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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

BOSTON Seiji Ozawa, Music Director SYMPHONY Bernard Haitink, Principal Guest Conductor ORCHESTRA, { One Hundred and Twentieth Season, 2000-2001 A SEIJI OZAV/Ay/ ,!t ,fc Music f.\ SYMPHONY HALL CENTENNIAL SEASON LJLff to, Director j$\| ,-^^y -^

CHAMBER MUSIC TEA II Friday, November 17, at 2:30

COMMUNITY CONCERT II Sunday, November 19, at 3, at Fisk Methodist Church, Natick

This concert is made available free to the public through the generosity of State Street Corporation.

ALEXANDER VELLNZON, viohn — CATHERINE FRENCH, violin BURTON FINE, viola JONATHAN MILLER, ceUo

BEETHOVEN Trio in C minor for violin, viola, and cello, Opus 9, No. 3

Allegro con spirito Adagio con espressione Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace Finale: Presto Messrs. VELINZON, FINE, and MILLER

COPLAND Two Pieces for String Quartet

Rondino (1923) Lento molto (1928) Mr. VELINZON, Ms. FRENCH, Messrs. FINE and MILLER

DVORAK String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat, Opus 105 Adagio ma non troppo—Allegro appassionato Molto vivace Lento e molto cantabile Allegro non tanto

Ms. FRENCH, Mr. VELINZON, Messrs. FINE and MILLER

Week 6 NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) String Trio in C minor, Opus 9, No. 3

Though Beethoven's real instrument was the piano, he was also a string player; as a teenager he made his living playing viola in the opera orchestra of his native Bonn. After moving to Vienna, Beethoven held off composing a symphony or a string quartet, genres in which Haydn, with whom he studied briefly, was preeminent. But he approached the string quartet by way of the string trio. About 1795-96, after com- posing his Opus 3 trio for violin, viola, and cello (modeled on Mozart), he began sketching his Opus 9 trios and the Serenade for string trio published as Opus 8. It was through these that he worked out the problems of chamber music writing. The last of the Opus 9 trios is in C minor, the key often associated with Beethoven's more dramatic and forceful musical gestures. There is already the same energy that we know from the middle-period works, and the same lyrical counterfoil to the dramatic quality of the whole. The first four notes present the earliest version of one of Beethoven's basic musical ideas, a figure that lies at the heart of several of the late string quartets. The elaborate decorations of the second movement embellish what is in essence a melody of the greatest simplicity. The scherzo races along with splendid energy, with the instruments scored in such a way as to range from delicate chamber effects to a nearly orchestral sonority. The finale has a rhetorical force in which we can see Beethoven the young Turk, with all the characteristic impatience of youth, but also with something that promises future conquests beyond this remarkable early accomplishment.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) Two Pieces for String Quartet

Aaron Copland sailed to France in the summer of 1921 to study at a new summer school established by the French government in gratitude for American assistance in freeing France from German occupation in the Great War; lessons were to be given in the palace of Fontainebleau. Copland, who had outgrown his worthy but conservative teacher Rubin Goldmark, had thought this summer course of ten weeks would be a good way to acclimate himself to France. On board the ship to Europe he made the acquaintance of the painter Marcel Duchamp, who tried to persuade him that he would be wasting his time hanging around a bunch of other Americans at Fontainebleau, particularly since he really did not know much about what the program would entail. "You would do better to take your chances in Paris," asserted Duchamp. Years later, Copland admitted that Duchamp had been correct—"except that he didn't know of the presence at Fontainebleau of a teacher named Nadia Boulanger. But then, neither did I." In fact, Copland was among the very first to undergo the experience of instruction from that extraordinary musician and teacher, known simply as "Mademoiselle" to her students, who influenced several generations of American composers. During the years he studied with Boulanger, Copland came to admire his teacher's favorite composer, Gabriel Faure. Many years later he commented, "It is strange that the musical public outside of France has never been convinced of his special charms, the delicacy, reserve, imperturbable calm—qualities that are not easily exportable." Copland wrote an article about Faure, whom he described as "a neglected master," for the October 1924 issue of the Musical Quarterly. But before in every respect. Opus 105 is not only Dvorak's last string quartet, but also his last that he had made a specifically musical homage that was intended to be played for work of chamber music in any medium. For the rest of his life he concentrated on Faure himself, just two months before the French composer's death at seventy- symphonic poems and opera. eight. For this celebratory event, Copland made a string quartet arrangement of With all nine symphonies behind him and a series of tone poems ahead, Dvorak Prelude IX from Faure's piano preludes, Opus 103, and followed that by an origi- was still experimenting with the treatment of sonata form. The slow introduction nal Rondino in G minor for string quartet, composed in 1923, the theme of which to the first movement contains elements that anticipate the opening theme of the was derived from the letters of the composer's name, using both pitch-names and Allegro appassionato. There are two principal themes before the transition to the solmization syllables (do-re-mi, etc.): dominant E-flat brings in the secondary theme. The two principal themes form so G-A-B-(Re)-(sI)-E-(soL) F(#)-A-(G)-(Re)-E strikingly the basis of the development that Dvorak withholds them entirely from the recapitulation, moving directly to the secondary theme, now in the home key; For all its Francophile inspiration, the piece had little jazzy touches created from but the principal themes return evocatively as the basis of the coda. Copland's decision to parse the eight eighth-notes in the bar as 3+5, and there are The scherzo is widely regarded as one of Dvorak's very greatest, a brilliant occasional passages of polytonaHty. This pair of pieces—the Faure arrangement Czech dance of the type known as the furiant. The slow movement is cast in the and Copland's Rondino—was performed at Fontainebleau in September 1924. key of F major, a bright key in relation to the home A-flat; but its middle section is When the opportunity arose for an American performance, Copland decided to correspondingly dark when it sets off in A-flat minor. The return to the opening replace the Faure transcription that had served as the first movement with an material and the key of F is richly decorated. The spirited finale begins with a har- original piece. So, from February to April 1928, he composed the Lento molto, monic transition from the end of the third movement, arriving after eleven measures which became the first movement of Two Pieces for String Quartet, premiered in at the home key for a spirited jaunt in a dance rhythm that sounds like a rustic that form by the Lenox Quartet at an all-Copland concert in New York on May 6, polka, building a vigorous climax at the very end. 1928. (During the summer following the performance of the Two Pieces, Copland made an arrangement for string orchestra while staying at the MacDowell Colony; —Notes by Steven Ledbetter Serge Koussevitzky performed them with the Boston Symphony Orchestra that winter on December 14.) Though intended to go with the Rondino, the Lento molto Violinist Alexander Velinzon joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in January does not share its thematic tribute to Faure, though it does make use of the canonic 2000. Mr. Velinzon was presented in his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall's treatment that characterized the earlier piece. Its texture is homophonic, harmo- Weill Recital Hall after winning the Artist International 1996 Young Artists Audi- nized by parallel chords. tions. Appearances as soloist with orchestra have included the Rondo Chamber Orchestra on its tour to Venezuela; the Absolute Ensemble, the Metamorphoses Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) Orchestra, and Chappaqua Symphony in New York; and the National Symphony of String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat, Opus 105 Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. He was heard at the New York City Cen- ter playing violin concertos of J.S. Bach for the Paul Taylor Dance Company and has On March 26, 1895, just three weeks before he was to depart from America for the performed Bruch's Violin Concerto with the Summit Symphony. A prizewinner in last time, Antonin Dvorak began to compose a string quartet in A-flat. He com- the Heida Hermann International Competition in the United States and in the pleted 100 measures before putting the piece aside and concentrating on his travel Tibor Varga International Competition in Switzerland, he has appeared in Italy, plans. Once he had arrived home, he found himself exhausted and unwilling to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Russia, as well as throughout the United compose. Other than the final revisions to his Cello Concerto, made as a memorial States. A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Mr. Velinzon began playing the violin at to his beloved sister-in-law, he wrote virtually nothing all summer and into the six and graduated from the Leningrad School for Gifted Children. After coming to autumn, when he began teaching in Prague. By this time he had composed his last the United States he continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music as a symphony and had already completed a dozen string quartets over the years. The scholarship student of Albert Markov. He received his master's degree in 1998 from fragment of an A-flat quartet would be the thirteenth such work. But still he was Juilliard, where he studied in the studio of Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki. disinclined to compose; was he written out?

But after about six months of inaction—the longest period of his entire adult life BSO violist Burton Fine joined the orchestra as a second violinist in 1963 after nine in which he did not compose—Dvorak demonstrated convincingly his continued years as a research chemist at the National Space and Aeronautics Administration's fecundity. On November 11, 1895, he began a string quartet—but in the key of G, Lewis Research Center in Cleveland. At the beginning of his second year with the not the A-flat quartet already started—and completed it within a month, on orchestra he auditioned for and won the position of principal violist, a position he December 9. A few days later, he took up the fragment in A-flat and finished that held until the fall of 1993. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Fine studied violin for four on December 30, thus producing two complete quartets, works that crowned his years with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music before entering the Uni- output in the genre, in just over six weeks. Demand from potential performers was versity of Pennsylvania, where he earned a B.A. in chemistry. He also holds a doc- so great that both works were published the following summer and premiered toral degree in chemistry, from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Mr. Fine has before the end of 1896. The publisher gave the A-flat quartet the opus number 105 appeared in solo recital at London's Wigmore Hall and has appeared frequently as and the G major quartet the number 106, probably because Dvorak had begun soloist on viola and viola d'amore with the BSO, the Boston Pops, and other musi- composing the A-flat quartet first; but except for the very opening, it is a later work cal organizations. He has performed, toured, and recorded extensively with the 1

Boston Symphony Chamber Players. Mr. Fine is the solo violist on Seiji Ozawa's BSO recording of Strauss's Don Quixote with Yo-Yo Ma and is featured in chamber BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA music recordings on the CRI, Northeastern, and Gunmar labels. Symphony Hall Centennial Season

Violinist Catherine French is a native of Victoria, British Columbia, where she began performed frequently as a Suzuki studies on the violin at age four. Ms. French has Free Community Events recitalist in the United States and Canada; she made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1992 with the Senior Concert Orchestra of New York under the baton of David SATURDAY CONCERTS AT SYMPHONY HALL appearances have included concerts with the Boston Gilbert. Local chamber music The BSO will sponsor a series of free concerts in Symphony Hall showcasing the rich Artists Ensemble and Prelude Concerts at Symphony Hall. The recipient of numer- variety of musical styies and talent offered by local^erformersj^ckets are required. ous study grants from the Canada Council, Alberta Culture, the Alberta Founda- Funded in part by The Paul and Edith Babson Foundatjor^ndJ^^F^Je^QundatToriw.. Concert time: 2pm tion for the Performing Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Chalmers Fund, November 18, 2000 Gospel Music she won the grand prize at the National Competitive Festival of Music in 1986, was January 20, 2001 Jazz and Latin Music the overall winner of the Canadian Music Competition in 1988, and won first prize February 24,2001 World Music/V in the CBC Young Artists Competition in 1989. In 1990 she won the concerto com- Additional concerts tofollow, thrdugh.AWU^W' petition at Indiana University, where she was a pupil of Miriam Fried. Following TOURS OF HALL her graduation from Indiana University she earned a professional studies diploma SYMPHONY at Mannes College of Music as a student of Felix Galimir. In May 1994 she received Starting October 17 arid^nwrnng^hrough^pe^?-^ of |

Symphony Hall on the fi^tiattrfaayofivery^^oIhSt^opm (except March when :i her master of music degree from the Juilliard School following studies with Joel 3, tours will begin at ipmJ.'^ileWaYs^atgamfyvednesdays at 4:30pm, and at ipjn griojito^thg;: Smirnoff. Ms. French joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra's violin section in free Saturday-afternoon woferfs^Toufs begin at the MassachusejttsAvejue^trahcej |u*S September 1994. on Tuesdays, and at the Cpjtfen Wing entranceon.Wednesd^^nd'SSurday^ONfurt information, or to schedule gTO'up:toursrrJlease:cont'art.fh^ ai %^3^^ss^1r^^^:::'' :^a&~>&Z2's=- After attending Pablo Casals' master class at the University of California at Berke- (617)638-9390. KlfelgE ley, Jonathan Miller chose to abandon his study of literature there and devote him- SUNDAY COMMUNITY CONCERTS self completely to the cello, training with Bernard Greenhouse of the Beaux Arts Chamber music performarices^yJ&OJmusicia^s^iflbeJid Trio and studying also with Raya Garbousova, Leonard Rose, Harvey Shapiro, and throughout the commtm|(ySes'efvations arefe^oire^rs^ms^eSy^tat^treer Edgar Lustgarten. Before joining the Boston Symphony in 1971, he appeared Concert time: 3pm ^>";S ^— ^^^-p^SrS^S widely as recitalist, in chamber music, and as soloist with orchestra. A winner of -34= Novemberj, >20^_^ernandeXC^li^^fentei7Bostorr the Jeunesses Musicales auditions, he toured the United States twice with the New -j^ej^eMgr^boo^AWaTn^

York String Sextet and appeared as a member of the Fine Arts Quartet. Mr. Miller is music director of the Boston Artists Ensemble, which he founded in 1980 and which has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Council for the Arts. He has taught at the New England Conserva- tory and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and is currently on the fac- SYMPHONY HALL CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT ulty of the Boston Conservatory of Music. In June 1990, at the invitation of Mstislav Rostropovich, he appeared as soloist at the American Cello Congress. He was invited to perform music of Bach and Janacek at the 1996 Cello Congress and is currently cellist of the Gramercy Trio, which made its New York debut last April. [lijSarijps. Spo'hsoneclby'the WarcoultCenerahCfjaritabfe^undation. -| 1 tOrto^e£.kC5o5thlEnd BrarKh^685arremdnt5Sireet ~Jy§0§ ^jlji 1 7 _;* ^py£j^er;^TJ.uo^e)a"fancht65 Wa rrWstreef ^ ";^ggffi VL_^Swr . UM ~~- '~---~^' fi^br^r^3:fia rlestown Bra ncn, 179 MaJjfStreetr;_^=- _ — - Als~6

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