FROM THE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Photo Credit: Lauren Radack
DEAR FRIENDS, I can hardly believe that our 2015 – 2016 Season is coming to a close this month! It seems like only yesterday that we were making plans for our January piano festival, Upright & Grand, and we were looking forward to the season beginning with the incredible Yuja Wang as soloist. As I look back on the year now ending, there are so many highlights. I am particularly proud of the many initiatives that were started this year, and the hoped for results – more people understanding what a dynamic, engaging and energizing orchestra we have in our San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Each of the nine guest conductors that worked with the orchestra commented on its high quality and how eager our musicians are to make music at the highest level. Not only did we have impact on our San Diego audiences, but our reputation has spread nationally and internationally! We also launched our first January Festival – four weeks of varied and unique programming which welcomed many individuals who were coming to hear the orchestra for the first time. Also included in the festival was our “Pianos in Public Spaces” project, which provided opportunities for us to develop partnerships with several San Diego organizations such as PATH Connections Housing, Combat Arts and A Reason To Survive for the first time. Many of the locations where we placed the public pianos were also new partners for the Symphony – The Quartyard, Museum of Contemporary Art Downtown, the Coronado Ferry Landing, The Headquarters and NTC. Our free Community Day in January was a first for us as well. In April we held three events dedicated to inspiring and supporting young musicians. On April 15, we welcomed the performing groups from San Diego State University to the Copley Symphony Hall stage to a cheering audience made up of members of the community, the students’ parents, SDSU alumni and board members common to both the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and San Diego State. On April 17th young musicians from four area youth orchestras performed side-by-side with members of the San Diego Symphony, and the coaching of these young musicians took place during two preparatory rehearsals culminating in a family concert. Finally on April 23rd we welcomed eight area high school bands to our stage for a day-long festival headed by clinician and composer Frank Ticheli. All of this expresses our belief that our young musicians need our nurturing to become performers, professional musicians and audience members of the future. Recently we announced our 2016 - 2017 winter season, during which we will celebrate the legacy of Jahja Ling who has served as our music director for over 12 seasons. During his tenure, Jahja Ling has hired over 60 musicians and has overseen a remarkable transformation and the artistic growth of the Orchestra. In his last season with us, his Legacy Season, Jahja has selected particular pieces of music that have special meaning to him and, we hope, to you. Next season continues our festival programming with American Variations: A Festival of Music Made in America. This month-long series of concert presentations takes a deep look at the many ways the landscape, history and culture of America has influenced composers and their musical styles. We are also paying tribute to the 70th birthday of John Adams, arguably one of America’s most successful and influential composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. None of this would be possible without your support and enthusiasm. At a time when some institutions face declining audiences, we are happy to report that our audience numbers are growing. We are committed to bringing to you musical performances that remind us of the power of music in our lives. Thank you, and I hope to see you this summer at Bayside Summer Nights.
Sincerely,
Martha A. Gilmer Chief Executive Officer
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COVER PHOTO CREDIT: David Hartig PE R F O R MA N C E S MAGA Z INE P 1
ABOUT THE MUSIC DIRECTOR
JAHJA LING
CD of Lucas Richman’s Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with soloists Jon Kimura Parker and Orli Shaham distributed by Naxos in 2013. Under his leadership, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra has been designated a Tier One major orchestra by the League of American Orchestras, based on a new level of unprecedented artistic excellence, its continuing increase in audience attendance as well as its solid financial stability.
JA HJA L I NG ‘s distinguished career as an internationally renowned conductor has earned him an exceptional reputation for musical integrity, intensity and expressivity. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and now a citizen of the United States, he is the first and only conductor of Chinese descent who holds a music director position with a major orchestra in the United States and has conducted all of the major symphony orchestras in North America including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco. The 2015-16 season marks his 12th season as Music Director of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In October of 2013 Mr. Ling led the Orchestra for a sold out concert at Carnegie Hall with Lang Lang as soloist, followed by a tour to China where the Orchestra appeared in five concerts in Yantai (sister city of San Diego), Shanghai and Beijing (at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and at Tsinghua University) with soloists Joshua Bell and Augustin Hadelich. This two week tour was the first international tour and the first appearance of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (received with great acclaim) in their 104 year history. The Orchestra’s performances conducted by Mr. Ling have also received the highest praise from public and critics alike, having been broadcast both locally and nationally. Mr. Ling and the Orchestra have recently released eight new live recordings (the Orchestra’s first in a decade). Together they have undertaken commissions as well as premieres of many new works and recorded new works of Bright Sheng for Telarc Records (released in summer of 2009) and a new P4 PERFORMAN CES MAG A ZINE
In recent and upcoming seasons Mr. Ling returns as guest conductor with the Adelaide Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Jakarta Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Macao Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Philharmonia Taiwan (National Symphony of Taiwan), Royal Philharmonic of London, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, West Australia Symphony as well as Yale Philharmonia and Curtis Symphony Orchestra. In June of 2012 he conducted the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra in Berlin’s O2 World on the occasion of Lang Lang’s 30th birthday concert with Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock and 50 young pianists from around the world. The concert, attended by more than 10,000 people, was also telecast live by German and Spanish TV. Mr. Ling holds one of the longest continuous relationships with one of the world’s greatest orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra. In 2014 he celebrated his 30th anniversary with that esteemed ensemble with performances at Severance Hall, the Blossom Music Festival and Palm Beach, Florida. He first served as Associate Conductor in the 1984-85 season, and then as Resident Conductor for 17 years from 1985-2002 and as Blossom Music Festival Director for six seasons (2000-05). During his tenure with the Orchestra, he conducted over 450 concerts and 600 works, including many world premieres. Among his distinguished services as Resident Conductor, Mr. Ling led the Orchestra’s annual concert in downtown Cleveland, heard by more than 1.5 million people. His telecast of A Concert in Tribute and Remembrance with the Orchestra for 9/11/2011 received an Emmy® Award. The United States House of Representatives presented a Congressional Record of his outstanding achievements in the United States Capitol in September 2006. Prior to his Cleveland appointment, Mr. Ling served as Assistant and Associate Conductor
of the San Francisco Symphony. Deeply committed to education, Mr. Ling served as founding Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (1986-93) and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (1981-84). Mr. Ling made his European debut with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1988 to great acclaim. His other engagements abroad have taken him to the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, China Philharmonic in Beijing, Guangzhou Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Macao Symphony, MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, NDR Radio Philharmonie in Hannover, NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Philharmonic of London, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Shanghai Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic and Tokyo’s Yomiuri Nippon Symphony. Mr. Ling began to play the piano at age four and studied at the Jakarta School of Music. At age 17 he won the Jakarta Piano Competition and one year later was awarded a Rockefeller grant to attend The Juilliard School, where he studied piano with Mieczysław Munz and conducting with John Nelson. After completing a master’s degree at Juilliard, he studied orchestral conducting at the Yale School of Music under Otto-Werner Mueller and received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1985. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Wooster College in 1993. In the summer of 1980 Mr. Ling was granted the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship at Tanglewood, and two years later he was selected by Mr. Bernstein to be a Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. As a pianist Mr. Ling won a bronze medal at the 1977 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel and was awarded a certificate of honor at the following year’s Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut as a pianist in 1987 and has appeared as both soloist and conductor with a number of orchestras in the United States and internationally. Mr. Ling makes his home in San Diego with his wife, Jessie, and their young daughters Priscilla and Stephanie. n
SA N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAY 2016
SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
JAHJA LING, MUSIC DIRECTOR
MATTHEW GARBUTT
Principal Summer Pops Conductor
SAMEER PATEL
Assistant Conductor
VIOLIN Jeff Thayer Concertmaster
D EBORAH PATE AND JOHN FORREST CHAIR
Wesley Precourt Associate Concertmaster Jisun Yang Assistant Concertmaster Alexander Palamidis Principal II TBD Associate Principal II Nick Grant Principal Associate Concertmaster Emeritus Randall Brinton Yumi Cho Hernan Constantino Alicia Engley Pat Francis Kathryn Hatmaker Angela Homnick Ai Nihira* Igor Pandurski Julia Pautz Susan Robboy Shigeko Sasaki Yeh Shen Anna Skálová Edmund Stein John Stubbs Pei-Chun Tsai Jing Yan Joan Zelickman VIOLA Chi-Yuan Chen Principal KAREN AND WARREN KESSLER CHAIR
Nancy Lochner Associate Principal Rebekah Campbell Rachyl Duffy Wanda Law Qing Liang Caterina Longhi Thomas Morgan Ethan Pernela Dorothy Zeavin CELLO Yao Zhao Principal Chia-Ling Chien Associate Principal Marcia Bookstein Glen Campbell
Andrew Hayhurst Richard Levine Ronald Robboy Mary Oda Szanto Xian Zhuo
Tricia Skye Douglas Hall
BASS
John MacFerran Wilds Ray Nowak
Jeremy Kurtz-Harris ˆ Principal S OPHIE AND ARTHUR BRODY FOUNDATION CHAIR
Susan Wulff Acting Principal Samuel Hager Acting Associate Principal W. Gregory Berton ˆ P. J. Cinque Jory Herman Margaret Johnston+ Daniel Smith* Michael Wais Sayuri Yamamoto* FLUTE Rose Lombardo Principal Sarah Tuck Erica Peel PICCOLO Erica Peel OBOE Sarah Skuster Principal
TRUMPET Micah Wilkinson Principal
TROMBONE Kyle R. Covington Principal Logan Chopyk Richard Gordon+ Michael Priddy BASS TROMBONE Michael Priddy TUBA Matthew Garbutt Principal HARP Julie Smith Phillips Principal TIMPANI Ryan J. DiLisi Principal Andrew Watkins Assistant Principal PERCUSSION Gregory Cohen Principal
Harrison Linsey Andrea Overturf
Erin Douglas Dowrey Andrew Watkins
ENGLISH HORN Andrea Overturf
PIANO/CELESTE Mary Barranger
DR. WILLIAM AND EVELYN LAMDEN ENGLISH HORN CHAIR
CLARINET Sheryl Renk Principal
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Magdalena O’Neill ASSISTANT PERSONNEL MANAGER TBA
Theresa Tunnicliff Frank Renk
PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN Courtney Secoy Cohen
BASS CLARINET Frank Renk
LIBRARIAN Rachel Fields
BASSOON Valentin Martchev Principal Ryan Simmons Leyla Zamora CONTRABASSOON Leyla Zamora HORN Benjamin Jaber Principal Darby Hinshaw Assistant Principal & Utility
* Long Term Substitute Musician + Staff Opera Musician ˆ On leave All musicians are members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 325.
Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.
Danielle Kuhlmann
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
FANTASTIC VARIATIONS - MAY 20, 21 & 22
In October 2012 he premiered Magnetar, a concerto for electric cello by Enrico Chapela, which Mr. Moser performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and in the 2013-14 season he continued this relationship with the orchestra, performing Michel van der Aa's cello concerto Up-close.
JOHANNES MOSER, CELLO
H
ailed by Gramophone Magazine as "one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists," German-Canadian cellist J O HA NNE S MO S ER has performed with the world’s leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Tokyo Symphony, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras. He works regularly with conductors of the highest level including Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Jurowski, Franz Welser-Möst, Manfred Honeck, Christian Thielemann, Pierre Boulez, Paavo Jarvi, Semyon Bychkov, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Gustavo Dudamel.
Mr. Moser is committed to reaching out to young audiences, from kindergarten to college and beyond. From his 2010 American tour with toy pianist Phyllis Chen “Sounding Off: A Fresh Look at Classical Music” to outreach activities on campuses and performances in alternative venues, Mr. Moser aims to present classical music in ways with which listeners of all ages can engage and connect. A dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Moser has performed with Joshua Bell, Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Menahem Pressler, James Ehnes, Midori and Jonathan Biss. He is also a regular at festivals including the Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad and Kissinger festivals, the Mehta Chamber Music Festival and the Colorado, Seattle and Brevard music festivals.
In the 2015-16 season, Mr. Moser’s engagements in North America include returns to the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Nashville, San Diego, Vancouver, the Philadelphia Orchestra and National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. He makes debuts with the Luxembourg Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, Russian National Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony and Grand Teton Music Festival.
Mr. Moser was a recipient of the prestigious 2014 Brahms Prize. His recordings have earned him two ECHO Klassik awards and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Mr. Moser recently signed an exclusive contract with Pentatone, and in fall 2015 released his first recording for the label, a disc of Dvořák and Lalo cello concertos. He has recorded the Britten Cello Symphony and Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, conducted by Pietari Inkinen and released in January 2012. His concerto debut disc, which features the complete works of Saint-Saëns for cello and orchestra with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, was honored as one of Classics Today’s Top 10 CDs of 2008. Following an album of works by Britten, Bridge and Bax, his disc of Martinů, Hindemith and Honegger concerti received great acclaim and was listed for the illustrious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
Mr. Moser is gaining increasing renown for his efforts to expand the reach of the classical genre, as well as his passionate focus on new music, and over the next season looks forward to working on new works with Julia Wolfe and Andrew Norman.
Born into a musical family in 1979 as a dual citizen of Germany and Canada, Mr. Moser began studying the cello at the age of eight and became a student of Professor David Geringas in 1997. He was the top prize winner at the 2002 Tchaikovsky
SAN DI EGO SYMPH ONY O R C HES T R A W INT ER S EA S O N MAY 2 0 1 6
Competition, in addition to being awarded the Special Prize for his interpretation of the Rococo Variations. A voracious reader of everything from Kafka to Collins, and an avid outdoorsman, Johannes Moser is a keen hiker and mountain biker in what little spare time he has. n
CHI-YUAN CHEN, PRINCIPAL VIOLA
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aiwanese violist CH I -YUA N C H EN holds the Karen and Warren Kessler Principal Viola Chair of San Diego Symphony Orchestra, a position he recently auditioned for and won in 2014 after joining the Orchestra in 2006. Top-prize winner of both the 2000 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the 2004 International Paris Viola Competition Ville d’Avray, Mr. Chen has already established himself as one of the leading violists in his generation. In 1999 he made his American concerto debut at Boston’s Jordan Hall performing William Walton’s Viola Concerto. Because of his outstanding musicianship and contribution, Mr. Chen received the Henri Kohn award from the Tanglewood Music Center in 2000. Mr. Chen began violin study at the age of six and made his public debut in Taiwan at age ten. The following year he switched to viola and shortly thereafter made his string quartet debut in Hong Kong at the City Cultural Center. As a concert violist, Mr. Chen toured internationally, performing at the White House in Washington, D.C., Suntory Hall in Tokyo, National Concert Hall in Taipei, City Hall in Hong Kong, Carnegie Hall in New York, Disney Hall and Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Victoria Hall in Geneva and the National Centre of Performing Arts in Beijing, to name a few.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
FANTASTIC VARIATIONS - MAY 20, 21 & 22 Prior to his arrival in the United States in 1998, Mr. Chen performed as principal violist with a number of orchestras in Taiwan including the Taipei Metropolitan Symphony, Taiwan String Orchestra, the Taipei Opera Symphony Orchestra and the Taipei Century Orchestra, among others. As a soloist, Mr. Chen performed concerti with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, the Taipei Civic Symphony Orchestra and the National Defense Symphony Orchestra. As a guest artist, Mr. Chen has performed with numerous ensembles, including the Boston Chamber Music Society, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra and the Gardner Museum Chamber Ensemble in Boston where he was the principal violist from 1999-2002. An advocate of chamber music, Mr. Chen has performed with internationally renowned artists such as Colin Carr, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Toshio Hosokawa, Ani and Ida Kavafian, Yo-Yo Ma, William Preucil, George Perle and Paula Robison, as well as members of the American, Arditti, Brentano, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri,
Mendelssohn and Miami string quartets. A founding member of the Great Wall String Quartet (resident ensemble of Beijing’s Great Wall International Summer Academy), Mr. Chen has performed regularly and toured extensively in Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau and Taiwan. As the only string quartet invited by the United Nations, the Great Wall String Quartet participated in a documentary film for the 2009 World’s Heritage Festival, a DVD recording of which has been added to the UN’s library archive. The quartet recently (2012) released their debut album titled The Great Wall. In 2013 the album was awarded “Best Performance in Classical Music” at the 29th Golden Melody Award in Taiwan. Besides his performing career, Mr. Chen is a dedicated educator for the next generation. As a guest lecturer of the University of Southern California and National Taiwan University of Arts, his international teaching appearances in variable settings
THE VIOLAS – UNSUNG SINGERS (NO JOKES,PLEASE)
such as master-classes, chamber music and concerto performances have been highly acclaimed. Over the years Mr. Chen has successfully conducted more than 50 master-classes in universities and music conservatories in Europe, Asia and North America. In 2009 Mr. Chen was invited to be Macau Youth Symphony’s Oversea Honorary Advisor. Also, his achievements and generous contributions to music education have been highly recognized by the governments of Macau and Hong Kong. Chi-Yuan Chen holds a Doctoral degree from State University of New York at Stony Brook and both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received the highest distinction in performance on both degrees. His teachers include Ben Lin, James Dunham, Martha Katz, Katherine Murdock and Nobuko Imai. Mr. Chen currently resides in San Diego where he is also on the studio artist faculty of San Diego State University. n
ozart loved the instrument, preferring the viola to the violin, “In the middle of the music,” as he described it. He even wrote a superb double concerto for violin and viola in which he showed off the somewhat larger viola's virtuoso capabilities as definitely equal to the more celebrated ones of the smaller instrument. The viola’s range allows it to play, were it an opera singer, the role of the mezzo-soprano or lyric baritone. It is tuned a fifth lower than the violin, and an octave above the cello – right in the middle, as per Mozart, but because of being in that middle, it needs a different clef from either of the neighboring instruments. Their “alto clef” is placed between the usual treble and bass clefs of the standard scores, and it requires a real adjustment for brand new violists.
became generally negative – including the viola. “I hated it at first,” directing those feelings toward the new size, the new clef, the new teacher, etc. He stopped practicing for the most part during three stormy years of that emotional adolescent conflict, although during quieter times he would play some pieces on the instrument. Fortunately, he outgrew his adolescent negativism, and his father, a university professor of Chinese music, confronted him with his need to score well on the nationwide examinations that would permit him – if successful – to continue his musical education. Chi-Yuan had become relatively technically proficient on his instruments but had never delved deeply into music per se. Chi-Yuan's father brought his son to a professor of music theory, and this increased-depth training allowed him to take music seriously, and to enter the top music school in Taipei, from which he graduated after five years (“In time,” as he says proudly). Taiwan's universal conscription took him after that. Three months of intensive, basic military training was followed by his playing trombone in a military band!
At age 11, after playing the violin for a few years, our principal violist, CHI-YUAN CHEN, transitioned to the larger instrument when his teacher, concertmaster in Taipei's Symphony, left Taiwan for Canada. Chi-Yuan was entering his adolescence at the time and, as he relates, it appeared as if his teen-age attitudes toward many things characteristically
He was also gratefully assigned to a string quartet. As he relates, “The viola had become important to me. I realized after those empty three years during my adolescence just how really important it was to me. Even today, I feel a need to compensate somehow for those years that I had lost.” Encouraged to apply to the New England Conservatory, he sent a tape to them
Melvin G. Goldzband, MD., Archivist San Diego Symphony Orchestra
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SA N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAY 2016
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
FANTASTIC VARIATIONS - MAY 20, 21 & 22
and was accepted as a scholarship student. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in viola performance there and subsequently a doctorate in musical arts from SUNY at Stony Brook, all during which the amount and quality of the music into which he had become immersed enriched and energized him incredibly. All during his school years, he participated in competitions here and in Europe, and auditioned for positions in fine orchestras, often becoming a finalist. He had played in the Taipei Metropolitan Orchestra as principal violist, as well as principal for the Academy of Taiwan Strings. In 2005 his childhood friend, Che-Yen “Brian” Chen (at that time the San Diego Symphony’s principal violist) sent for him, and Chi-Yuan obtained a one year contract with the SDSO as a section player. He has remained here since then, although he continued entering competitions and auditioning elsewhere, again frequently becoming a finalist. He told me, “Not winning made me even more motivated. I just had to compensate for those lost three years. In my ten years here I have always been getting better and better as a musician, learning from the other musicians and our conductor, and increasing my ability to express myself in my playing and communicating.” His career here has been exceptional in many respects, not least being his elevation from the ranks of the viola section to its first chair. Filling a principal's chair generally entails a number of auditions by many instrumentalists who often have had far more experience than Chi-Yuan, including holding first chairs in other orchestras. The level of blind competition is terrific. Chi-Yuan
won the auditions and was selected by the committee as principal violist. Elevation directly from the ranks is uncommon and exceptional, and none of the audition judges knew who was playing behind a screen in the initial rounds. Regarding being principal, he says, “I think I love it! It is my best opportunity for me to pay back so many people from whom I learned. As a leader, I want to be not too close to the section members but always available. I have come to know my section colleagues' abilities well. A leader needs to inspire, trying to shape and guide the section's playing. I see the section like an artist sees a collection of individual color palettes, and I'm trying always to seek a collective color that I want from all of us...” Married, and with a seven year-old son, Chi-Yuan has found a good life in San Diego, where we in the audience can also appreciate listening to the warm harmonies characteristic of the viola ensemble under his guidance. He continues to play his beloved chamber music with his own recently formed Great Wall Quartet, as well as being featured in the SDSO String Quartet, giving concerts throughout the community. In this month of May, when the Orchestra performs Richard Strauss's tone poem, Don Quixote, Chi-Yuan Chen will have a featured role, playing the part, musically, of Sancho Panza, the Don's long-suffering comic relief as well as “reality check” provider. Listen to him carefully and recognize what the too-often ignored viola can do – giving the lie to being a butt (by other musicians) of mostly awfully corny viola jokes, none of which, thankfully, I have repeated here. Viva la viola!
ABOUT THE MUSIC
FANTASTIC VARIATIONS - MAY 20, 21 & 22 Siegfried Idyll R I C H A R D WAG NE R Born May 22, 1813, Leipzig Died February 13, 1883, Venice An understanding of Wagner’s lovely Siegfried Idyll requires some knowledge of the details of that composer’s irregular personal life. In 1864, at the age of 51, Wagner began an affair with 27-year-old Cosima von Bülow, daughter of Franz Liszt and wife of pianist-conductor Hans von Bülow. Wagner and Cosima’s daughter Isolde was born the following April, on the same day von Bülow conducted the first rehearsal of Tristan und Isolde. All concerned agreed to keep details of the situation a
secret, and the infant’s birth certificate listed von Bülow as the father, Wagner as the godfather. Cosima bore Wagner two more children, a daughter Eva in 1867 and a son Siegfried in 1869, and moved in with him in 1868. Finally, in 1870 – after a six-year relationship and three children – the couple was married. That fall, Cosima became aware that Wagner was working on a project he would not describe to her, and for good reason – it was to be one of the best surprises in the history of music. On Christmas morning, Cosima – asleep with eighteen-month-old Siegfried – awoke to the sound of music. Her husband had secretly composed and rehearsed a piece for small orchestra,
SAN DI EGO SYMPH ONY O R C HES T R A W INT ER S EA S O N MAY 2 0 1 6
and now that orchestra – arranged on the staircase leading to Cosima’s bedroom – gave this music its most unusual premiere. This music was not just a token of love and a Christmas present, but also a birthday present: Cosima had turned 33 a few weeks earlier. She treasured this music, which is full of private meanings for the couple: it is based on themes from Wagner’s (as yet unperformed) opera Siegfried, but it also uses a child’s cradlesong and other themes with personal meaning for Wagner and Cosima. Their private title for the piece was Tribschen Idyll: they were living at Tribschen on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland at the time, and Cosima felt that the music was an embodiment of their life and love in
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ABOUT THE MUSIC
FANTASTIC VARIATIONS - MAY 20, 21 & 22 these years. When in 1878, pressed for cash, Wagner had the music published (under the now-familiar title Siegfried Idyll), Cosima confessed in her diary: “My secret treasure is becoming common property; may the joy it will give mankind be commensurate with the sacrifice I am making.” As good love music should be, Siegfried Idyll is gentle, warm and melodic. Listeners familiar with the opera Siegfried will recognize some of the themes, all associated with the young hero Siegfried: his horn call, the bird call from the Forest Murmurs sequence and others. Wagner also quotes, in the oboe near the beginning, the old cradlesong “Sleep, Little Child, Sleep.” At its premiere, this music was performed on Cosima’s staircase by an orchestra of fifteen players, though the double bass was around a corner and could not see Wagner conduct. n
Symphony in B minor, D. 759: Unfinished F R A NZ S C H U B E RT Born January 31, 1797, Vienna Died November 19, 1828, Vienna In the fall of 1822, Schubert began a new symphony. He quickly completed two movements and began a third, a scherzo. He sketched out 129 measures of this scherzo and took the time to orchestrate the first nine. And then he stopped. The following year Schubert sent the manuscript to his friend Anselm Huttenbrenner, probably as a gesture of appreciation for Schubert’s having been awarded a “diploma of honor” by the Styrian Music Society of Graz, of which Huttenbrenner was a member. And at that point Schubert apparently forgot about this symphony. He never mentioned it again. He never heard it performed. The manuscript sat on dusty shelves for four decades. In 1865 conductor Johann Herbeck visited the aged Huttenbrenner in Graz and inquired about the existence of any Schubert manuscripts, Huttenbrenner showed him the symphony, and Herbeck led the premiere in Vienna on December 17, 1865. It was an instant triumph, yet mystery continues to swirl around this music. Why did Schubert stop? Did he stop? (Some have suggested that Schubert actually completed this symphony and
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later used its finale in his incidental music to Rosamunde). And why should an “unfinished” (and forgotten) symphony have become one of the best-loved pieces ever composed? Despite its odd form – two moderatelypaced movements instead of the customary four at different tempi – the Symphony in B minor is a fully satisfying musical and emotional experience. The Unfinished is built on some of the most singable tunes in classical music, yet Schubert can transform those melodies into dramatic music full of craggy attacks, epic monumentality and eerie silences. Schubert’s control of orchestral color is remarkable here, as well: three trombones give this music unusual weight, but even more impressive are the many shades of instrumental color he achieves through his subtle handling of solo winds. Also striking is the ease of Schubert’s harmonic language: this music glides effortlessly between keys, sometimes with the effect of delicately shifting patterns of light. And through both movements runs a haunting, somber beauty. All alone, cellos and double basses lay out the ominous opening of the Allegro moderato, marked pianissimo. But this turns out to be only an introduction; the movement proper begins as winds offer the long opening melody over skittering, nervous strings. Cellos sing the famous second subject, and then comes a complete surprise: Schubert ignores both these themes and builds the development on that dark introductory melody. That music explodes with unexpected fury, and what had seemed a “lyric” symphony suddenly becomes a very dramatic one. Then another surprise: Schubert recalls the themes of the exposition and closes on a subdued memory of the introduction. This movement is powerful, lyric, dramatic, beautiful – and utterly original. The second movement also proceeds at a moderate pace: Andante con moto. Once again, there are two principal themes – the violins’ sweet opening phrase and a poised woodwind melody over syncopated accompaniment. And once again, this movement combines a granitic monumentality with the most haunting lyricism. A short development leads to
a full recapitulation, and a beautifully extended coda draws this symphony to its calm conclusion. Such a summary may describe the Unfinished Symphony, but it cannot begin to explain its appeal. We may never know why Schubert did not complete more than these two movements, but the symphony’s unusual form has not kept it from becoming one of the most famous ever written, and few of the millions who have loved this music have ever considered it “unfinished.” n
Don Quixote (Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character), Op. 35 R I CH A R D STR AU S S Born June 11, 1864, Munich Died September 8, 1949, GarmischPartenkirchen In 1896, just after finishing Also Sprach Zarathustra, Richard Strauss set to work on a new project, one that would take him in entirely new directions. Strauss at first planned to write a tone poem based on events from Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. But rather than writing a straightforward tone poem, Strauss made his task more complicated by casting his new work as a set of variations based on a collection of themes associated with Don Quixote, his sidekick Sancho Panza and his idealized love Dulcinea. And then – to bring yet one more dimension to this music – Strauss conceived it as a virtuoso work for cello and orchestra, with the solo cellist cast in the role of Don Quixote. Strauss completed the score in December 1897, and the premiere took place on March 6, 1898, in Cologne, with Friedrich Grützmacher as soloist and Franz Wüllner conducting. Strauss had originally thought of Don Quixote as tone poem rather than a cello concerto, and he intended that the solo cello part would be played by an orchestra’s principal cellist seated in his or her normal position at the front of the cello section. But the solo part is so spectacular that the piece soon became a favorite of the great cellists, who naturally preferred to be positioned in front of the orchestra, like a soloist in a concerto; Strauss himself eventually came to conduct Don
SA N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAY 2016
ABOUT THE MUSIC
FANTASTIC VARIATIONS - MAY 20, 21 & 22 Quixote with the cellist placed in front of the orchestra. But though Don Quixote has become one of the greatest works in the cello literature, we should not overlook the other players to whom Strauss assigns important solo roles in this music. The part of Sancho Panza is first announced by bass clarinet and tenor tuba and thereafter undertaken mostly by the solo viola, which plays a very important (and very difficult) part as the Don’s long-suffering squire; at key moments the solo violin contributes to the portrait of Don Quixote. Don Quixote consists of an introduction, a statement of the principal themes, ten variations and a finale. Strauss made careful use of Cervantes’ masterpiece: he depicted only a few of the many incidents in the novel and felt free to alter their order in his own presentation. Curiously, Strauss left few indications in the orchestra score as to what each variation depicts. He always claimed to wish that audiences would listen to his works as pure music first and only then approach them as pictorial music. But Strauss left a lengthy description in the piano score, outlining each variation in great detail, and so it is possible to follow exactly what is “happening” at every moment of this music. The Introduction presents most of the important themes that will evolve across the span of Don Quixote. The soloists all remain silent here, and it is the orchestra that presents these themes. At the very beginning comes the little flute tune that will reappear in many forms, followed by a lilting idea for second violins that Strauss marks grazioso and a clarinet swirl followed by a three-chord cadence. (All of these will be associated with Don Quixote himself.) Soon the solo oboe sings a gentle melody depicting the Don’s idealized lady-love and patroness, the fair Dulcinea. Trumpets mark his resolve to defend her, but quickly this noble beginning turns complex and dissonant as Quixote loses himself in dreams of knighterrantry – in Cervantes’ words, “through his little sleep and much reading, he dried up his brains in such sort, as he wholly lost his judgment.” The music reaches a point of shrieking dissonance – Don Quixote’s mind has snapped and gone delusional – and heroic fanfares break off in silence. Out of that silence, the solo cello is heard for the first time in the section titled
Don Quixote, the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance: here the cello presents the Don’s themes, now in a minor key. Quickly we meet Sancho Panza, and it is no accident that we move to a major key for the genial sidekick: bass clarinet and tenor tuba sing a rustic duet that introduces the squire, and the viola quickly takes this up, going on and on like Sancho himself. With the main characters introduced, the music proceeds directly into Variation I, which brings The Adventure of the Windmills. Here Don Quixote and Sancho’s themes are sounded simultaneously as they head out for their first adventure. It comes immediately: Don Quixote mistakes windmills for giants and rides to the attack. The windmill’s blades turn slowly, and a sharp thump knocks the aged knight from his horse; he recovers slowly on thoughts of Dulcinea. Variation 2 is the famous Battle with the Sheep, where Quixote mistakes a flock of sheep for the armies of the evil Emperor Alifanfaron. Their bleating is memorably suggested by flutter-tongued minor seconds from the winds, while viola tremolos depict the cloud of dust they raise. Don Quixote charges into the flock, dispersing the terrified sheep and riding off in triumph as the shepherds howl. Longest of the variations, the third is the Dialogue of Knight and Squire: Don Quixote (here sometimes depicted by solo violin) speaks grandly of heroic deeds while Sancho chatters incessantly; finally the knight cuts him off with a violent gesture, and the two head off in search of new adventures. Variation 4 is The Adventure with the Penitents. The pair come upon a religious procession (solemn bassoon and brass chords) and ride to the attack; they are knocked flat and left lying in the dust as the procession fades into the distance. Variation 5 brings The Knight’s Vigil during which he ruminates on his ideals in the moonlight as soft winds blow in the background. Variation 6 (The False Dulcinea) opens with a jaunty oboe duet: the Don and Sancho have come upon three peasant girls, and Sancho convinces the knight that they are his beloved Dulcinea del Toboso and her retinue, but they have been transformed by an enchanter. Don Quixote tries to pay homage to this coarse country girl, but the cackling girls flee in confusion. Variation 7 is The Ride through the Air, in which the Don and Sancho are convinced to mount a hobby horse, believing that it will carry
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them through the air; the wind howls around them, but the two remain firmly rooted to the earth. Variation 8 is The Adventure of the Enchanted Boat, in which the pair come upon an abandoned rowboat, and Don Quixote is certain that the boat was left providentially so that they can find new adventures. They ride out into the stream but head toward a weir, tip over, and fall in; once on shore, they wring out their clothes. (Pizzicato notes echo the water dripping from their sopping clothes.) Variation 9 is The Combat with the Two Magicians, in which they encounter a pair of Benedictine monks chatting happily as they come down the road (two bassoons in busy counterpoint); Don Quixote rides to the attack and sends the terrified monks fleeing. In Variation 10, The Joust with the Knight of the White Moon, a well-intentioned neighbor dresses as a knight, jousts with Quixote, and defeats him. The vanquished knight is sent home under orders to give up knight-errantry for a year, and the pounding timpani pedal suggests his homeward journey in disgrace. In the Finale, the Don’s fevered imagination gradually clears (the dissonances heard during the first presentation of his themes are here resolved), but he is now an old and frail man. He recalls some of the themes associated with his adventures, and – in the cello’s beautiful final statement – Don Quixote dies quietly as a long glissando glides downward. Don Quixote is not just one of the most successful of Strauss’ tone poems, it is also one of his greatest works. Strauss once claimed that he could set a glass of beer to music, and Don Quixote very nearly proves him right; his biographer Norman Del Mar has shown how virtually every note in this score pictures a particular feature of Don Quixote and his quest. If Strauss’ music can on occasion get caught up in its own wit and bombast, Don Quixote is suffused throughout with a level of understanding that is both humorous and humane. Strauss may have set out to write a tone poem that would re-tell the story of one of the greatest characters in literature, but he achieved much more: in its difficulty and brilliance, Don Quixote is (along with the Dvořák Cello Concerto) one of the two greatest works ever written for cello and orchestra. n -Program notes by Eric Bromberger
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FANTASTIC VARIATIONS - MAY 20, 21 & 22
WHY THIS PROGRAM? by Dr. Melvin G. Goldzband, SDSO Archivist
Jahja Ling commented, “Every time I do Richard Strauss, I feel a special bond to the music. Perhaps that is due to my teacher at Yale, Otto Werner-Mueller, who had played trumpet in the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra when Strauss was its conductor. He passed on to all his students the tradition taught him firsthand by Strauss himself, and I treasure that tradition. Don Quixote, however, is special because it is one of the few of his tone poems that is really not about himself. Instead, Strauss populated it musically with numerous characters, all important to the Cervantes story. All of those characters, represented by specific instruments, must play in so many different styles depending on the story. Specifically, the solo cello part is especially difficult. The instrument must represent a character whose ideation and personality change so frequently, and whose imagination is spread from here to there due to his delusions. The Don/ cello must therefore play in so many styles, and with a range varying through the spectrum from bass to soprano ranges. And at the end, the cellist must be able to break the listeners' hearts with the Don's final breath.” Proceeding to the rest of the program, he noted, “Surprisingly, even to myself, this is the first time I shall play the Siegfried Idyll here.” He recalled having been in Lucerne, and going to Wagner's home, Triebchen, and seeing how the composer fitted the special group of musicians into the hallway leading up to the stairs where his wife and newborn son rested. “I saw how Wagner did it. I used to love this piece to death. It certainly is one of the most unique pieces ever written, but it grabs the souls of the composer and the listener.” I asked the maestro why he had not programmed it here before. His response was, “I really needed to wait for the developed maturity of this orchestra. It requires special playing based upon the special feelings and capacities of the players. To segue, one might say the same for the Unfinished Symphony. Every cell in Schubert's body was filled with gorgeous melody, and the texture of the music he gave to this symphony is so simple and beautiful, but also so demanding in order to get to its heart.” In response to everyone's inevitable question about the piece, Ling opined, “It is finished. It's perfect as it is.”
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“I have to confess,” he suddenly said, “This is my favorite program this season. I'm so very comfortable with the first two pieces in the German tradition in which I grew up musically, and with the Strauss, too, that is such a challenge but is also from the same tradition that Strauss taught my teacher, and that my teacher taught me.” n
PERFORMANCE HISTORY by Dr. Melvin G. Goldzband
Wagner's Siegfried Idyll has been played by this orchestra seven times, beginning with Earl Murray's performance during its season 1961-62. Its seventh and most recent hearing here was during the 1993-94 season, under the guest direction of Enrique Diemecke, and it has been missed. The eternally, deservedly popular Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert has a long history with this orchestra, beginning in 1916 when Buren Schryock led its first hearing here with the original San Diego Symphony. Subsequently, Nino Marcelli led it with his San Diego High School Orchestra and followed it a couple of years later with its successor, the San Diego Symphony. One of his performances of this work was even broadcast coast-to-coast during the 1936 Exhibition season. In contemporary years, this symphony has been performed 14 times by this orchestra, beginning with Robert Shaw's performance in 1953 and concluding (thus far – too long ago) with Yoav Talmi's reading in the 1992-93 season. David Atherton conducted the San Diego Symphony's first presentation of Strauss's glorious tone poem, Don Quixote, with Ralph Kirschbaum as soloist, during the 1985-86 season. Hans Graf conducted a third performance with the orchestra during the 1989-90 season. At that time, Lynn Harrell soloed as the tragic knight, repeating by request his performance of the preceding year. Most recently, Jahja Ling conducted a performance in the 2005-06 season with Cleveland’s (at that time) principal cellist, Desmond Hoebig.
SA N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAY 2016
SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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SA N D I E G O SYM PH O NY O R C H E ST R A W I N T E R S E A S O N MAY 2016