BOSTON

James Levine, Music Director Bernard Haitink, Conductor Emeritus Seiji Ozawa, Music Director Laureate 128th Season, 2008-2009

COMMUNITY CONCERT IX

Sunday, March 29, at 3, at Granoff Music Center, Tufts University, Medford CHAMBER TEA V

Friday, April 3, at 2:30 COMMUNITY CONCERT X

Sunday, April 5, at 3, at Hernandez Cultural Center, Boston

The free Community Concerts on March 29 and April 5 are generously supported by The Lowell Institute.

CYNTHIA MEYERS, flute and piccolo ROBERT SHEENA, and English horn THOMAS MARTIN, SUZANNE NELSEN, JONATHAN MENKIS, horn TIMOTHY GENIS, percussion (Piazzolla; Toussaint; D'Rivera "Afro")

PIAZZOLLA Libertango (arr. Jeff Scott)

MILHAUD "Sorocaba" and "" from Saudades do Brasil, Opus 67 (arr. David Bussick)

PIAZZOLLA Oblivion (arr. Jeff Scott)

TOUSSAINT Mambo

D'RIVERA Aires Tropicales

1. Alborada

2. Son 3. Wapango (arr. Jeff Scott /Tom Martin) 4. Habanera 5. Vals Venezolano

6. Afro

7. Contradanza

Week 22 Astor Piazzolla (1921-92) Libertango and Oblivion

Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Astor Piazzolla moved with his family to New York City in 1925, where (with one brief return to Argentina in 1930) they lived until 1936. He took up the bandoneon, the central instrument in the Ar- gentine tango, and also studied classical . Upon his return to Argentina he began to perform with tango , but also studied composition with the great . He formed his first orchestra in 1946 but disbanded it as his music became more experimental. Piazzolla's music of the time shows the influence of Bartok and Stravinsky, but with some Argentine elements like the inclusion of two bandoneons in the orchestral work Buenos Aires. That piece earned him a stipend to study in France with Nadia Boulanger, with whose encouragement he once again embraced the medium of the tango as the cen- tral idea of his music. In the late 1950s and the 1960s, Piazzolla returned to the idea of presenting his music in his own groups, forming jazz combo-like collaborations and be- ginning to seed his own music with the materials of jazz. He also performed as soloist with string orchestras in his hybrid tangos, the style of which has come to be known as "tango nuevo." His career became increasingly international: in addition to Argentina he made his base briefly in New York, returned to Europe, and traveled extensively. Although his constant exploration initially alienated tango traditionalists, his worldwide audience continued to grow. Late in his life, admired by musicians of many different styles, he began writing again for classical combinations and for such musicians as Mstislav Rostropovich and the Kronos Quartet. Oblivion and Libertango are among Piazzolla's most familiar tangos, heard in all sorts of contexts including performances by the composer with his band, in movie soundtracks, and in numerous arrangements. The versions here are ex- tremely idiomatic arrangements for wind quintet by composer /hornist Jeff Scott of Imani Winds, a quintet renowned for its explorations of new world-music repertoire. Numerous colorful instrumental touches in both pieces add to the overall sense of spontaneity. Oblivion, primarily slow and melancholy, begins with nearly two minutes of atmospheric, introductory music before the horn announces the recognizable main tune, which is then passed among the instru- ments in rich harmonization. Libertango, its prestissimo complement, was pur- portedly inspired by a line from a poem: "My tango is free, a poet and homeless, as old as the world, as simple as a prayer." Here the wind quintet is joined by improvised percussion. In the introduction, arpeggios among the winds create interesting interlocking textures. The rapid accompanying material to the flute's sustained melody has everything to do with the mood of the piece.

Darius Milhaud (1892-1972) "Sorocaba" and "Ipanema" from Saudades do Brasil, Opus 67 (arr. David Bussick)

The French composer 's legendarily vast compositional output runs to more than 400 opus numbers, and includes sixteen ; twelve sym- phonies; multiple concertos for violin, piano, viola, and cello as well as concertos for harp, oboe, harpsichord, and various combinations; eighteen string quartets, Popol-Vuh, the Cello Concerto, and Hip de la Ciudad for piano and jazz orchestra. and dozens of sundry orchestral pieces, songs, choral works, film music, and He has since continued to compose for ensembles of various sizes, favoring the chamber works—in short, pieces in every conceivable genre over the course of a concerto genre. His works for chamber groups include his String Quartet No. 2, sixty-year career. As a Jew, he was threatened by the encroachment into France commissioned for the Cuarteto Latinamericano. Meanwhile, he has continued of the Third Reich. After 1940 the U.S. was his adoptive home for the rest of his to perform and record with Sacbe and in other contexts, and has been active as life, although he split his time between France and the U.S. after the war. For many an arranger and producer. years he taught at Mills College in Oakland, California, as well as at the Paris Toussaint wrote Mambo in 2001, and it was subsequently recorded by the Conservatoire and at the Aspen Festival. His American pupils are numerous Mexico City Woodwind Quintet. The piece is based on the dance form that and include such luminaries as Burt Bacharach and our own James Levine. originated in Cuba and became a craze in the U.S. in the 1950s. (The cha-cha-cha

During World War I, unable to enlist for reasons of health, Milhaud traveled to is a variant.) Toussaint's Mambo is almost a miniature suite, featuring sections of Brazil as a civil servant and lived there until the end of 1918. Upon returning to different tempos and moods. The instruments (with piccolo here in place of flute) Paris he moved in the same circle as Koechlin and was part of the loose "" are deployed in interlocking patterns, forming a continually shifting timbral group. His first still-famous work, the absurdist ballet Le Boeufsur le toit ("The palette. Percussion is added to add an exotic element to the pulse. Bull on the Roof," 1919—already Opus 58), is an orchestral synthesis of a wide range of Brazilian musical styles. The most important and influential work of his Paquito D'Rivera (b.1948) entire output, the ballet La Creation du monde ("The Creation of the World," 1923), Aires Tropicales was one of the earliest "classical" works to incorporate American jazz. He was The Cuban-born American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera also active as a pianist and conductor. assimilated the bebop styles of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie as a young Milhaud's set of twelve piano pieces Saudades do Brasil, like Le Boeufsur le toit, performer in Cuba. He founded the fusion band Irakere in the 1970s. In 1980 was a direct attempt to compose Brazilian music in his own voice. "Saudade" is a D'Rivera defected while on a trip to Europe, and moved to New York City. Besides Portuguese word meaning, roughly, "yearning for what is lost," which can imply leading his own groups, he played with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy a kind of homesickness or pining for an absent loved one, with the further inflec- Tyner, Arturo Sandoval, and Michel Camilo. tion of permanent separation. Although the term originated in Portugal, it has Along with jazz, D'Rivera has also composed many works for conventional become more strongly associated with the vastness and isolation specific to Brazil. classical ensembles from chamber groups to orchestras. His style allows a free In these character pieces, Milhaud, a year and more removed from his Brazilian coexistence of elements of jazz, traditional classical, and Cuban elements. He has sojourn, suggests he has no expectation of being able to recapture that experience. written works on commission for such groups as the New Jersey Nonetheless most of the pieces are dance-oriented (the set is subtitled "Suite de Society, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the string quartet Cuarteto Latinoamericano, and danses") and betray little overt nostalgia. The two heard here, "Sorocaba" (named the Opus 21 ensemble. His Gran Damon (The Bel Air Concerto) was co-commis- for a Southern Brazilian city) and "Ipanema" (after a neighborhood of Rio de sioned by the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra Janeiro) were arranged for wind quintet by the oboist and composer David Bussick. in Washington, D.C., for flutist Marina Piccinini. This was premiered by Piccinini "Sorocaba" is the more lyrical of the two; both feature strong syncopated rhythms with the National Symphony under Leonard Slatkin's direction in 2002. and very "modern" harmonic touches, including polytonality (two or more si- D'Rivera's suite for woodwind quintet, Aires Tropicales, was commissioned by multaneously suggested keys) in "Ipanema." the Aspen Wind Quintet, who premiered it in 1994 at the Frick Collection in New

York City. It has since become something of a repertoire staple for wind quintets. Eugenio Toussaint (b.1954) players have decided to add (as the third move- Mambo In this performance, the present ment) another short piece, D'Rivera's Wapango, originally a standalone work; Eugenio Toussaint is one of the most important figures in Mexican jazz as a pianist also, the Aires Tropicales movement "Dizzyness" is omitted here. All of the move- and composer, and is also significant as a composer of concert music. Born in ments are fully developed pieces, not simply character sketches, although the Mexico City, he first made his name as a pianist with the bands Odradek and character of each is strongly indicated; most of them are based on dance music. Blue Note, later forming his own group, Sacbe, which has gone through several The brief opening movement is called "Alborada," traditionally a type of song manifestations since its beginnings in the mid-1970s. While maintaining his career played to greet the dawn. "Son" employs a steady ostinato under a short melody, as a performing pianist, he also studied the techniques of harmony and orches- taking its name from a popular Cuban dance. "Wapango" features a recurring tration. Toussaint worked in the United States in the 1970s and early '80s, first in six-beat arpeggio ostinato. The fourth movement is a sultry Habanera, its under- Minneapolis and then in Los Angeles, where his recordings with Sacbe began to lying rhythm familiar from that of the famous aria in Bizet's Carmen. This is fol- garner attention and acclaim. lowed by the quick and highly syncopated "Venezuelan Waltz," dedicated to the In 1986 Toussaint returned to live in Mexico and began concentrating on great Venezuelan guitarist and composer Antonio Lauro. "Afro" opens with a composition, quickly writing a number of important works for orchestra including long flute solo before an ostinato starts a new dance; it's the most obviously jazz- flavored movement of the suite. Contradanza, dedicated to the Cuban com- Suzanne Nelsen began her studies in Edmonton, Canada, and instantly fell poser Ernesto Lecuona, is another traditional Cuban dance, featuring a lively in love with the bassoon. She earned a bachelor's degree in music from McGill countermelody against the syncopated main tunes. University and pursued further study at The Hague Conservatory in Holland, earning a UM degree. Early training included summers at the Banff Festival, —Notes by Robert Kirzinger National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and The Boris Brott Festival. In 1995, during post-graduate study at McGill, she won a position with the Montreal Cynthia Meyers joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as its piccolo player Symphony. During that same year she joined the faculty of McGill University, in the autumn of 2006. Before coming to Boston she served as principal piccolo as both chamber music coach and bassoon professor. She has performed of the Houston Symphony for nine years under the direction of Christoph throughout the world as soloist and chamber musician and has recorded nu- Eshenbach and Hans Graf. She is the former principal flutist of the Omaha merous CDs with the Montreal Symphony. Ms. Nelsen joined the Boston Sym- Symphony a post she held for nine seasons, during which time she was a fea- phony and Boston Pops orchestras in the fall of 2000. tured soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions. A native of Somerset, Pennsylvania, Ms. Meyers began playing the piano at age three. She earned her Originally from West Orange, New Jersey, and now living in Lincoln, horn bachelor of fine arts degree at Carnegie-Mellon University and completed her player Jonathan Menkis received his bachelor's degree from Ithaca College in master of music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Jeffrey 1981, then joined the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra as associate principal Khaner, principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She took an interest in horn. He became assistant principal horn of the New Orleans Symphony the playing the piccolo while in Cleveland and continued study solely on that instru- following season and was appointed to the Boston Symphony Orchestra horn ment with William Hebert of the Cleveland Orchestra. Besides playing with the section in 1984. Mr. Menkis has been a member of the Colorado Philharmonic BSO and teaching privately, Ms. Meyers has performed at the Grand Teton Music Orchestra, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and the American Wind Festival with colleagues from other major orchestras around the country, and has Symphony Orchestra. A faculty member at the New England Conservatory of also performed with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony. Music, Mr. Menkis is an occasional soloist in the Boston area and performs chamber music frequently. Robert Sheena joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as its English horn player in May 1994, at the start of that year's Boston Pops season. He received his Timothy Genis joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in May 1993 as assis- bachelor of music degree from the University of California at Berkeley and his tant timpanist of the BSO and timpanist of the Boston Pops Orchestra; he was master of music degree from Northwestern University School of Music. During named timpanist of the BSO in 2004. Mr. Genis attended the Juilliard School the 1986-87 season he performed frequently with the Chicago Symphony as an and the Eastman School of Music. From July 1991 until his BSO appointment, he extra player. Before joining the BSO he was English horn player and assistant was associate timpanist and assistant principal percussionist of the principal oboe of the Hong Kong Philharmonic (1987-91) and of the San Antonio Honolulu Symphony. Before that he was principal timpanist with the Philharmonia Vir- Symphony (1991-94). With the BSO he has been featured as English horn soloist tuosi and the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra in York, and assistant prin- in Andre Previn's Reflections and Sibelius's The Swan ofTuonela. As part of an New cipal percussionist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic for two years. ongoing effort to expand the repertoire for his instrument, he gave the world A Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 1990, Mr. Genis also attended the Boston University premiere of Gabriel Gould's Watercolors for English horn and chamber orchestra, Tanglewood Institute. Currently head of the which was commissioned for him by the Albany Symphony and was recorded percussion department at Boston University, he also runs the BUTI percussion at is with that ensemble in November 1998. Mr. Sheena was a Tanglewood Music program Tanglewood and an active clinician for the Zildjian Center Fellow in 1984. His principal teachers included English horn player Cymbal Company, Remo Drum Company, Yamaha Drums, and Vic Firth, Inc. In the fall of 2003 he developed a line of Grover Schiltz, Chicago Symphony principal oboe Ray Still, and San Francisco Ballet Orchestra principal oboe William Banovetz. sticks currently being marketed by Vic Firth, Inc.

Thomas Martin served as principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra before joining the Boston Symphony in the fall of 1984. Born in Oshkosh, Wis- consin, Mr. Martin graduated from the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student of Stanley Hasty and Peter Hadcock. He participated in master classes with Guy Deplus of the Paris Conservatory. Mr. Martin performs frequently as a recitalist and chamber musician and has been heard on "Morning Pro Musica" on radio. WGBH He has appeared in the Chamber Prelude series at Symphony Hall, on the Friday Preludes at Tanglewood, at the Longy School of Music, and at the Gardner Museum.