Program Notes

by Pam Davis, Assistant Concertmaster

Gabriela Lena Frank (born 1972) Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout: VI. Coqueteos (2001)

Born in Berkeley, California, and holding degrees from Rice and University of Michigan, composer and pianist Gabriella Lena Frank expresses her Peruvian-Jewish heritage in her compositions. Composer-in-residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dr. Frank utilizes western classical forms, but integrates South American folk music, poetry, art, and mythology in her music. She stated that this mix is inspired by the idea of mestizaje as envisioned by the Peruvian writer Jose María Arguedas, wherein cultures co-exist without the subjugation of one by the other.

Originally written for string quartet and arranged for string orchestra two years later, Frank describes this movement: “‘Coqueteos’ is a flirtatious love song sung by men known as romanceros and is direct in its harmonic expression, bold, and festive. The romanceros sang in harmony with one another against a backdrop of guitars, which I think of as a vendaval de guitarras (storm of guitars).” e WORLD EVENTS: First draft of the Human Genome Sequence released,

George Harrison dies, 9/11 attacks e FIRST PERFORMANCE: 2001, the Chiara Quartet e MOST RECENT SSO PERFORMANCE: Tonight is the SSO premiere William Grant Still (1895 -1978) Three Visions: II. Summerland (1935)

Originally from Mississippi, raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, William Grant Still was influenced by his stepfather’s extensive record collection. Although Still intended to study medicine, his love of music overtook that plan at Wilberforce and Oberlin. After working for W.C. Handy in Memphis and accompanying him to New York, he studied composition with avant-garde composer Edgar Varese. But Still’s personal compositional style blended African American idioms with European style and forms.

Still benefited from grants and awards and by writing jazz arrangements for Artie Shaw and others until he could afford to move to California. He was the first African American to conduct a major American orchestra, leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in two of his works in 1936. He was also the first African American to have an opera performed by a major opera company.

Summerland is the second movement of his Three Visions. Originally written for solo piano for his wife Verna Arvey, it has been arranged for various instruments and combinations and is an atmospheric elegy with hints of the blues and of Debussy. Still asks listeners to be aware that the visions are real only to the dreamer in this musical portrait of the afterlife. The surrounding movements are entitled Dark Horseman and Radiant Pinnacle. e WORLD EVENTS: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie published, board game Monopoly patented, Elvis Presley born e FIRST PERFORMANCE: 1936, solo pianist, Verna Arvey e MOST RECENT SSO PERFORMANCE: Tonight is the SSO premiere

Benjamin Britten (1913 -1976) Simple Symphony, Opus 4 (1934)

“Once upon a time there was a prep-school boy. He was quite an ordinary little boy; he took his snake-belt to bed with him; he liked cricket; he adored mathematics, got on alright with history. There was one curious thing about this boy: he wrote music.” This passage is excerpted from Benjamin Britten’s own program notes for this piece.

Written when the composer was 21, Britten stated that his Simple Symphony was “entirely based on material from works written between the ages of nine and twelve.” Eschewing the popular avant-garde, even the alliteration in the titles indicate good humor. Britten dedicated this composition for strings to his childhood viola teacher, Audrey Alston.

The first movement’s Boisterous Bourrée has two themes: one playful, the other more lyrical. The movement ends a bit abruptly, indicating the diminutive scope of the piece. Based on a piece for piano Britten had written ten years earlier, Playful Pizzicato is accurately self-explanatory. It skips through a dance of varied dynamics and tempos with the players instructed to play “as fast as possible.” The Sentimental Sarabande pleads a melancholy case in the triple meter of this slow dance. Before it concludes, a bold statement is heard followed by more contemplative strains. The Frolicsome Finale’s perpetual motion gradually builds, but a slower tempo precedes the lightning-fast coda. e WORLD EVENTS: Bonnie and Clyde killed, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express published, Dame Judi Dench is born e FIRST PERFORMANCE: 1934, Norwich, England, the composer conducting e MOST RECENT SSO PERFORMANCE: Tonight is the SSO premiere Antonin Dvořák (1841 - 1904) Serenade in D-minor, Op. 44, for Winds, Cello and Double Bass (1878)

Known as the Serenade for Winds, this work also includes a cello and a double bass which give a unique sonority to this luscious gem. The strings were added by Dvořák after the first performance for an enhancement of the bass voice. Dvořák also omits the flute, further enhancing the dark, rich fabric.

Written for the traditional Harmonie, wind ensembles that generally performed outdoors, the piece begins with a pompous march with staccato dotted rhythms, followed by a gentler middle section and a return to the opening march. The second movement is based on two Czech folk-dance rhythms, the poetic sousedska and the robust furiant. An extended tender duet by oboe and clarinet makes up the bulk of the third movement. The finale begins with a redrafting of the opening march punctuated by gentle interludes before a direct quote of the march sets the stage for the accelerando to the rousing finish. e WORLD EVENTS: Zigeunerweisen premieres, H.M.S. Pinafore opens in

London, Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances written e FIRST PERFORMANCE: 1878, Prague, the composer conducting e MOST RECENT SSO PERFORMANCE: Tonight is the SSO premiere