presto in moto perpetuo Frank Almond Intermission Concerto for Orchestra ......................................................................... BÉLA BARTÓK Introduzione: Andante non troppo - Allegro vivace 1881-1945 Giuocco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzando Elegia: Andante non troppo Intermezzo interrotto: Allegretto Finale: Pesante - Presto
M I LWAU K E E S Y M P H O N Y O R C H E S T R A R O S T E R 2 010 | 2 011 EDO DE WAART............................................................................................................... Music Director Music Director Chair, Anonymous Donor ANDREAS DELFS................................................................................................. Conductor Laureate MARVIN HAMLISCH................................................................................Principal Pops Conductor Stein Family Foundation Principal Pops Conductor Chair DOC SEVERINSEN.................................................................................... Pops Conductor Emeritus STUART CHAFETZ............................................................................................... Resident Conductor LEE ERICKSON...............................................................................................................Chorus Director Margaret Hawkins Chorus Director Chair TIMOTHY BENSON...................................................................................Assistant Chorus Director FIRST VIOLINS Frank Almond Concertmaster, Charles and Marie Caestecker Concertmaster Chair Ilana Setapen Associate Concertmaster Jeanyi Kim Associate Concertmaster Third Chair Karen Smith Anne de Vroome Kamerling Associate Concertmaster Emeritus Michael Giacobassi Peter Vickery Zhan Shu Sang Shen Dylana Leung Lynn Horner Xiao-Xian Wang Andrea Wagoner Robin Petzold* David Anderson Eric Segnitz SECOND VIOLINS Jennifer Startt Principal 10 Wisconsin Union Theater
Timothy Klabunde Assistant Principal Taik-ki Kim Lisa Johnson Fuller Shirley Rosin Margot Schwartz Paul Mehlenbeck Janice Hintz Les Kalkhof Glenn Asch Mary Terranova Laurie Shawger VIOLAS Robert Levine Principal, Richard O. and Judith A. Wagner Family Principal Viola Chair Wei-ting Kuo Nathan Hackett Sara Harmelink Larry Sorenson Joana Miranda Yi Yin Li Acting Assistant Principal ** Friends of Janet F. Ruggeri Viola Chair Erin H. Pipal Norma Zehner
MILWAUKEE SYMPHON Y ORCHESTR A ROSTER 2 010 | 2 011 ( c o n t .) David Taggart Helen Reich
E FLAT CLARINET Kyle Knox
CELLOS Joseph P. Johnson Principal, Dorothea C. Mayer Cello Chair Scott Tisdel, Associate Principal Peter Szczepanek Laura Love Gregory Mathews Peter J. Thomas Elizabeth Tuma Margaret Wunsch Adrien Zitoun Kathleen Collisson
BASS CLARINET William Helmers
BASSES Zachary Cohen Principal Donald B. Abert Bass Chair Andrew Raciti Assistant Principal Rip PrĂŠtat Laura Snyder Maurice Wininsky Catherine McGinn Scott Kreger Roger Ruggeri
HORNS William Barnewitz Principal, Krause Family French Horn Chair Krystof Pipal Associate Principal Dietrich Hemann Andy Nunemaker French Horn Chair Darcy Hamlin William Cowart
HARP Danis Kelly Principal, Walter Schroeder Harp Chair
TRUMPETS Mark Niehaus Principal, Walter L. Robb Family Trumpet Chair
FLUTES Jeani Foster, Principal, Margaret and Roy Butter Flute Chair Glenda Greenhoe, Assistant Principal Judith Ormond
Dennis Najoom Co-Principal, Martin J. Krebs Co-Principal Trumpet Chair Alan Campbell
PICCOLO Judith Ormond OBOES Stephen Colburn Principal, MSO League Oboe Chair Margaret Butler Martin Woltman, Assistant Principal ENGLISH HORN Martin Woltman Philip and Beatrice Blank English Horn Chair in memoriam to John Martin CLARINETS Todd Levy Principal, Franklyn Esenberg Clarinet Chair Kyle Knox Assistant Principal, Donald and Ruth P. Taylor Assistant Principal Clarinet Chair William Helmers
BASSOONS Theodore Soluri Principal, Muriel C. and John D. Silbar Family Bassoon Chair Martin Garcia Assistant Principal Beth W. Giacobassi CONTRABASSOON Beth W. Giacobassi
TROMBONES Megumi Kanda Principal, Marjorie Tiefenthaler Trombone Chair Samuel Schlosser BASS TROMBONE Richard Kimball TUBA Randall Montgomery Principal TIMPANI Dean Borghesani Principal Thomas Wetzel, Associate Principal PERCUSSION Thomas Wetzel Principal Joseph Conti
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ABOUT THE MUSIC BY PERRY ALL AIRE Grieg: Peer Gynt: Suite No. 1 “Peer Gynt goes slowly and there is no possibility of getting it finished by fall. It is a horribly intractable subject except for a few places, for example where Solveig sings; in fact I have done those parts already and I have something for the hall of the troll king that I literally can’t bear to listen to, it reeks so of cow-turds, super-Norwegianism, and I’m-all-right-Jackness! But I’m making sure the irony will come through…” These words were written by Edvard Grieg to his closest friend Frants Beyer in August of 1874. As can be seen, Grieg was not having a good time. The great Henrik Ibsen, who had met Grieg briefly in Rome some eight years earlier at the Scandinavian Club and had taken a liking to the shy, young musician, had written the composer in January of 1874 asking him to write incidental music for a proposed 1876 production in Oslo of Peer Gynt. Grieg had agreed to compose twenty-six numbers for the play, and he was beginning to find the task overwhelming. Ibsen, for his part, was famously unmusical, and probably not terribly interested in the problem, although he had made specific suggestions to Grieg about the music. But Grieg did persevere, as we know, and the enterprise won him fame and fortune. Originally, Ibsen had no plan to put Peer Gynt on stage when he wrote this “dramatic poem” in 1867; only later did he think of giving it to the theater. Even as such, it remained a sprawling affair, following Peer’s life from very young manhood to old age and perhaps beyond physical death. It has many locations, along with philosophical meditations, satire, and downright knock-about comedy--in short, a difficult thing for a composer to get his mind around, especially for a sweet and gentle soul like Grieg. Yet his Peer Gynt music seemed to take on a life of its own: it was immediately quite popular, and so in the 1880’s Grieg, happy to be freed from the limitations of a small pit orchestra, revised and reorchestrated the four numbers that comprise the Suite No. 1. Suite No. 2 followed a few years later, virtually by popular demand. Suite No. 1’s first movement,“Morning Mood” has become extraordinarily famous and seems to embody the perfect evocation of fresh sunlit Scandinavia. Actually, in the play it comes in Act IV when Peer Gynt is no longer the young Norwegian mountain lad but has become a roaming middle-aged opportunist capitalist, and the setting is Africa. The second movement,“Ase’s Death”,concludes the scene in Act III with the death of Peer’s mother, lonely and forgotten. Its muted strings and single rhythmic pattern underline the tragic irony as Peer tells her fancifully that he is driving her up to the gates of Heaven. “Anira’s Dance” takes us back to Africa where this exotic mazurka for muted strings and triangle is performed seductively for Peer by a Bedouin chief’s daughter. He elopes with her only to have her gallop off with his stolen jewels. “In the Hall of the Mountain (Troll) King” is another of the very famous pieces from this music. Once again Peer is in romantic trouble, having refused to marry the Troll King’s hideous daughter, and he must now run for his life. The original version with voices increases its savagery. As was suggested above, this music has truly taken on a life of its own, beyond Peer Gynt into a kind of popularity where its sheer beauty is treasured, and it means as many different things to its listeners as there are listeners. Barber: Violin Concerto Samuel Barber was 29 years old, a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and an increasingly successful young composer, when he was commissioned to write a violin concerto by the Philadelphia industrialist Samuel Fels. Mr. Fels intended the concerto for his adopted son, the Italian violinist Iso Briselli, who had been a child prodigy, and, two years younger than Barber, had graduated from Curtis the same year as the composer, 1934. Barber accepted the 12 Wisconsin Union Theater
A B O U T T H E M U S I C B Y P E R R Y A L L A I R E ( c o n t .) commission and with an advance on the fee went to Switzerland to compose the concerto in the summer of 1934. By the end of the summer the concerto’s first two movements were completed and sent to Briselli, but the violinist was disappointed, expecting more of a virtuoso showpiece. Barber assured him that the last movement would fill that bill. However, when Briselli got the finale he pronounced it unplayable, and Fels, likewise disappointed demanded that Barber return his advance. Barber replied that he had spent it in Switzerland. At this point the Curtis Institute stepped in to mediate this dispute among its own. Staff pianist Ralph Berkowitz asked a young student violinist, Herbert Baumel, known as a good sight-reader to study the finale of the concerto for a couple of hours and then come to pianist Josef Hofmann’s studio where Baumel and Berkowitz would try out the movement for a small audience. When Baumel got there he found the “small audience” contained Barber (now teaching at Curtis), Gian Carlo Menotti, Mary Louise Curtis Bok (Curtis’s wealthy founder), and others. But the duo demonstrated rather easily that the movement was playable, and so a compromise was reached: Fils awarded Barber the full commission and Briselli gave up all performance rights to the concerto--a sort of negotiated separation. And Baumel gave the first performance with the Curtis orchestra under Fritz Rener, and that performance interested Eugene Ormandy, who gave the first public hearing with violinist Albert Spalding and the Philadelphia Orchestra on 7 February, 1941. This story is well-known and perhaps beside the point, because Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto has long since taken its place as one of the most popular concertos of the twentieth century. It is no exaggeration to say that Barber, like Rachmaninoff, found his style early and remained consistent with it throughout his career. The Concerto is a good example. It’s supremely lyrical first movement and brooding yet tense and edgy second movement--both with just enough harmonic and instrumentational spice-- lead quite logically (just as Barber intended) to the culminating finale. Although short, its dizzying energy and perpetual motion bravura balance off the work quite well. A good performance is still a treat, and a reminder that the vote of the public over time remains a worthy barometer. Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra It was with great sorrow that Bela Bartok realized in late 1939, like so many other Europeans, that he must leave his homeland and seek refuge in America. He had witnessed the growing influence of Fascism and Nazism in his beloved Hungary, to which he was vehemently opposed, and in this year he suffered the death of his adored mother. But living and making a living was not easy for him; he found himself in New York, speaking little English and with few prospects. University positions were offered, but he did not consider himself a teacher of that sort; he did accept a modest position at Columbia University doing folksong research, but even this was short-lived. Worst of all, it became clear that he was suffering from a debilitating illness which was eventually found to be leukemia, and Bartok was losing hope. Into this situation, in 1943, stepped the Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti, who had earlier persuaded Benny Goodman to commission Bartok’s Contrasts for violin, clarinet, and piano. Now Szigeti, along with conductor Fritz Reiner, joined forces to induce Serge Koussevitsky, conductor of the Boston Symphony and head of the Koussevitsky Foundation which had funded many new works, to commission an orchestral piece from Bartok. Recuperating that summer at Saranac Lake in the beautiful Adirondacks district, the composer, feeling newly energized, was able to complete his Concerto for Orchestra in just under eight weeks. The premiere of the work was given by the Boston Symphony under Koussevitsky on 1 December, 1944, and it was a resounding Wisconsin Union Theater 13
A B O U T T H E M U S I C B Y P E R R Y A L L A I R E ( c o n t .) success. Indeed, it might be said that this work began the truly international acceptance of Bartok as one of the century’s foremost composers. For the program of that first performance in Boston, the composer provided the following notes about his Concerto: “The general mood of the work represents, apart from the jesting second movement, a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one. “The title of this symphony-like orchestral work is explained by its tendency to treat the single instruments or instrument groups in a ‘concertant’ of soloistic manner. The ‘virtuoso’ treatment appears, for instance, in the fugato sections of the development of the first movement (brass instruments), or in the ‘perpetual mobile’-like passages of the principal theme in the last movement, and, especially, in the second movement, in which pairs of instruments consecutively appear with brilliant passages. “As for the structure of the work, the first and fifth movements are written in a more or less regular sonata form. The development of the first contains fugato sections for the brass; the exposition in the finale is somewhat extended, and its development consists of a chain of independent short sections, by wind instruments consecutively introduced in five pairs (bassoons, oboes, clarinets, flutes, and muted trumpets). Thematically, the five sections have nothing in common. A kind of ‘trio’--a short chorale for brass instruments and side drum-follows, after which the five sections are recapitulated in a more elaborate instrumentation. The structure of the third movement likewise is chain-like; three themes appear successively. These constitute the core of the movement, which is enframed by a misty texture of rudimentary motifs. Most of the thematic material of this movement derives from the ‘Introduction’ to the first movement. The form of the fourth movement--Intermezzo interrotto--could be rendered by the letter symbols ‘A B A-interruption-B A.’” The title of this fourth movement refers to an “Interrupted Intermezzo” and has caused some controversy. The “Interruption” is a mocking clarinet passage, obviously a reference, and not in homage. The Hungarian conductor Antal Dorati, friend and long-time champion of Bartok, claims in his Notes of Seven Decades that Bartok told him personally that the passage was a poke at Shostakovich whom Bartok did not admire and thought had been afforded more recognition than he deserved. Bartok described that “Interruption” as a Shostakovich-like “brutality”: “The melody [of the movement] goes its own quiet way, singing to itself-when suddenly it’s interrupted by that brutality, at which the orchestra laughs and gives it a ‘raspberry’. Then the melody is alone again and continues its walk, as before, only a little more sadly…And thus I gave vent to my anger in the Concerto”. The melody involved as the “Interruption” reference is part of the march theme of the first movement of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony. This insight is only one of the intricacies of Bartok’s great Concerto for Orchestra. Another is the wonderful beauty of the periods of “night music” that invade the outer movements and characterize virtually the whole of the third movement, the crux of the work. It has become one of its composers most eloquent spokesmen, a special testimony to the craft and very personal expression of its inextinguishably Hungarian creator.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST Edo de Waart, Conductor The 20010/11 season is Edo de Waart’s second as the sixth music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he is chief conductor and artistic director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland. In 2012, he becomes music director of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra in Antwerp, Belgium.
and artistic director. Since then, Edo de Waart has also been music director of the San Francisco Symphony and Minnesota Orchestras, chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and chief conductor of De Nederlandse Opera. In December 2004, he was made a knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion, and in 2005 he was appointed an honorary officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
Guest conducting highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington; as well as the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Het Residentie Orkest in Europe, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Japan. As an opera conductor, Edo de Waart has enjoyed success in many of the great houses of the world. Semi-staged and concert opera performances in the 2009/10 season included Bluebeard’s Castle (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra), Der Rosenkavalier (Metropolitan Opera), Pelléas et Mélisande (Concertgebouw Zaterdag Matinee series), and A Rake’s Progress (Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra).
Edo de Waart lives in Middleton, Wisconsin, with his wife, Rebecca, and their two children.
Edo de Waart’s extensive catalogue encompasses releases for Philips, Virgin, EMI, Telarc, and RCA. With the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland he has recorded all the orchestral works of Rachmaninoff, as well as the overtures of Wagner in Super Audio for the Japanese label Octavia/Exton. Born in Holland, he studied oboe, piano, and conducting at the Music Lyceum in Amsterdam and upon graduating took up the position of associate principal oboe of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Two years later, at the age of 23, he won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in New York which resulted in his appointment for the 1964/65 season as assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. On his return to Holland he was appointed assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink at the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1967 the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra appointed him permanent guest conductor and six years later chief conductor
Frank Almond, Violin Violinist Frank Almond holds the Charles and Marie Caestecker Concertmaster Chair at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He returned to the MSO after holding positions as Concertmaster of the Rotterdam Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev, and Guest Concertmaster of the London Philharmonic with Kurt Masur. He continues an active schedule of solo and chamber music performances in the US and abroad including recent appearances with the Ojai Festival, the American String Project in Seattle, Frankly Music, the Nara Academy in Nara, Japan, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Music in the Vineyards, and various solo appearances with orchestras. He has been a member of the chamber group An die Musik in New York City since 1997, and also directs the highly successful Frankly Music Chamber Series based in Milwaukee. At 17, he was one of the youngest prizewinners in the history of the Nicolo Paganini Competition in Genoa, Italy, and five years later was one of two American prizewinners at the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, which was documented in an award-winning PBS film. Since then he has kept up an eclectic mix of activities in addition to his Concertmaster duties, appearing both as a soloist and chamber musician. In addition to his work with An die Musik, Mr. Almond’s talent as a chamber musician has generated collaborations over the years with many of today’s well-known institutions, including the Chamber Music Wisconsin Union Theater 15
A B O U T T H E A R T I S T S ( c o n t .) Society of Lincoln Center, the Hal Leonard Corporation, the Ravinia Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Music in the Vineyards, and numerous other summer festivals. He has recorded for Summit, Albany, Boolean (his own label), Innova, Newport Classic, Wergo and New Albion and has appeared numerous times on NPR’s Performance Today. In both 2002 and 2004 An die Musik received Grammy nominations for its “Timeless Tales” series. The re-release of Mr. Almond’s recording of the complete Brahms Sonatas, performed in collaboration with pianist William Wolfram, brought extraordinary critical acclaim. BBC Music Magazine wrote, “…the disc ends with an explosive finale which reaffirms the players’ unassailable technical mastery
and absolute temperamental harmonization.” A review from American Record Guide was equally enthusiastic: “…this is easily the greatest Brahms I have ever heard. Almond and Wolfram tower above giants.” It was also listed in the American Record Guide top recordings of 2001. Frank’s most recent CD with William Wolfram was released on the AVIE label to much acclaim, and was named a “Best of 2007” by the American Record Guide. His new CD of American violin and piano music was recently released on Innova Recordings with pianist Brian Zeger. A CD of selected works of Samuel Barber will be released in 2011, in cooperation with the Hal Leonard Corporation.
COMING SOON Great Rocky Mountains RV Adventure! New Mexico to Yellowstone, with John Holod Monday-Tuesday, November 29-30, 2010, 7:30 pm Cantus All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 Saturday, December 11, 2010, 7:30 pm A Comedy of Errors with the Acting Company Thursday, February 3, 2011, 8 pm
Cantus
Cuba – A Road Journey from Havana to Santiago with Marlin Darrah Monday & Tuesday, February 14 & 15, 2011, 7:30pm Hilary Hahn, Violin, with Valentina Lisitsa, Piano Thursday, February 17, 2011, 7:30pm Gaelic Storm Saturday, February 19, 2011, 8pm Hilary Hahn
Acoustic Africa with Habib Koite, Oliver Mtukudzi and Afel Bocoum Thursday, March 10, 2011, 8pm East African Safari with Rick Ray Monday & Tuesday, March 21 & 22, 2011, 7:30pm Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel® Paris – 1911! A Century Celebration Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 7:30pm, Mills Hall Dianne Reeves Friday, April 8, 2011, 8pm 16 Wisconsin Union Theater
Dianne Reeves