Fl 1 Ott . C l . Tbn . I Vbf III Sn drum! Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa, Music Director Colin Davis, Principal Guest Conductor Joseph Silverstein, Assistant Conductor Thursday, December 11, 1975 at 8:30 p.m. Friday, December 12, 1975 at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, December 13, 1975 at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 16, 1975 at 7:30 p.m. Symphony Hall, Boston Ninety-fifth Season Baldwin Piano Deutsche Grammophon Records Program Program Notes Michael Tilson Thomas conducting Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No. 1 in C Op. 21 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major Op. 21 The Boston Symphony Orchestra first performed the Symphony in its opening season, 1881, under the direction Adagio molto —allegro con brio of George Henschel. The most recent performance was Andante cantabile con moto conducted by Eugene Ormandy at the 1975 Berkshire Menuetto: allegro molto e vivace Festival. Finale: adagio—allegro molto vivace The instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bas- soons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. Berio: Chemins II b/c for'Saxophone and Small Orchestra The introductory Adagio molto of the Symphony, only Harvey Pittel saxophone twelve bars in length, seems to take its cue from Haydn and hardly foreshadows the extended introductions of other First performance in this version symphonies to come. The main theme in C major proclaims its tonality by hammering insistently upon its tonic. With this polarizing theme, the composer can leap suddenly Intermission from one key to another without ambiguity. The second theme, of orthodox, contrasting character, seems as plainly Ives: Symphony No. 2 designed to bring into play the alternate blending voices of the woodwinds. I. Andante moderato The theme of the Andante cantabile was one of those inspi- II. Allegro rations which at once took the popular fancy. The ready III. Adagio cantabile invention, the development of a fragment of rhythm or IV. Lento Maestoso melody into fresh and charming significance, the individual treatment of the various instruments confirms what was V. Allegro molto vivace already evident in the development of the first move- ment—Beethoven's orchestral voice already assured and The Friday program will end at about 3:50 p.m., the Thursday and distinct, speaking through the formal periods which he had Saturday programs at about 10:20 p.m. and the Tuesday program at 9:20 p.m. not yet cast off. The 'Minuet,' so named, is more than the prophecy of a Ives Symphony No. 2: used by permission of SOUTHERN MUSIC PUBLISHING CO. scherzo with its swifter tempo. Although the repeats, the INC. trio and da capo are quite in the accepted mold of the Haydn- Berio Chemins II b/c: Copyright 1973 by Universal Edition (London) Ltd. Reprinted by esque minuet, the composer rides freely on divine whims permission of Associated Music Publishers of modulation and stress of some passing thought in a way which disturbed the pedants of the year 1800. Next Week's Program It is told of the capricious introductory five bars of the Finale, in which the first violins reveal the ascending scale 3 January 1975 at 2:00 p.m. of the theme bit by bit, that Turk, cautious conductor at the 2, 6 January 1975 at 8:30 p.m. Halle in 1809, made a practice of omitting these bars in fear Michael Tilson Thomas conducting that the audience would be moved to laughter. The key progressions, the swift scale passages, the typical eight- Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D eenth-century sleight of hand allies this movement more than the others with current ways. It was the ultimate This program will end at about 3:40 p.m. on Friday, 10:10 p.m. on word, let us say, upon a form which had reached with Saturday and Tuesday Haydn and Mozart its perfect crystallization, and after which there was no alternative but a new path. Call C-O-N-C-E-R-T for up-to-date program information. Excerpted from a note by John N. Burk Luciano Berio (1925— ) Charles Ives (1874-1954) Chemins II b/c Symphony No. 2 The work is scored for 2 flutes, oboe, 2 clarinets, alto sax- The Symphony was completed in 1901 and first per- ophone, tenor saxophone, bassoon, contra-bassoon, 2 formed by the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Society horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones and tuba, percussion in February 1951 under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. (including vibraphone, snare drum, marimba, tam-tams, The Boston Symphony first performed the work in 1962, bass drum) electric guitar, electric organ, piano and strings. with Richard Burgin conducting. This is the world premiere of the work in its present ver- The scoring calls for 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clari- sion, which was arranged for tenor saxophone by today's nets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones and soloist, Harvey Pittel, at the request of the composer. tuba, timpani and strings. Elliott Schwarz wrote in the Musical Quarterly: "More Dr. Joseph Braunstein wrote in the program notes for the recent works of Berio have an added fascination about New York Philharmonic: "Ives was a great pioneer in them: they represent not so much objects in themselves as, harmony, a bold innovator in matters of rhythm and an rather, large-scale transformations of other Berio works. imaginative experimenter in the field of orchestral sound. Through the composer's device of literally enveloping a He created bold harmonic combinations, wrote polytonal particular piece within the texture of a succeeding one, and passages and conceived rhythmical complexities that antici- even repeating this process more than once, a dense, yet pated Schoenberg, and Stravinsky and other avant gard- oddly transparent fabric is built up. A work like Chemins II ists. Yet while these composers had a chance to hear their blc then is in itself a 'Berio retrospective' in miniature. works and to test their creations by means of actual sound, Begun as the Sequenza VI for solo viola, and then sur- Ives was in the main denied this opportunity, which is so rounded by a chamber ensemble texture to reappear as Che- vital to a creative musician. His works were rejected by mins II for viola and nine instruments, and then further America's leading musical organizations as impossible to sprouting an orchestral surface as Chemins Ilb (1970), the perform and some of his scores, for example that of his Sec- latest development Chemins lk (1972) added a solo bass ond Symphony, submitted for consideration were not even clarinet to the full orchestra." The present version replaces returned to him. Thus when the latter work was to be given the bass clarinet with a tenor saxophone. its world premiere by the Philharmonic-Symphony Society "Berio's own explanation of the Chemins series may be of of New York in 1951 (50 years after its completion) the score interest here. He states that the various members of the had to be copied again from the pencil autograph at great series 'relate to each other something like the layers of an expense." onion . each layer creates a new, though related, surface Henry Cowell, a friend of Charles Ives, pianist and com- and each older layer assumes a new function as soon as it is poser, wrote to the annotator of the Philharmonic programs covered.' Certainly various aspects of earlier layers rise to for the first performance: "The work is simple, with fewer the audible surface of this work, but the overall impression of the dissonances and rhythmic complexities than we have is that of a fresh exterior, unique to this one work. We have come to associate with later Ives, but there is still plenty of at the very center of the work flashes of the original devilment in it, particularly in the combination of sacred Sequenza VI, a very liquid, lyric, vocally conceived bass clari- and profane. Ives is profoundly religious, but he doesn't net (in this case saxophone) line at the outermost layer, and mind poking a bit of fun at church chords once in a while, a profusion of interwoven textures between." or mixing hymns with jazzy rhythm." Other works of Berio performed by the Boston Sym- Bernard Hermann described the Second Symphony in an phony are: Serenata for Flute and Fourteen Instruments (Tang- article for Modern Music (May 1945) prior to its first per- lewood 1971, Seiji Ozawa conducting); Epifanie (Michael formance: "Unconventionally, a slow prelude, somber and Tilson Thomas conducting with Cathy Berberian soloist in a introspective in mood, forms the first movement (Andante 1972 Spectrum concert); and Recital I (for Cathy) (again with moderato). An organ-like melody is followed immediately Michael Tilson Thomas and Cathy Berberian in a Spectrum by a theme whose startling harmonies suggest Prokofiev. It concert of 1974). is at the end of this movement that Ives makes his first symphonic use of American material. A quotation from Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean, appears as a counter-theme in the horns. A brief oboe recitative links the Andante to the gay and rollicking Allegro, whose simple tunes and gallop- ing rhythms recall the village band. "Ives has described the third movement (Andante canta- bile) as a 'take-off,' a reflection of the organ and choir music of the Long Green Organ Book of the sixties, seventies and eighties.' To close this restful piece, the flute plays a quota- tion from America the Beautiful. "The finale's Maestoso introduction is based on a proud horn motive. It builds to a full sonority which introduces the Allegro, originally part of a previously composed Ameri- can Overture.