Fresh Air & Beethoven’s Eroica

FRESH AIR & BEETHOVEN’S EROICA

Friday, November 11, 2022 at 11:15 am

Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 7:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Ken-David Masur, conductor Baiba Skride, violin

JEAN SIBELIUS Night Ride and Sunrise, Opus 55

SEBASTIAN CURRIER Aether, for violin and orchestra Baiba Skride, violin

IN TERMISSION LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55, “Eroica”

I. Allegro con brio

II. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai

III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace

IV. Finale: Allegro molto

The 2022.23 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND

The length of this concert is approximately 2 hours. Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra can be heard on Telarc, Koss Classics, Pro Arte, AVIE, and Vox/Turnabout recordings. MSO Classics recordings (digital only) available on iTunes and at mso.org. MSO Binaural recordings (digital only) available at mso.org.

Guest Artist Biographies

BAIBA SKRIDE

Baiba Skride’s natural approach to music‐making has endeared her to many of today’s most important conductors and orchestras worldwide. She performs regularly with orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of the 2022.23 season include Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2, which she will perform and record on the Deutsche Grammophon label with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the UK premiere of Victoria Borisova‐Ollas’s violin concerto A Portrait of a Lady by Swan Lake with Cristian Măcelaru and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Gubaidulina’s “Offertorium” with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. She appears for the first time with the Karajan‐Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker and Brucknerorchester Linz. In addition, she returns to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra to give the Iceland premiere of Gubaidulina’s Triple Concerto with Harriet Krijgh (cello) and Elsbeth Moser (bajan), to the Dresdner Philharmonie with Dima Slobodeniouk, and other orchestras such as Taipei Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Skride is an internationally sought‐after chamber musician and commits to the long‐established duo with her sister Lauma Skride. She is one of the founding members of the Skride Quartet. In 2022.23, the Skride Quartet returns to Copenhagen, Riga, and the U.S. She also performs in trio with Lauma Skride and Harriet Krijgh as well as in various chamber music projects.

Skride’s latest album Violin Unlimited was released in May 2022. Her prolific discography includes all Mozart concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Bartók with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, both with Eivind Aadland, as well as an American disc featuring Bernstein, Korngold, and Rózsa, and the debut recording of the Skride Quartet, all under the Orfeo label.

Skride was born into a musical Latvian family in Riga and continued her studies from 1995 at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre. In 2001, she won the first prize of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. She plays the Yfrah Neaman Stradivarius kindly on loan by the Neaman family through the Beare’s International Violin Society.

Program notes by J. Mark Baker

Tension, energy, and triumph abound in Beethoven’s history-changing “Eroica” Symphony. In contrast, Sebastian Currier’s delicate and mesmerizing Aether evokes “the air the gods breathe.” Sibelius’s evocative tone poem Night Ride and Sunrise opens the program. Welcome, Baiba Skride!

JEAN SIBELIUS

Born 8 December 1865; Hämeenlinna, Finland

Died 20 September 1957; Jarvenpää, Finland

Night Ride and Sunrise, Opus 55

Composed: 1908

First performance: 23 January 1909; St. Petersburg, Russia

Last MSO performance: MSO premiere

Instrumentation: 2 flutes; piccolo; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; bass clarinet; 2 bassoons; contrabassoon; 4 horns; 2 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; timpani; percussion (bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tambourine, triangle); strings

Approximate duration: 16 minutes

Jean Sibelius was born into a Swedish-speaking family in a hamlet in south central Finland. The man who would become the most famous Finn in history did not begin to speak the Finnish language until age eight and acquired complete proficiency in the language only as a young man. His official first name was Johan; as an adolescent, he adopted the gallicized “Jean.” And though he was prolific in many genres – tone poems, choral music and songs, chamber music, solo piano works – his stature rests chiefly on his accomplishment as a composer of symphonies. Sibelius was in his early 40s when he composed Night Ride and Sunrise [Öinen ratsastus ja auringonnousu]. Chronologically, it comes between Symphonies No. 3 and No. 4. The work was completed in 1908, the same year Sibelius developed a serious illness and underwent several operations, both in Helsinki and Berlin, for suspected cancer of the throat. For a few years, he was forced to give up alcohol and cigars. Musicologist Robert Layton suggests that “…the bleak possibilities which the illness opened up may well have served to contribute to the austerity, concentration, and depth of the works which followed in its wake.”

This picturesque tone poem presents itself in three discernable parts. The first is a protracted galloping section in which woodwind and brass solos emerge amid the relentless rhythm of the strings. The middle portion is vintage Sibelius: a hymn-like melody in the strings, surrounded by a kaleidoscope of orchestral colorings. Slowly, the Northern sun begins to rise, as its first exquisite rays emerge in the horns.

Across the years, Sibelius gave various accounts of the inspiration for this music. He told his friend Karl Ekman that his first visit to the Colosseum in Rome in 1901 had prompted it. In his later years, he related to his secretary Santeri Levas a sleigh ride from Helsinki to Kerava, “around the turn of the century,” during which he experienced an extraordinary sunrise. Whatever the case, it is indeed a breath of fresh Nordic air.

SEBASTIAN CURRIER

Born 16 March 1959; Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

Aether, for violin and orchestra

Composed: 2018

First performance: 2 May 2019; Boston, Massachusetts

Last MSO performance: MSO premiere

Instrumentation: 2 flutes (2nd doubling on piccolo); 2 oboes (2nd doubling on English horn); 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 4 horns; 2 trumpets; 2 trombones; percussion (anvil, bass drum, brake drum, cymbal, glockenspiel, hi-hat, high cymbal, high woodblock, low cymbal, snare drum, tambourine, triangle, vibraphone); harp; piano; celeste; strings

Approximate duration: 25 minutes

Educated at the Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music and the recipient of many prestigious awards, Sebastian Currier has garnered the attention of musicians across the globe. His catalogue includes compositions for solo instruments, voice, chorus and orchestra, and pieces for ensembles, both large and small. His numerous commissions include works for the Berlin Philharmonic and, for violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, Time Machines and Aftersong. He has taught at Princeton and Columbia universities.

Aether, a co-commission of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, was composed for and dedicated to Baiba Skride, who gave its premiere with Andris Nelson and the BSO. Set in four continuous movements, it is a violin concerto in all but name. The composer has offered the following illuminating comments:

For much of the 18th and 19th centuries “aether” was thought to be an invisible substance that pervaded all of universe between celestial bodies. It was the medium through which light waves were thought to travel. The word itself looks back to Greek mythology. It means “pure, fresh air” and was thought to be the air of the upper atmosphere, the air the gods breathed.

With Einstein’s theory of relativity, the concept became outmoded, but it still lingers as a term referring to something remote, mysterious, invisible, and out of reach. Conceptually, Aether, starts with a rather standard multimovement structure of a symphony or a concerto, but in the finished work this form is deconstructed and reconfigured.

There are four primary movements. The first is a sort of Nachtmusik [night music] where instruments from the orchestra play phrases that the violin imitates. In the second movement there’s a continual struggle between lyrical impulses and aggressive outbursts. The third movement is a sustained, lyrical slow movement where the violin soars above the orchestra. The fourth is an energetic, virtuosic finale.

But that’s not actually how the piece unfolds. As the piece begins, we hear very, very quiet, distant, mysterious chords in the strings, with the winds making ephemeral air sounds. It’s vague and atmospheric. It’s the medium in which the four movements are contained; it’s the “aether” that surrounds the firmer, more concrete structures of the four movements. It begins the piece, ends it, and occurs between all the four movements. The movements don’t really conclude but just trail off into oblivion or, as in the fourth movement, are interrupted unexpectedly. They float within this medium of aether. The violin is noticeably absent from these ethereal sections, except the last. Here the violin steps off the solid structure created by the movements and floats into the aether, gradually disappearing into nothingness.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Baptized 17 December 1770; Bonn, Germany

Died 26 March 1827; Vienna, Austria

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55, “Eroica”

Composed: 1804

First performance: 7 April 1805; Vienna

Last MSO performance: June 2016; Carlos Kalmar, conductor

Instrumentation: 2 flutes; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 3 horns; 2 trumpets; timpani; strings

Approximate duration: 47 minutes

Beethoven spent the summer of 1802 in the village of Heiligenstadt (now part of larger Vienna). It was a musically prolific time for him, but the 31-year-old master was already aware that his hearing was beginning to deteriorate. In October, as he prepared to return to central Vienna, he carefully wrote a document to his two brothers describing his depression, but declaring he had now rejected the idea of suicide. This “Heiligenstadt Testament” is a heartbreaking testimony to the despair that frequently overtook him during this period in his life.

From that low ebb of despondency, Beethoven effected a speedy recovery through hard work, churning out his oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives in early 1803. Fidelio, his only opera, was written in 1804-05. Between them came the Eroica (“Heroic”) Symphony, an opus Beethoven scholar Joseph Kerman has called “a watershed work, one that marks a turning point in the history of modern music.” Kerman goes on to explain that Beethoven was concerned not only with the musical and technical aspects of composition, but also with conveying his own spiritual journey and growth process. This “symphonic ideal,” states Kerman, “Beethoven perfected at a stroke with his Third Symphony and further celebrated with his Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth. The forcefulness, expanded range, and evident radical intent of these works sets them apart from symphonies in the 18th-century tradition.”

It is well known that Beethoven took Napoleon as his inspiration for the Symphony No. 3 and later was angered and disillusioned when the revolutionary hero turned despot and had himself crowned emperor. The “Bonaparte” Symphony then became the “Sinfonia Eroica.” From our 21stcentury vantage point, it is easy to declare Beethoven the true hero here.

The Third Symphony as a whole – and its first two movements in particular – was on a larger scale than any instrumental work the master had yet written; it was many years before he wrote another of such dimensions. Following two strong E-flat major chords, the cellos quietly sing the waltz-like melody that will provide Beethoven with much of the musical material for this movement. Typically, Classical-era symphonies have a central development section shorter than the opening exposition. Beethoven turns this around completely, expanding on his material at great length, taking the listener in unexpected directions. A weighty and protracted funeral march in C minor makes up the second movement. Musicologists have suggested that Beethoven was here influenced by French composers of the revolutionary era, as well as by the operas of Luigi Cherubini (Beethoven’s favorite living composer) and Etienne Mehul. All is not gloomy in this movement, however: Listen for a lyrical interlude in C major that soon turns triumphant. And there’s even a brief fugal section.

The scherzo’s softly scampering staccato strings and jaunty woodwind melodies disperse all funereal thoughts. The bold trio – with fanfares played by three horns – stands in marked contrast. The scurrying then returns, and a short, intriguing coda ends the movement. The ingenious Finale is a set of variations based on a theme Beethoven had used in his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus and in the 15 Variations, Opus 35 (“Eroica Variations”) for piano. The styles range from solemn to humorous and make use of both the major and minor modes. Listen for everything from imitative counterpoint to a swaying dance, from warlike passages to an ample hymn tune. In the splendid coda, jubilant salvos from the three horns bring this history-changing work to its “heroic” conclusion.

CLASSICAL PROGRESSIONS SERIES

CLASSICAL PROGRESSIONS SPONSOR JoAnne & Don Krause

for more info on these performances

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Frank Almond & Emi Ferguson March 11, 2023 at 7pm

Ana Vidovic in Partnership with the Milwaukee Classical Guitar Society February 11, 2023 at 7pm

SEASON

KEN-DAVID MASUR Music Director

Polly and Bill Van Dyke Music Director Chair

EDO DE WAART Music Director Laureate

YANIV DINUR

Resident Conductor

CHERYL FRAZES HILL

Chorus Director

Margaret Hawkins Chorus Director Chair

TIMOTHY J. BENSON

Assistant Chorus Director

FIRST VIOLINS

Ilana Setapen, Acting Concertmaster, Charles and Marie Caestecker Concertmaster Chair

Jeanyi Kim, Acting Associate Concertmaster (2nd Chair)

Alexander Ayers

Yuka Kadota

Ji-Yeon Lee**

Dylana Leung

Allison Lovera

Lijia Phang

Margot Schwartz

Alexandra Switala**

SECOND VIOLINS

Jennifer Startt, Principal, Andrea and Woodrow Leung Second Violin Chair

Timothy Klabunde, Assistant Principal John Bian, Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)

Glenn Asch

Lisa Johnson Fuller Paul Hauer

Hyewon Kim

Shengnan Li*

Laurie Shawger

Mary Terranova

VIOLAS

Robert Levine, Principal, Richard O. and Judith A. Wagner Family Principal Viola Chair

Samantha Rodriguez, Acting Assistant Principal, Friends of Janet F. Ruggeri Viola Chair

Alejandro Duque, Acting Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)

Elizabeth Breslin

Nathan Hackett

Erin H. Pipal

Helen Reich

CELLOS

Susan Babini, Principal, Dorothea C. Mayer Cello Chair

Nicholas Mariscal, Assistant Principal

Scott Tisdel, Associate Principal Emeritus

Madeleine Kabat

Peter Szczepanek Peter J. Thomas

Adrien Zitoun

BASSES

Jon McCullough-Benner, Principal, Donald B. Abert Bass Chair

Andrew Raciti, Associate Principal

Nash Tomey, Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)

Brittany Conrad

Peter Hatch

Paris Myers

HARP

Julia Coronelli, Principal, Walter Schroeder Harp Chair

FLUTES

Sonora Slocum, Principal, Margaret and Roy Butter Flute Chair

Heather Zinninger, Assistant Principal

Jennifer Bouton Schaub

PICCOLO

Jennifer Bouton Schaub

OBOES

Katherine Young Steele, Principal, Milwaukee Symphony League Oboe Chair

Kevin Pearl, Assistant Principal Margaret Butler

ENGLISH HORN

Margaret Butler, Philip and Beatrice Blank English Horn Chair in memoriam to John Martin

CLARINETS

Todd Levy, Principal, Franklyn Esenberg Clarinet Chair

Benjamin Adler, Assistant Principal, Donald and Ruth P. Taylor Assistant Principal Clarinet Chair

Taylor Eiffert

E FLAT CLARINET

Benjamin Adler

BASS CLARINET

Taylor Eiffert

BASSOONS

Catherine Van Handel, Principal, Muriel C. and John D. Silbar Family Bassoon Chair

Rudi Heinrich, Assistant Principal Beth W. Giacobassi

CONTRABASSOON

Beth W. Giacobassi

HORNS

Matthew Annin, Principal, Krause Family French Horn Chair

Krystof Pipal, Associate Principal Dietrich Hemann, Andy Nunemaker French Horn Chair

Darcy Hamlin

Kelsey Williams**

TRUMPETS

Matthew Ernst, Principal, Walter L. Robb Family Trumpet Chair

David Cohen, Associate Principal, Martin J. Krebs Associate Principal Trumpet Chair

Alan Campbell, Fred Fuller Trumpet Chair

TROMBONES

Megumi Kanda, Principal, Marjorie Tiefenthaler Trombone Chair

Kirk Ferguson, Assistant Principal

BASS TROMBONE

John Thevenet, Richard M. Kimball Bass Trombone Chair

TUBA

Robyn Black, Principal

TIMPANI

Dean Borghesani, Principal Chris Riggs, Assistant Principal

PERCUSSION

Robert Klieger, Principal Chris Riggs

PIANO

Melitta S. Pick Endowed Piano Chair

PERSONNEL MANAGER

Françoise Moquin, Director of Orchestra Personnel

LIBRARIAN

Paul Beck, Principal Librarian, Anonymous Donor, Principal Librarian Chair

PRODUCTION

Tristan Wallace, Technical Manager & Live Audio Supervisor

Paolo Scarabel, Stage Technician & Deck Supervisor

* Leave of Absence 2022.23 Season

** Acting member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra 2022.23 Season