THE PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA OF YALE o c t o b e r 2 1 , 2 0 10 · f rid ay, 8 pm · wools e y h all
Peter Oundjian principal guest conductor
jo h n a d a ms
Soo Ryun Baek violin
max b ru c h
Tromba Lontana
Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46 Introduction: Grave, Adagio cantabile Scherzo: Allegro Andante sostenuto Finale. Allegro guerriero Soo Ryun Baek, violin Intermission
p y o t r ily ic h tc h ai kovs ky Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Little Russian” Andante sostenuto — Allegro vivo Andantino marziale quasi moderato Scherzo. Allegro molto vivace Finale. Moderato assai — Allegro vivo As a courtesy to others, please silence all cell phones and devices. Photography of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.
Robert Blocker, Dean
pro g ram no tes
John Adams » b. 1947 Tromba Lontana (1986)
Max Bruch » 1838-1920 Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46 (1879–80)
The many works of John Adams have placed him high on the list of the most important American composers of the past fifty years. His 1987 opera, Nixon in China, challenged and invigorated the opera world with its portrayal of a modern political subject and has since entered the repertory. Nixon was followed by The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) and Doctor Atomic (2005), in which Adams continued to mine modern history for operatic inspiration.
Max Bruch’s reputation has long rested on the strength of a handful of pieces. In particular, his Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26, and the evocative Kol nidrei, Op. 47, for cello and orchestra have remained staples of the repertoire. Both of these works highlight Bruch’s prodigious skill as a melodist. Bruch loved writing for the violin in particular, because he felt the instrument “can sing a melody better than a piano, and melody is the soul of music.” Bruch developed friendships with many of the leading violinists of his day, including Ferdinand David, Willy Hess, Joseph Joachim, and Pablo Sarasate. Sarasate’s playing was particularly inspiring for Bruch. After Sarasate performed the G minor concerto in 1877, Bruch quickly wrote a second violin concerto for him (Op. 44, in D minor).
Despite the success and notoriety of these operas, Adams’ most important contribution has arguably been in the field of orchestral music. His marriage of minimalist techniques with more traditional methods of formal development made Adams uniquely suited to compose large-scale symphonic works such as Harmonium (1980), Harmonielehre (1985), and the more recent City Noir (2009). Adams’ brilliant orchestration, characterized by bright, metallic percussion and richly layered textures, has left an indelible mark on the sound of the 21 st-century American orchestra and influenced a generation of composers. Tromba Lontana (which translates to “Distant Trumpet”) is a characteristic example of Adams’ trademark sound. The composer writes: Taking a subversive point of view on the idea of the generic loud, extrovert archetype of the fanfare, I composed a four-minute work that barely rises above mezzo-piano and that features two stereophonically placed solo trumpets (to the back of the stage or on separate balconies), who intone gently insistent calls, each marked by a sustained note followed by a soft staccato tattoo. The orchestra provides a pulsing continuum of serene ticking in the pianos, harps and percussion. In the furthest background is a long, almost disembodied melody for strings that passes by almost unnoticed like nocturnal clouds.
This effort did not exhaust Bruch’s inspiration. In 1879, Bruch wrote to pianist Otto Goldschmidt, “Yesterday, when I thought vividly about Sarasate, the marvelous artistry of his playing re-emerged in me. I was lifted anew and I was able to write, in one night, almost half of the Scottish Fantasy that has been so long in my head.” The Scottish Fantasy’s original title translates to “Fantasy for Violin with Orchestra and Harp, freely using Scottish folk melodies.” The role of the harp is extremely prominent, providing a sonic link with some of Scotland’s earliest folk music. Bruch wrote of the “feeling, power, originality, and beauty of folksong being a salvation in unmelodic times.” In the Fantasy, a Scottish tune is featured in each movement: “Through the Wood Laddie,” “The Dusty Miller,” “I’m a doun for lack of Johnnie,” and in the final movement, the patriotic anthem, “Scots Wha Hae.”
(Quote from John Adams reprinted with kind permission of www.earbox.com.)
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky » 1840–1893 Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, “Little Russian” (1872, rev. 1880) Tchaikovsky is often seen as the Westernized antithesis to the five Russian composers known as “The Mighty Handful” (Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov). However, when Tchaikovsky first played the Finale of his Second Symphony to a gathering at Rimsky-Korsakov’s home, he received rapturous applause, particularly from the influential critic Vladimir Stasov (who had inadvertently named the “mighty handful” in a review). Stasov, who liked very little of Tchaikovsky’s music, would later call this finale “one of the most important creations of the entire Russian school.” Stasov’s favoring of this work was likely due to Tchaikovsky’s use of Ukranian folk tunes to anchor three of the four movements in the symphony. (Ukraine was then called “Little Russia,” giving the symphony its nickname.) The Mighty Handful had been incorporating folk material into their works for some time, following the lead of their predecessor, Mikhail Glinka. Yet Tchaikovsky’s rigorous training in Western musical techniques left him better equipped than those composers to build a true symphonic structure with folk material at its core. Upon composing the work in 1872, Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother Modest that this was his best composition “so far as perfection of form is concerned—a quality which I have hitherto failed to achieve.” However, after the premiere, Tchaikovsky admitted to Stasov that he had doubts about the first three movements (he felt the Finale alone came out well). After a decade in which his international reputation was secured by the successes of, among other works, the Third and Fourth Symphonies, the First Piano Concerto, Eugene Onegin, and Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky was inspired to radically revise his Second Symphony. In 1880, he completely recomposed the first movement, leaving only the introduction and coda, with their quotation of the folksong “Down by Mother Volga,” intact. The second movement, a subdued march taken from the composer’s unfinished opera Undine, remained in its original version, and the scherzo is only slightly lengthened and rescored. The Finale, originally Tchaikovsky’s favorite, endured a cut of approximately 120 measures (roughly two minutes of music).
The resulting work is both significantly shorter and noticeably lighter in tone and affect. In fact, the revised version of the symphony is one of Tchaikovsky’s most exuberant works. Nowhere is this exuberance more apparent than in the Finale, where a folksong called “The Crane” (first sung to Tchaikovsky by his sister’s butler!) is subjected to a whirlwind of changing orchestral effects and tonal explorations, making this movement unique amongst Tchaikovsky’s symphonic creations. –Jordan Kuspa
arti st pro files
Peter Oundjian guest conductor
Soo Ryun Baek violin
Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian, noted for his probing musicality, collaborative spirit, and engaging personality, has been an instrumental figure in the rebirth of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since his appointment as music director in 2004. In addition to conducting the orchestra in dynamic performances which have earned artistic acclaim, he has been greatly involved in a variety of new initiatives which have strengthened the ensemble’s presence in the community and attracted a young and diverse audience. Mr. Oundjian has also released four recordings on the orchestra’s self-produced record label, tsoLIVE. The award-winning documentary Five Days In September: The Rebirth of An Orchestra, chronicles Peter Oundjian’s first week as music director of the TSO.
Violinist Soo Ryun Baek was born in Korea and enjoyed a successful career at home before her move to the U.S. in 2006. Her solo awards include Grand Prize in the Sung Jung Music, Nanpa, Korea Music Society, and Eumag Journal competitions. Ms. Baek also won a special prize in the Korean Philharmonic Orchestra Competition. In Korea, she performed with the City of Bucheon Symphony Junior Orchestra and the Seoul Soloists, and in an invitational Kumho Company special concert.
Peter Oundjian served as principal guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2010 and played a major role at the Caramoor International Music Festival between 1997 and 2007. He has served as a visiting professor at the Yale School of Music since 1981. In 2009, Mr. Oundjian received an honorary doctorate from the San Francisco Conservatory. Peter Oundjian was educated in England, where he studied the violin with Manoug Parikian. He then attended the Royal College of Music in London, where he was awarded the Gold Medal for Most Distinguished Student and Stoutzker Prize for excellence in violin playing. He completed his violin training at the Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Ivan Galamian, Itzhak Perlman, and Dorothy DeLay. Peter Oundjian was the first violinist of the renowned Tokyo String Quartet, a position he held for fourteen years.
As a chamber musician, Ms. Baek has performed in Spain and toured both Germany and the United States. She was broadcast on national radio during a chamber performance at the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of the Arts. She has collaborated with Ani Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, Ronald Leonard, Kathleen Winkler, Donald McInnes, Alan Stepansky, and Richard O’Neil. Ms. Baek has also performed in master classes given by the Takacs Quartet, Peter Salaf, Arnold Steinhardt, and Anne Akiko Myers. Ms. Baek is currently a member of the Yale Baroque Ensemble, where she works with renowned baroque violinist and specialist Robert Mealy. She received both the Leni Fe Bland Scholarship and the Leni Fe Bland Fellowship for the Music Academy of the West. Soo Ryun Baek received her Bachelor of Music degree with honors from Seoul National University, the Artist Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory, and the Master of Music degree from Yale School of Music, where she studied with Ani Kavafian.
a b o ut yal e p h ilharmonia
The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale is one of America’s foremost music school ensembles. The largest performing group at the Yale School of Music, the Philharmonia offers superb training in orchestral playing and repertoire.
shinik hahm Conductor
Performances include an annual series of concerts in Woolsey Hall, as well as Yale Opera productions in the Shubert Performing Arts Center. The Yale Philharmonia has also performed on numerous occasions in Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The orchestra undertook its first tour of Asia in 2008, with acclaimed performances in the Seoul Arts Center, the Forbidden City Concert Hall and National Center for the Performing Arts (Beijing), and the Shanghai Grand Theatre.
roberta senatore Librarian
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kate gonzales Production Assistant yang jiao Assistant Conductor paolo bortolameolli Assistant Conductor
The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale violin 1 Kayla Moffett, concertmaster Victor Fournelle-Blain Edson Scheid Nayeon Kim Tammy Wang Jacob Ashworth Joo Hye Lim Minhye Helena Choi Sun Min Hwang Ji Hyun Kim Piotr Filochowski Won Young Jung Hyun Sun Sul Tao Zhang Igor Pikayzen Jiin Yang violin 1 Sun Kyung Ban, principal Holly Piccoli Hen Shuo Chang Sung Mao Liang Laura Keller Corin Lee Christian Sitzmann Seok Jung Lee Ki Won Kim Yuan Ma Brian Bak Hye Jin Koh Eun-young Jung Cordelia Paw viola On You Kim, principal Colin Brookes Eleanor Kendra James Dashiel Nesbitt Min Jung Chun Jessica Li Leonard Chiang Jane Mitchell Timothy Lacrosse Sara Rossi Dan Zhang Heejin Chang cello Jurrian Van Der Zanden, principal Joonhwan Kim Soo Jin Chung Jinhee Park
Jia Cao Arnold Choi Andrew Hayhurst Weipeng Liu Qizhen Liu Elisa Rodriquez Sadaba Christopher Hwang bass Paul Nemeth, principal Matthew Rosenthal NaHee Song Jonathan McWilliams Gregory Robbins Michael Levin Andrew Small flute Peng Zhou 1*,2 Kyeong Hoon Seung 1,2,3 Rosa Jang 1,3 Cho-Long Kang 1,3 oboe Caroline Ross 1*,2* Ji Hyun Kim 3* Rebecca Kim 3 Kaitlin Taylor
John Ehrenburg 1 (solo) Gerald Villella 2*,3 John Allen 2,3* trombone Timothy Hilgert 2* Hana Beloglavec 2,3 Benjamin Firer 2 Brittany Lasch 3* Jeffery Arredondo 3 tuba Jonathan Hill timpani Leonardo Gorosito 2* Crisobal Gajardo-Benitez 3* percussion Jonathan Allen 1, 2 Victor Caccese 2, 3 Cristobal Gajardo-Benitez 1 Leonardo Gorosito 3 Adam Rosenblatt 1 harp Kristan Toczko 2 Yue Guo 1
clarinet Wai Lau 1* David Perry 1 Gleb Kanasevich 2*,3 Igal Levin 2, 3*
1 - Player in Adams 2 - Player in Bruch 3 - Player in Tchaikovsky *- Principal Player
bassoon Yuki Katayuma 2* Lauren Yu 2 Elisabeth Garrett 3* Meryl Summers 3
assistant Benjamin Firer
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