Brooklyn Philharmonia
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BROOKlYN PHilHARMONIA SIEGFRIED LANDAU, Conductor 1969-1970 Saturday, January 17, 1970 at 8:30 p.m. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. GUEST ARTISTS THE BEAUX ARTS TRIO ISIDORE COHEN, Violin BERNARD GREENHOUSE, Cello MENAHEM PRESSLER, Piano PRO G RA M LEONORE OVERTURE No. 1 ............................. ..................Be ethoven CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN, CELLO, PIANO AND ORCHESTRA INc MAJOR .. H •••• HHO .............B eethoven Allegro Largo Rondo all Polacca BEAUX ARTS TRIO ISIDORE COHEN, Violin BERNARD GREENHOUSE, Cello MENAHEM PRESSLER, Piano !1ztermission SYMPHONY N o. 7 IN A MAJOR ........ ........ ......................................................... Beethoven Poco $Ostenuto - vivace Allegretto Presto - assai menu prt:sto Allegro con brio The Baldwh1 h the official piatlo of the Brooklytl Philharmot1ia PROGRAM OTES By SJEG FRI ED LAc DAU LUDWIG VA BEETHOVEr 1770-1827 - BICENTENNIAL YEAR The composer whose name is a lmost synonymous with symphonic form and the symphony orchestra is Ludwig van Beethoven. Bo rn on December 16, 1770, his 200th anniversary i..; being celebrated all over the world during the 1969/70 season. T onight's all-Beethoven concert is the Brooklyn Philharmonia's tribute to the great master. Beetho ven· s music not only refl ects the highest level of inspiratio n and intellect, but also an essentially undefinable sense of human dignity and inde pendence. It is this fa.;c in ating combination of arti stic quality and deep sense of mission which makes Beethoven such a re vered personality in Western civiliza tion - n ~t only as a m usician, but as representative of the very best this civiliza tion can produce. For his musical language has the power to inspire: it speaks from the heart and mind to the: heart and mind. A clear voice of hope a nd challenge reflecting the ti pirit of enlig htenment of the early nineteenth century before the chorus of doom, frustnti cn and conformity o f a later century sought to silence it, it is still a vo1ce which refuses to be muffled. because: i t ha> an ete rnal vitalit)' it only we permit ourselves to hea r it. LEOr ORE OVERT URE r o. I , Opus 1.)8 (Posthumous) Beethoven wrote the Leonon: O verture No. I for the first production of his opera '"F idtlio" in Vienna on November 20, 1805. But during rehearsals, he rejected it as being "too s imple" and proceeded to write Leonore O verture To. 2. Eventuallr Beethoven was to write four overtures for "Fidelio". T hi.s struggle with the formal and dramatic problems of introducing the opera are symptomatic of his concept of what an opera was supposed to be. H e was quite explicit in hi s view t:1at he could o nly write <for a stage vehicle somc: thing which would pc rtray man·s n ( ~Jiest sentiments. as typified by such fi gures r~s :Egmont, Coriolanus o r Leono re. He was repelild by frivolity or vulgarity. At the same ti me, he re.dized tlut drama tic tension in an opera had to be built and maintained g radua lly, and coul d be seriously handicapped by saying too much too soon as in the Leonore Overtu n: J: o. 3. Moreover. Beethoven wanted an overtme which would sc:t the mood of the opera, which Leonore N o. l cer tainly did not do. Beethoven's temper:tment probabl)' expressed itself more natura lly in a n abstract instrumental idiom than in a vocal one, so that had conditions been favorable for sustainir.g his interest in o pera, one ca n be quite !S ure that eventually Bet- thoven would have found convincing answers to the problems in volved in composing <!n overture. As it is, we have in the four overtures to " Fidelio" fascinating documenta tion of Beethoven's musical technique as swayed b)' various aesthetic consider;t tions - an i n va lu ~b l t wurce study of the workmg methods of a master. The first public performance of Leonore O verture o . 1 took place in Vienna on Februa ry 7, 1821! in a w nctrt b)' Bernhard Romberg. CONCERTO FOR PJA 0 , VIOLir , VIOLONCELLO A D ORCHESTRA Tt C MAJOR, Opus 56 No .trtist develops in a totallr consistent manner. Thus a period in which he discovers new grounds and strives for new heights may be fo ll owed by a fal low p eriod of retrenchment or consolidati on. Beethoven composed the Triple Concerto after completing his third sym phony, the ··Eroica··, though he started to sketch Opus 56 :1; early as 1803. l ow, while: the "Eroica" marks a mi lestone in the evolution of symphonic form, the Triple Concerto in its idiom goes b;tck to Baroque models of juxta posing a g roup of solo instruments and the o rchestra. Although Beethoven em ployed the sonata-form of the classic period here, the harmonic and orchestral lang uage clearly looks back to an earlier stage of his own style. It is for this reason, perhaps. that the Tripi(- Concerto has not caught the public fancy as much as Beethoven's ~the r concertos have done. The T riple Concerto was intended for Beethoven's pupil and generous f riend. Archduke: RudoiJ>h. H owever, the Archduke did not play at the first performance of the score dunng a summer wncen in the Augarten in Vienna, in M ay 1808. Due to ~ lack of proper preparation, th:: Concerto was indifferently received and was not performed again until ~c:ver;il years after Beethoven's death, but then w1th great tsuccess. This extraordinarr work demands tareful preparation because both the co o rdination between the solo instruments themselves and between them and the orchestra must be perfect. lketh:>Ven distributes the thematic material bt:twet:n the 'oloists, especia lly in the first movement, in such a way as to make it man datory to achieve the shifo; from nne instrumt:nt to th e:: o thh without the slightest loss of continuity. BALDWIN exclusive piano of SIEGFRIED LAND AU and the BROOKLYN PHI LHARMONIA BALDWIN MUSIC CENTER 922 • 7th Avenue at 58th Street An old and respected name a new and admired piano The slow second movement Jinks directly with the Finale, a rondo in polka rhythm. Beethoven retains this polka rhythm in the background while the solo strings play a most delightful theme. It is high time that the relative obscurity of the Triple Concerto lbe ended with the rediscovery of this charming, off-beat score. SYMPHONY No. 7 lN A MAJOR, Opus 92 Completed in 1812 and first performed in D ecember, 1813, in the concert hall of the University of Vienna with Beethoven him·elf conducting, the Seventh ymphony was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries. Wagner characterized this symphony as the " Apotheosis of the Dance·· since its outstanding effe cts are built on rhythmic motifs. A long, slow introduction gradually initiates the rhythm which is the driving force of the first movem{-nt. The slow second movement is replaced by an allegrel/o which abo has a rhythmic moJ if as a coordinating factor. Alternating the contrapuntal treatment of a march-li ke subject with the homophonic treatment of a lovely lyric melody creates an architectural design of convincing musical logic. The third movement is .1 scher=o with all that title implies in form and content. The melody of the Trio is said to havt been derived from a pilgrim·s hymn. The last movement h:b an trresistablt entrgy whith reaches a frenetic cl irmtx. ABOUT OUR GUEST '!HE B.EA UX ARTS TRIO OF NEW YORK Menahem Pres;ler, Pim10 lsidcrt Cohen, Violin Bernard Greenhouse, Celio f reshness of approach, oneness of ensemble playing, suptrb mu-sicianship and tremendous ztst characterize the ptrformancts of T HE BEAUX ARTS TRIO OF NEW YORK. ow in its 12th season, the Trio has betn hailed on three continents, and played over I ,000 engagements throughout North Amt rica, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In To vember, 1965, the)' performed in hrael, Turkey, and Iran under the auspices of The State Departmenfs Cultural Prtsentation Program . Charles Munch said that "they are worthy succesors to the last great trio - T hi baud, Casals and Cortot." And th is praise has been echoed again and again. For nin e successive sea:sons, T HE BEAU ARTS TRIO was engaged at the famed Berkshire Music Festival. They are also favorites at the festivals of Edinburg h, Lisbon (Gulben kian festival) , and the Holland Fes tival. They are also heard regularly at the festivals cf Dubrovnik. Israel and Etlingen (Germany). l n April , 1969, the TRIO adds another festival and another country: Osaka and Japan. Since their fimt European tour, tht Trio has returned tvtry season, and standing ovations in Berlin, Paris, Lisbon and numerous other music centers have been the order of the day. As recording artists, T HE B E-AU ARTS T RIO has won the Grand Prix du Disque for their recordings of tri ~s of Mendelssohn and D vorak, and The Times of London listed their discs containing all the Beethoven Trios a~ among the best recordings. For Philips they have made all the trio reperto ire of Mozart, Schubert an.d Brahms, in ad dition to the above mentioned Beethovt"n, and additional works of M endelssohn and Dvorak. COMING EVENTS THIRD SUBSCRIPTIOI CO CERT: Saturday, February 21, 1970 ........ ............. ............................................. ..8:30 p.m. Conce rto Grosso No. I ................. Ernest Bloch Violin Concerto N :>. 5 in A Major .............................................. ........ ........ Mozart JOH N PJNTAVALLE, Viol in Solo ist .