Program Notes: The Classical Style

FEBRUARY 10 & 11

THE CLASSICAL STYLE FRIDAY February 10, 2017 – 8:00pm SATURDAY February 11, 2017 – 8:00pm JACOBS MASTERWORKS CONCERT

conductor Lahav Shani violin Wesley Precourt cello Chia-Ling Chien oboe Sarah Skuster bassoon Valentin Martchev

Performance at the Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall

PROGRAM SERGE PROKOFIEV

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN

Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25: Classical

Allegro con brio Larghetto

Gavotte: Non troppo allegro

Finale: Molto vivace

Sinfonia concertante in B-flat Major, Op. 84, Hob.I:105 Allegro Andante

Allegro con spirito Wes Precourt, violin Chia-Ling Chien, cello Sarah Skuster, oboe Valentin Martchev, bassoon

INTERMISSION BÉLA BARTÓK

Concerto for Orchestra

Introduzione: Andante non troppo – Allegro vivace

Giuocco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzando

Elegia: Andante non troppo

Intermezzo interrotto: Allegretto

Finale: Pesante - Presto

The approximate running time for this concert, including intermission, is one hour and forty-five minutes.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

THE CLASSICAL STYLE - FEBRUARY 10 & 11

In the 2016-17 season and beyond, Mr. Shani will conduct orchestras such as the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Dresden Staatskapelle, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Bamberger Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, The Hallé, Orchestre National de Lyon and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

LAHAV SHANI, CONDUCTOR

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rodigiously gifted 27 year old Israeli conductor LAHAV SHANI’S conducting career was launched when he won first prize at the 2013 Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Bamberg. Since then he has quickly established himself as one of the most talked about young conducting talents making a huge impression with his astonishing maturity and natural, instinctive musicality.

In January 2016 Mr. Shani stood in for Philippe Jordan conducting the Vienna Symphony Orchestra on a major European tour including concerts in Paris, Frankfurt and Munich. In the 2017-18 season Mr. Shani will become Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and in the 2018-19 season he will become Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

In June 2014 Mr. Shani made a sensational debut in Berlin, replacing Michael Gielen, with the Berlin Staatskapelle, performing concerts at the Berlin Konzerthaus and the Berlin Philharmonie. He returns to conduct the orchestra for four performances of La bohème in December 2016 at the Berliner Staatsoper and for orchestral concerts in the Berlin Philharmonie in May 2017. In December 2015 Shani stepped in, at short notice, for an indisposed Franz Welser-Möst for concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein when he directed Bach’s Concerto in D minor from the keyboard and conducted Mahler’s First Symphony, winning high praise from critics and a standing ovation from the public.

In October 2013 Mr. Shani was invited to open the season of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; Globes, reviewing one of the performances, wrote that “this concert will be remembered as a dizzying, perhaps even historic event in the history of the Israel Philharmonic”. An immediate re-invitation followed for the next two seasons.

His close relationship with the Israel Philharmonic started in 2007 when he performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto under the baton of Zubin Mehta, and it continued in 2010 when he joined Mehta and the orchestra on tour in Asia, where he participated as solo pianist, conductor’s assistant and as double bass player.

Lahav Shani was born in 1989 in Tel Aviv. He started his piano studies at six with Hannah Shalgi, and continued with Prof. Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv. He then went on to complete his studies in conducting with Prof. Christian Ehwald and piano with Prof. Fabio Bidini, both at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin. In recent years he has been mentored by Daniel Barenboim. n

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an Diego Symphony Orchestra Associate Concertmaster WESLEY PRECOURT has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras around North America and is an avid recitalist, recording artist and new music collaborator. He has been presented by the Musical Merit Foundation, First United Methodist Churches of San Diego and Escondido and the La Jolla Athenaeum’s series. He was a featured performer at the dedication ceremony of the Heifetz Studio

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WESLEY PRECOURT, ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

at The Colburn Conservatory where he also collaborated with Paul Neubauer, Ida Levin, Ronald Leonard and Richard Beene.

He has performed and recorded with pop artists including Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, No Doubt, Taylor Swift, Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart and many others. Mr. Precourt has won awards at international competitions, including the Spotlight Awards of Los Angeles, the NFAA ARTS Awards and the Kingsville International Competitions, among others. Wesley is a graduate of the Thornton School of Music at USC and the Colburn Conservatory. n

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ellist CHIA-LING CHIEN, was appointed as the Associate Principal Cello of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in 2008 by Music Director Jahja Ling, and she joined the Orchestra in 2009.

Ms. Chien was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and began playing the piano at the age of six and cello at the age of nine. Her first public cello performance was a year later at the age of ten, soon followed by her first honor of winning first place of the National Taiwan Youth Cello Competition at the age of 12. Her awards include: four years as first prize winner in the Taipei Cello Competition; second prize winner of the National Taiwan Cello Competition; second prize winner of the International Taipei Chopin Piano Competition; The Best Bach Performance Prize for Strings at the Corpus Christi International Competition; winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music PE R F O R MA N C E S MAGA Z INE P 19

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

THE CLASSICAL STYLE - FEBRUARY 10 & 11

several occasions. She previously served as interim second oboe with the Dallas Symphony, second oboe with the Akron Symphony and has appeared as a substitute with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Skuster enjoys performing with the San Diego Symphony Chamber Series, Art of Élan, Camarada, Palimpsest, Renga and San Diego New Music and has performed at the Ojai Music Festival,

in the states he attended the Aspen, Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West and Marlboro Music Festivals. Mr. Martchev was a tenured member of the Bulgarian State Radio Orchestra and the Charlottesville Symphony in Virginia, where he was also on the university faculty.

CHIA-LING CHIEN, ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL CELLO

Concerto Competition; the Ellis A. Feiman Memorial Award in Cello; the Anna Sosenko Trust Foundation Award; and a Colburn Foundation instrument sponsorship.

As an active chamber musician and a recitalist, Ms. Chien has performed throughout the United States and Asia. Her festival appearances include the Pacific Music Festival; the Blossom Music Festival; the Aspen Music Festival and School; the Sarasota Music Festival; the Perlman Music Program; and La Jolla SummerFest. She has collaborated over the years with many musicians such as Gil Shaham, Vadim Repin, Itzhak Perlman, Augustin Hadelich, Olga Kern and Avi Avital.

Actively involved as an educator, Ms. Chien currently serves as Acting Professor of Cello at the University of San Diego. Every September, she also conducts a masterclass on both cello and chamber music at the SooChow University in her native country, Taiwan.

Chia-Ling Chien is a graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees (2007, 2009). Her principal teachers are Desmond Hoebig, Stephen Geber and Michael Mermagen. n

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ARAH SKUSTER joined the San Diego Symphony as principal oboist in 2009 and has subsequently appeared as a featured soloist with the orchestra on

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VALENTIN MARTCHEV, PRINCIPAL BASSOON

SARAH SKUSTER, PRINCIPAL OBOE

and Festival Mozaic. Ms. Skuster earned a Bachelor of music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with John Mack and attended Mannes College as a student of Elaine Douvas with additional studies at the Aspen Music Festival and as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center.

She is also a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied with Dan Stolper. Ms. Skuster is a Lecturer of music in oboe at San Diego State University and maintains a private teaching studio of all ages and abilities. n

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ALENTIN MARTCHEV was born in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, and started playing the bassoon at age ten.

He went to the State Academy of Music in Sofia and Duquesne University, studying with Yordan Metodiev, Tony Komitoff and Nancy Goeres. During his student years

In 2001 Mr. Martchev joined the San Diego Symphony Orchestra as their principal bassoonist. U-T San Diego said his 2007 performance of John Williams’ bassoon concerto Five Sacred Trees “….made this bassoonist a star.”

He has performed multiple times with the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, the Mainly Mozart Festival and La Jolla SummerFest. In 2008 he was Guest Principal Bassoon with the LA Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen, and in 2010 he was Guest Associate Principal Bassoon with the Cincinnati Symphony under Paavo Järvi. He has performed chamber music concerts at SDSU, Riverside Community College, Lake Mammoth and at UCSD, and he has participated in music series such as Jacaranda, Art of Élan, Luscious Noise and Le Salon de Musique. He is on the faculty of Cal State Fullerton and San Diego State University.

Valentin Martchev plays on a 1985 Heckel Biebrich. n

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

THE CLASSICAL STYLE - FEBRUARY 10 & 11 Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25: Classical S E R G E P R O KO F IEV Born April 23, 1891, Sontsovka Died March 5, 1953, Moscow

Prokofiev appears to have been born to give meaning to the term enfant terrible. Here was a young man whose music scandalized audiences from the moment he appeared at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. “Musical mud,” howled one critic; “a cacophony of sounds,” moaned another. Prokofiev delighted in alienating listeners: when the audience at the premiere of his Second Piano Concerto in 1913 responded by hissing and heading for the doors with their hands over their ears, Prokofiev’s response was to sit down and play an encore as they booed.

Such a background makes the creation of his Classical Symphony all the more remarkable. In the summer of 1917, with the Russian Revolution beginning to explode around him, Prokofiev set to work on an experiment: he wanted to write a symphony and to write without being seated at the piano. He wished to think “orchestrally” rather than conceiving his ideas pianistically, and in fact this symphony was composed mostly during long walks in the woods outside St. Petersburg.

But what makes this symphony so remarkable – and so charming – is that this young firebrand chose as his model the classical symphony of the eighteenth century: “It seemed to me that had Haydn lived to our day he would have retained his own style while accepting something of the new at the same time. This was the kind of symphony I wanted to write: a symphony in the classical style.” The symphony he wrote during the summer of 1917 – only 12 minutes long – is a model of classical order and style, enlivened at some points by Prokofiev’s characteristically pungent harmonies. This symphony seems to exist outside time: there is not the faintest echo here of the political cataclysm about to engulf Russia, nor is this music consciously a part of the neo-classical movement then beginning in music. (Ravel was composing Le Tombeau de Couperin and Debussy his Violin Sonata

at just this same time.) Rather, the Classical Symphony seems a stylistic experiment: a fiery young composer, seeking greater clarity and a specifically orchestral sonority, consciously chose to turn to the distant past for his model.

Music this clear and pleasing needs little explanation or comment. The Allegro is built on the expected two theme-groups: the lively opening explosion, and a poised second theme for first violins that Prokofiev marks con eleganza, full of wide skips and grace-notes. It is a measure of Prokofiev’s attention to classical form that these two themes are in the “correct” keys: the first is in the home key of D Major, the second in the dominant of A Major. The form of this miniature movement is right out of Haydn: exposition, lively development, a big climax and a recapitulation of both theme-groups.

The gentle second movement is in ternary form. Over pulsing accompaniment from the lower strings, first violins have the very high main idea, which Prokofiev marks molto dolce. The center section features pizzicato strings and the bubbling sound of the two bassoons before an abbreviated return of the opening section. The third movement brings a slight deviation from the classical model: this is not the expected minuet but a gavotte, based on a main theme that dances by stomping. (Prokofiev marks it pesante.) A stately middle section gives way to a concise repeat of the gavotte tune by the two flutes before the music suddenly vanishes on two quiet pizzicato strokes.

Out of this quiet, the finale bursts to life.

In sonata form, complete with exposition repeat, this Molto vivace is full of the sound of chattering woodwinds; the bright energy of the opening never lets up as the symphony rushes to its shining close.

The Classical Symphony is scored for classical orchestra: pairs of woodwinds, trumpets, and horns, plus timpani and strings. Prokofiev consciously chose to step outside time when he wrote this music. In the process, he wrote a symphony that may live for all time. n

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Sinfonia concertante in B-flat Major, Hob.I:105 F RANZ JOSEPH HAY DN Born March 31, 1732, Rohrau Died May 31, 1809, Vienna

Haydn wrote this wonderful music quickly during the winter of 1792. This was a very good time for the composer. After three decades of quiet obscurity as Kapellmeister to the Esterhazy family, Haydn found himself lionized on his first visit to England: acclaimed by cheering audiences, feted by nobility and handsomely rewarded for the concerts he directed of his own music.

H.C. Robbins Landon has suggested that the Sinfonia concertante was written in response to the great popularity of similar works by Ignaz Pleyel, which were then being performed on a rival concert series in London. Haydn’s manuscript shows signs of haste: perhaps he was hurrying to have it ready for the concert on March 9, 1792, a week after the successful premiere of his Symphony No. 98.

The sinfonia concertante (or “Symphonie Concertante,” as Haydn called it) is a concerto-like form, but with some important differences. It is for two or more soloists, who are more fully integrated into the orchestral texture than is the soloist in the standard concerto; the soloists in a sinfonia concertante emerge from the orchestral texture and return to it rather than carving out the independent identity of the soloist in a concerto. The mood is usually light, with the music somewhat in the manner of a divertimento, and the sinfonia concertante was often written for unusual combinations of instruments. The form flourished at the end of the eighteenth century, primarily in the hands of such composers as Pleyel, Stamitz and Boccherini, but passed out of fashion early in the nineteenth. Ironically, the three finest examples of the form were written by two composers who otherwise ignored it: two by Mozart (one for a quartet of winds and the other for violin and viola) and the present work by Haydn.

Haydn’s manuscript may betray signs of haste, but there is no hint of carelessness in this polished music. Part of its success

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

THE CLASSICAL STYLE - FEBRUARY 10 & 11 lies in Haydn’s choice of the four solo instruments. He chooses a high and low string instrument (violin and cello) and a high and low wind (oboe and bassoon) and then combines and contrasts these quite different sonorities in endless ways. And throughout all three movements runs an atmosphere of spaciousness, elegance, and relaxation that has made this music an audience favorite for two centuries.

Music this agreeable needs little detailed comment. The entire piece takes its character from the orchestra’s genial opening melody, and the four soloists emerge gracefully from the texture of this opening; Haydn writes out an extended cadenza for them just before the close. It is difficult for the soloists to emerge from the orchestra in the Andante, for Haydn virtually eliminates the orchestra here: he dispenses with trumpets and timpani and has the strings play pizzicato or accompany unobtrusively; essentially this movement is chamber music for the four soloists with minimal accompaniment. With its firm beginning, the concluding Allegro con spirito promises more serious things, but soon Haydn is playing sly jokes. He wrote the solo violin part for the impresario-violinist Johann Peter Salomon, who had brought him to London, and the violin has a very prominent role here: it interrupts things with a series of mock-serious recitatives that threaten to change the music’s course, but the violin is repeatedly swept up in the fun, and Haydn propels matters firmly to the good-natured close. n

Concerto for Orchestra B ÉL A BA RTÓ K Born March 25, 1881, Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary Died September 26, 1945, New York City

Bartók and his wife fled to the United States in October 1940 to escape World War II and the Nazi domination of Hungary, but their hopes for a new life in America were quickly shattered. Wartime America had little interest in Bartók or his music, the couple

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soon found themselves living in nearpoverty, and then came the catastrophe: in the spring of 1942 Bartók’s health failed.

By the following spring his weight had dropped to 87 pounds (a ghastly photo from these months shows an emaciated figure, his bones pressed through his skin), and he had to be hospitalized. Bartók fell into a deep depression, convinced that he would neither recover nor compose again.

To his publisher he wrote, “Artistic creative work generally is the result of an outflow of strength, high-spiritedness, joy of life, etc.

– All these conditions are sadly missing with me at present.”

The title of this symphony-like orchestral work is explained by its tendency to treat the single orchestral instruments in a concertant or soloistic manner.

The “virtuoso” treatment appears, for instance, in the fugato section of the development of the first movement (brass instruments), or in the perpetuum-mobile-like passage of the principal theme of the last movement (strings), and especially in the second movement, in which pairs of instruments consecutively appear with brilliant passages.

At this point, Bartók’s friends rallied around him – and very discreetly too, since the fiercely proud composer would never accept anything that savored of charity. Fritz Reiner and Joseph Szigeti convinced Serge Koussevitzky to ask for a new work from the ailing composer, and so the conductor visited Bartók’s hospital room in New York City to tell him that the Koussevitzky Foundation had commissioned an orchestral work for which it would pay $1000. Bartók refused. He believed that he could never complete such a work, but Koussevitzky gave Bartók a check for $500 and insisted that the money was his whether he finished it or not. The visit had a transforming effect: soon Bartók was well enough to travel to Saranac Lake in upstate New York, where he spent the summer. First he rested (using the time to read an English translation of Don Quixote), and then he began work. He worked fast: beginning August 15, 1943, he completed the score eight weeks later on October 8.

This is music of strength, humanity, beauty and (not least) humor, and Bartók’s own description may touch the secret of its emotional appeal: “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 Concerto for Orchestra, as Bartók called the piece, had its first performance on December 1, 1944, in Boston. It was an instant success, and Bartók reported that Koussevitzky called it “the best orchestra piece of the last 25 years.” For that premiere, Bartók prepared a detailed program note, and – unusually for this composer – that note talked not just about the title and structure, but about the content of the music:

The five movements of the Concerto for Orchestra are in the beautifully-symmetric arch form that Bartók sometimes employed. The outer movements, both in modified sonata form, are the anchors of this arch. They frame the two evennumbered movements, both of which have the character of scherzos (each is marked Allegretto). The central slow movement, which itself is in a symmetric ternary form, becomes the capstone to the arch.

Introduzione: The music comes to life with a brooding introduction, and flutes and trumpets hint at theme-shapes that will return later. The movement takes wing at the Allegro vivace with a leaping subject (immediately inverted) for both violin sections, and further themes quickly follow: a second subject for solo trombone and a more intimate figure for solo oboe. As part of the development comes a resounding fugato for the Concerto’s eleven brass players, and the movement drives to a resplendent close on its second subject, stamped out by the brass.

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

THE CLASSICAL STYLE - FEBRUARY 10 & 11 Giuoco delle Coppie (Game of Couples): This charming movement should be understood as a scherzo in the literal meaning of that term: a “joke” – music for fun. A side drum sets the rhythm, and then pairs of woodwinds enter in turn to play a variation on the goodnatured opening tune, first heard in the bassoons. Bartók varies the sound by having each “couple” play in different intervals: the bassoons are a sixth apart, the oboes a third, the clarinets a seventh, the flutes a fifth and finally the trumpets a second apart. A noble brass chorale interrupts the fun, and then the woodwinds pick up the opening theme and resume their game, but now with a difference: a third bassoon gets to tag along, and Bartók combines some of the pairs of woodwinds on their return. The side drum returns to tap this music into silence.

Elegia: At the center of the Concerto lies this dark Andante, which Bartók called a “lugubrious death-song” and which is based in part on material first heard during the introduction to the first movement. It opens with an inversion of the Concerto’s very beginning, and this gives way to one of the finest examples of Bartók’s “nightmusic,” with a keening oboe accompanied by spooky swirls of sound. A great outburst from the violins, also derived from the very beginning, leads to the violas’ parlando declarations. The music winds its way back to the eerie night-sounds of the opening before vanishing with only two instruments playing: piccolo and timpani.

Intermezzo Interrotto (Interrupted Intermezzo): A sharper sense of humor emerges here. Bartók begins with a woodwind tune whose shape and asymmetric

meters suggest an Eastern European origin and continues with a glowing viola melody that must have had specific appeal for him: it is derived from an operetta tune

by Zsigmond Vincze that originally set the words “You are lovely, you are beautiful, Hungary.” At the center of the movement comes the interruption. During the war Bartók had been dismayed by the attention paid to Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony, and he objected particularly to the obsessive ostinato theme Shostakovich associated with the Nazi invaders (and which in turn he had taken from Lehár’s The Merry Widow). Bartók quotes that tune in the solo clarinet, then savages it: he makes the orchestra “laugh” at the theme, which he treats to a series of sneering variations and finally lampoons with rude smears of sound. This has long been considered Bartók’s attack on Shostakovich, but is it possible that Lehár’s tune functions in exactly the same way for both Shostakovich and Bartók? For each, it is a symbol of the hated Nazis, it invades their own music, and it is thrown aside in an act of defiant nationalism. Once it is gone, Bartók returns – in one of the most beautiful moments in the Concerto – to his “Hungarian” tune, now sung hauntingly by muted violins.

The Finale begins with a fanfare for horns, and then the strings take off and fly; this is the perpetual motion Bartók mentioned in his note for the premiere, and – beginning very quietly with the inside second violins – he soon invests this rush of energy with a slashing strength. This movement is of a type Bartók had developed over the previous decade, the dance-finale, music of celebration driven by a wild energy. Yet

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

it is a most disciplined energy, as much of the development is built on a series of fugues. The fugue subject, derived from the opening horn fanfare and first announced by a pair of trumpets, evolves through a remarkable sequence of permutations: when the strings have their turn with it, that fugue is announced by the outside second violins. (Bartók is scrupulous in this score about giving every single section and player a moment of glory.) Matters subside into a mysterious quiet, and from this misty murk the fugue theme suddenly blazes out in the brass and the Concerto for Orchestra ends with one of the most dazzling conclusions to any piece of piece of music: the entire orchestra rips straight upward in a dizzying three-octave rush of sound.

It is hard to imagine that music of so much strength, so much optimism, so much – to use Bartók’s own term – “life-assertion” could have come from the frail man who had to be helped onto the stage to receive the cheers in Boston at the premiere. For the Bartók who wrote this powerful score was a man unhappily exiled from his native land, a man tormented by the war, a man so physically weak that his doctors barely let him attend the premiere, a man wracked by the leukemia that would kill him ten months later. The appeal of this music lies not just in its virtuosity but in something much deeper: in the midst of worldwide conflagration and his own terminal illness, Bartók did recover his “strength, high-spiritedness [and] joy of life,” and he turned them into great music.

PROGRAM NOTES BY ERIC BROMBERGER

Fabien Sevitzky led the San Diego Symphony the first time the

then-fourth outing here. Peter Erős conducted the orchestra and its first chair soloists in the Sinfonia concertante by Haydn during the 1973-74 season. It was repeated ten seasons later when James Paul led it here, but has not been heard since until these concerts.

orchestra presented Prokofiev's Classical Symphony in 1950.

A very popular work, and a worldwide audience favorite, it has surprisingly, until tonight, not been heard at these concerts since the 1974-75 season, when Charles Ketcham conducted it in its

The Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók was introduced to San Diego Symphony audiences when Zoltán Rozsnyai conducted it in the 1976-77 season. It was followed by three more presentations before Peter Oundjian led it most recently in the 2007-08 season.

by Dr. Melvin G. Goldzband, Symphony Archivist

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