AARON DIEHL RETURNS: SONG OF A NEW RACE

Friday, October 7, 2022 at 11:15 am

Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, October 9, 2022 at 2:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Ken-David Masur, conductor

Aaron Diehl, piano

PROGRAM

AARON COPLAND

Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo

I. Buckaroo Holiday

II. Corral Nocturne

III. Saturday Night Waltz IV. Hoe Down

WILLIAM GRANT STILL

Symphony No. 2 in G minor, “Song of a New Race”

I. Slowly

II. Slowly and deeply expressive

III. Moderately fast IV. Moderately slow

INTERMISSION

GEORGE GERSHWIN

Concerto in F major for Piano and Orchestra

I. Allegro

II. Adagio – Andante con moto

III. Allegro agitato

Aaron Diehl, piano

The MSO Steinway Piano was made possible through a generous gift from MICHAEL AND JEANNE SCHMITZ. This project is supported in part by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS. 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

Aaron Diehl

Aaron Diehl

Pianist and composer Aaron Diehl mystifies listeners with his layered artistry. At once temporal and ethereal, his expression transforms the piano into an orchestral vessel in the spirit of beloved predecessors Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner, and Jelly Roll Morton. Following three critically-acclaimed leader albums on Mack Avenue Records – and live appearances at historic venues from Jazz at Lincoln Center and The Village Vanguard to New York Philharmonic and the Philharmonie de Paris – the American Pianist Association’s 2011 Cole Porter fellow now focuses his attention on what it means to be present within himself. His forthcoming solo record promises an expansion of that exploration in a setting at once unbound and intimate.

Diehl conjures three-dimensional expansion of melody, counterpoint, and movement through time. Rather than choose one sound or another, he invites listeners into the chambered whole of his artistry. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Diehl traveled to New York in 2003, following his success as a finalist in JALC’s Essentially Ellington competition and a subsequent European tour with Wynton Marsalis. His love affair with rub and tension prompted a years-long immersion in distinctive repertoire from Monk and Ravel to Gershwin and William Grant Still. Among other towering figures, Still in particular inspires Diehl’s ongoing curation of Black American composers in his own performance programming, unveiled this past fall at 92nd St. Y.

Diehl has enjoyed artistic associations with Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Branford Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Philip Glass, and multi-Grammy® award-winning artist Cecile McLorin Salvant. He recently appeared with the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra as featured soloist.

Diehl holds a Bachelor of Music in jazz studies from Juilliard. A licensed pilot, when he’s not at the studio or on the road, he’s likely in the air. Follow both his earthbound and aerial exploits via Instagram @aaronjdiehl.

Program notes by J. Mark Baker

Two distinctly American “deans” appear on today’s program, Aaron Copland and William Grant Still. Aaron Diehl kicks off his second season as the MSO’s artistic partner, performing Gershwin’s tuneful Concerto in F.

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Born 14 November 1900; Brooklyn, New York

Died 2 December 1990; Tarrytown, New York

Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo Composed: 1942 First performance: 16 October 1942; New York, New York (complete ballet) Summer 1943; New York, New York (suite) Last MSO performance: January 2005; Gregory Vajda, conductor Instrumentation: 3 flutes (2nd and 3rd doubling piccolo); 2 oboes; English horn; 2 clarinets; bass clarinet; 2 bassoons; 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; timpani; percussion (bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, slapstick, triangle, wood block, xylophone); harp; celeste; piano; strings Approximate duration: 18 minutes

Aaron Copland, the esteemed “Dean of American Composers,” hardly needs introduction. His extensive compositional catalogue includes songs and operas, film scores, choral music, chamber pieces, piano music, orchestra works, and ballets. In the latter genre, between 1938 and 1944, Copland produced three commissioned pieces for three different choreographers: Billy the Kid (1938) for Eugene Loring; Rodeo (1942) for Agnes de Mille; Appalachian Spring (1944) for Martha Graham. All three were cast in his immediately approachable “Americana” idiom, reaching wide audiences and, for at least a decade, wielding considerable influence.

Rodeo was first staged at the old Metropolitan Opera house, by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Having composed Billy the Kid just four years earlier, Copland at first was not eager to take on another Old West topic, but de Mille eventually convinced him, describing the ballet as “The Taming of the Shrew, cowboy style.” The “Four Dance Episodes,” introduced the following year, follow the plot of the ballet and incorporate a great deal of the original score. The story surrounds a tomboyish young Cowgirl who is just beginning to experience the pangs of first love.

Copland sets the scene with the panoramic opening of “Buckaroo Holiday.” The Cowgirl tries her best to attract the attention of the cowboys, especially the Head Wrangler and the Champion Roper. Despite her gamboling, they ignore her and go about their work, eventually riding away without giving her so much as a glance. Left alone in tears, she too gallops away. In this movement, Copland makes use of the cowboy tune “If He’d Be a Buckaroo by His Trade,” treating it with vivid wit.

“Corral Nocturne” – exquisite and delicately scored – quotes the ballad “Sis Joe.” The city girls, in their fashionable dresses, have come to enjoy a Saturday night dance with the Rancher’s Daughter. A melancholy mood permeates the scene as, once again, the Cowgirl is ignored. Darkness falls, and the couples pair up, eager for the dance to begin.

Still wearing her boots and dungarees, the Cowgirl sits idly by, observing the festivities. Feeling sorry for her, both the Roper and the Wrangler invite her to dance, but she shyly refuses. As the

“Saturday Night Waltz” begins – here, Copland quotes “Old Paint” – the Roper convinces the Cowgirl to dance. She soon notices, however, that the Wrangler (her favorite) is dancing with the Rancher’s Daughter. Jealous, dazed, and confused, she soon storms away.

Copland based his ever-popular “Hoe Down” on two old fiddle tunes, “Bonyparte” and “MacLeod’s Reel.” Now the Cowgirl reappears, this time decked out in a party dress and with a bright bow in her hair. The Roper again asks her to dance. Though not her first choice, she gladly accepts his invitation. They join the others in a knee-slapping dance as the ballet ends exuberantly.

William Grant Still

William Grant Still

Born 11 May 1895; Woodville, Mississippi

Died 3 December 1978; Los Angeles, California

Symphony No. 2 in G minor, “Song of a New Race” Composed: 1936-37 First performance: 10 December 1937; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Last MSO performance: MSO premiere Instrumentation: 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo); 2 oboes; English horn; 3 clarinets; bass clarinet; 2 bassoons; 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; timpani; percussion (bass drum, cymbals; snare drum; suspended cymbals; vibraphone); harp; celeste; strings Approximate duration: 29 minutes

Known as the “Dean of African-American composers,” William Grant Still penned over 150 works, including eight operas and five symphonies. Until the 1950s, the Afro-American Symphony (1930), one of his best-known works, was the most frequently performed symphony written by an American. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and received his college education in Ohio – first at Wilberforce University and later at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra gave the first performance of Still’s Symphony No. 2. Catherine Parsons Smith, the author of two books on Still and his music, opined, “Its characteristically expansive, lyrical string writing seems specifically intended to exploit that orchestra’s famously silky sound.” The composer contrasted the work with his earlier Afro-American Symphony, stating that if Symphony No. 1 “represented the Negro of days not far removed from the Civil War,” No. 2 embodied “the colored man of today, in so many instances a totally new individual produced through the fusion of White, Indian, and Negro bloods.” (Such was Still’s own heritage.)

Set in a traditional four-movement layout, Still chose to use tempo indications in English, rather than the more typical Italian terms. In “Slowly,” blues-inflected lyrical string lines are contrasted by elaborate and colorful woodwind writing. At crucial moments, the brass instruments pepper the texture with passages that bring to mind the call-and-response element of traditional African-American music.

In the affective second movement, Still again shows himself to be a master of orchestration, as musical conversations abound. Following an introduction, the first violin plays a folk-like melody that is developed into music reminiscent of the Romantic era. A new, rhythmically charged – and jazz-infused – section emerges and a brief climax brings us back to the main theme.

A brief, somewhat-agitated coda leads without pause into the rollicking third movement, which – one might posture – corresponds to a Classical-era scherzo. Here, a mix of ragtime, folkloric dance, and distinctly American jazz all combine to create a rip-roaring good time. The somber minor-key melody – underpinned by sumptuous jazzy harmonies – that opens the final movement reminds us of the first movement’s bluesy theme. Later, a light-hearted motif provides a felicitous contrast before the solemn music returns. Listen again for call-and-response

textures, especially between the strings and brass. At the very end, there’s a huge crash, but the “Song” has not ended – and the strings fade softly away.

George Gershwin

George Gershwin

Born 26 September 1898; Brooklyn, New York

Died 11 July 1937; Hollywood, California

Concerto in F major for Piano and Orchestra Composed: 1925 First performance: 3 December 1925; New York, New York Last MSO performance: September 2017; Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano Instrumentation: 2 flutes; piccolo; 2 oboes; English horn; 2 clarinets; bass clarinet; 2 bassoons; 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; timpani; percussion (bass drum, cymbals, tam tam, snare drum, wood block); strings Approximate duration: 31 minutes

George Gershwin, along with his wordsmith brother Ira, gave us some of the most beloved songs in the history of popular music. “I Got Rhythm,” “Embraceable You,” “The Man I Love,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Fascinating Rhythm” – these are just a few of their contributions to the Great American Songbook.

In 1924, the smashing success of Rhapsody in Blue catapulted the 25-year-old into a totally new status as a composer. Gershwin was acknowledged everywhere as a major figure in American music and in asserting American influence in Europe. The following year, he was commissioned by conductor Walter Damrosch to write a full-scale concerto, in the time-honored, threemovement format. The result was the jazz-saturated Concerto in F, which – unlike the Rhapsody – Gershwin orchestrated himself. The composer was at the piano for the premiere, with Damrosch and the New York Symphony Orchestra.

Concert-goers immediately took to the concerto, and in 1928 Gershwin had the pleasure of hearing its first European performance – in Paris. Dimitri Tiomkin, who later became famous for his Hollywood film scores, was the soloist. Critics outdid each other in lavishing praise on the work and its composer, but a few dissenting voices were heard. Serge Diaghilev, the great Ballet Russe impresario, pronounced it “good jazz but bad Liszt;” Prokofiev stated that it was mostly one 32-bar chorus after another. Nevertheless, its audience appeal has never abated.

The opening Allegro, vibrant and fast, makes use of the Charleston rhythm. Set in classic sonata form, the bassoon introduces the principal theme and the piano later announces the second. The music represents, the composer said, “the young, enthusiastic spirit of American life.” The Adagio’s extended, Debussy-tinged introduction features a deliciously sensual muted-trumpet solo, presaging the piano’s long-awaited main tune. Gershwin’s inspired treatment of this theme shows him at his most compelling and original. Essentially, the movement is a blues number cast in a classically defined rondo form.

Gershwin described the final Allegro agitato as “an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping the same pace throughout.” In this rondo, we hear melodies from earlier movements; a Hollywood ending highlights a grandioso restatement of the concerto’s opening theme. The Concerto in F stands as a high point in the marriage of the Western European musical tradition and the rhythmic, improvisational bravura of jazz. We can only imagine what Gershwin might have achieved in “serious” music had a brain tumor not claimed his life at age 38. Nevertheless, the work he left us made decisive, influential strides toward creating a distinctly American classical tradition.