Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 82, 1962-1963
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SMITH COLLEGE CONCERT COURSE First Concert, Season 1962-1963 BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Erich Leinsdorf, Music Director & Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56a Brahms * Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un Faune Debussy (Eclogue by Stephane Mallarme) Symphony No. 7 Piston I. Con moto II. Adagio pastorale III. Allegro festevole Intermission Concerto for Orchestra Bartok I. Andante non troppo; allegro vivace II. Giuoco delle coppie: Allegro scherzando III. Elegy: Andante non troppo IV. Intermezzo interrotto: Allegretto V. Finale: Presto BALDWIN PIANO *RCA VICTOR RECORDS John M. Greene Hall j* Monday, Oct. 22, 1962 ** at 8:15 Program Notes by John K. Burk The New Music Director Erich Leinsdorf's career in this country and abroad has included many operatic as well as symphonic engagements. His connection with the Metropolitan Opera began when, at the age of twenty-five, he con- ducted Die Walkure in January, 1938. After the death of Artur Bodanzky in 1939, he became the principal conductor of German opera for four sea- sons. In the spring of 1957 he was appointed Music Consultant and con- ductor at the Metropolitan, and gave up these posts on assuming his Boston engagement. At the Metropolitan Mr. Leinsdorf led new produc- tions of Gluck's Alecstis, Moussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Mozart's he Nozze di Figaro. Last season, he conducted three cycles of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. At the New York City Opera Mr. Leinsdorf conducted the American premieres of The Tempest by Frank Martin, Susannah by Carlisle Floyd, and The Moon by Carl Orff. At the San Francisco Opera he led the first American productions of Walton's Troilus and Cressida and Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. His operatic performances in Europe have included Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in Holland and the Bayreuth Festival production of Die Meistersinger in 1959. Erich Leinsdorf's professional career began when he was twenty-two. After studying in Vienna (where he was born on February 4, 1912), he became assistant to Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini at the Salzburg Festivals. His engagement as permanent conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra (1943) was interrupted when he was called to serve in the United States Army. Since the War he has led the Boston Symphony Orchestra (in February 1961), the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony. In 1947, he was appointed permanent conductor of the Rochester Phil- harmonic, a post he held for nine years. Mr. Leinsdorf is well known in England for his frequent engagements with the BBC, Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras. In Europe he has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and has figured prominently at the Maggio Musicale in Florence. Symphony No. 7 Walter Piston Walter Piston composed his Seventh Symphony by a commission of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. It was performed in Philadel- phia under the direction of Eugene Ormandy on February 10, 1962, and also performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in New York, and in Bos- ton (March 21, 1962). This Symphony was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music. The following orchestration is required: 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes and English horn, 2 clarinets and bass clarinet, 2 bassoons and contra bassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, snare drum, tambourine, tarn tarn, wood block, 2 harps and strings. Concerto for Orchestra Bela Bart6fc "The first, and fifth movements are written in a more or less regular sonata form. The development of the first contains fugato sections for brass; the exposition in the finale is somewhat extended, and its develop- ment consists of a fugue built on the last theme of the exposition. Less traditional forms are found in the second and third movements. The main part of the second consists of a chain of independent short sections, by wind instruments consecutively introduced in five pairs (bassoons, oboes, clarinets, flutes, and muted trumpets). Thematically, the five sec- tions have nothing in common. A kind of 'trio' — a short chorale for brass instruments and side-drum — follows, after which the five sections are recapitulated in a more elaborate instrumentation. The structure of the fourth movement likewise is chain-like; three themes appear suc- cessively. These constitute the core of the movement, which is enframed by a misty texture of rudimentary motifs. Most of the thematic materi- al of this movement derives from the 'Introduction' to the first movement. The form of the fourth movement — ' Intermezzo interrotto' ('Interrupted Intermezzo') — could be rendered by the letter symbols 'ABA — inter- rupton — BA.' " (Notes by Bela Bartok).