BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS Sunday, October 28, 2001, at 3 p.m. at Jordan Hall

BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS Malcolm Lowe, violin William R. Hudgins, clarinet Steven Ansell, viola Richard Svoboda, bassoon Jules Eskin, cello James Sommerville, horn Edwin Barker, double bass Charles Schlueter, trumpet Jacques Zoon, flute Ronald Barron, trombone John Ferrillo, oboe Everett Firth, percussion

with Elizabeth Ostling, flute Cathy Basrak, viola Thomas Rolfs, trumpet Stephen Drury, piano Haldan Martinson, violin Ludovic Morlot, conductor

BRITTEN Sinfonietta, Opus 1

Poco presto e agitato Variations. Andante lento — Tarantella. Presto vivace

Ms. OSTLING, Messrs. FERRILLO, HUDGINS, SVOBODA, and SOMMERVILLE; Messrs. LOWE, MARTINSON, ANSELL, ESKIN, and BARKER

WYNER Serenade for seven instruments (1958)

Nocturne I Toccata Capriccio; Aria

Nocturne II

Messrs. ANSELL and ESKIN, Ms. OSTLING, Messrs. SOMMERVILLE, ROLFS, BARRON, and DRURY LUDOVIC MORLOT, conductor

INTERMISSION

MOZART Quintet in C for two violins, two violas, and cello, K.515

Allegro Menuetto. Allegretto; Trio Andante Allegro

Messrs. LOWE, MARTINSON, and ANSELL, Ms. BASRAK, Mr. ESKIN

Baldwin piano Nonesuch, DG, Philips, RCA, and New World records Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Sinfonietta for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, and string quintet, Opus 1

Today we think of Britten primarily as a composer of vocal music—of operas, choral works, church parables, canticles, folk song arrangements, the War Requiem, and so on.

Even works with "instrumental" titles, like the Spring Symphony, are in fact primarily vocal compositions, however brilliant and colorful the instrumental part. But eighteen of Britten's first twenty-five large works are for instruments alone, and they were gener- ally bigger and more noticeable pieces than the vocal works of the time.

Britten composed the Sinfonietta, his first published work, in 1932, while still at the Royal College of Music; he dedicated the score to his teacher Frank Bridge. Already the young composer had demonstrated a natural gift of melodic invention. The Sinfonietta was in part an attempt to harness this gift into a more intricately constructed treatment.

Specifically influenced by Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1, particularly in its elaborate thematic working-out of motivic germs, Britten clearly wished to create an English music with a greater thematic intricacy than the sometimes meandering tuneful- ness of the tradition he had inherited. A pentatonic horn call (reminding the listener of Schoenberg's opening, though the latter's perfect fourths are more dangerous in their destruction of a tonal sense) provides the material from which the young composer mines the tiny germinal elements that make up the Sinfonietta's thematic language. Already Britten is willing to expand the tonal proce- dures of his free sonata-form first movement, to play with harmonic ambiguities, but never to dispense with tonality altogether. The slow movement's variations bring an air of nostal- gia and gentler, triadic harmonies. The finale is a Tarantella cast as a moto perpetuo in which the fast surface activity unwinds the musical material slowly and gradually. While the Sinfonietta may not yet reveal the expressive possibilities of Britten's melodic poignancy—especially as it came to be revealed in his operas— it certainly demonstrates a command of structure and form that can only be envied in a composer not yet turned twenty. —Steven Ledbetter

YehudiWyner (b.1929) Serenade for seven instruments (1958)

The American composer-pianist-conductor Yehudi Wyner is the Walter W. Naumburg Profes- sor of Music at Brandeis University. The recipient of numerous awards and commissions, he has also taught at Yale and Tanglewood and has been a visiting professor at Harvard and Cor- nell. His compositions range from works for small vocal and instrumental ensembles to works for large orchestra, from theater pieces to liturgical music for the synagogue. Recent commis- sions include a Cello Concerto for the BBC Philharmonic, "Lyric Harmony" for Carnegie Hall and the American Composers Orchestra, and a Psalm for soprano Dawn Vpshaw with instru- mental ensemble. He has provided the following comments on the Serenade:

Forty-three years have gone by since I wrote the Serenade for Seven Instruments. The lit- tle summer cottage I rented in 1958 at a Crafts Colony in Woodstock, New York, remains alive in my memory. Secluded, shaded by small trees, the cottage provided a pleasant ambience in which I could enjoy the natural surroundings with my year-old son. It was an atmosphere congenial to concentrated creative work. Composition on the Serenade proceeded quite rapidly and the elaborated sketch was completed by summer's end. Shortly after my return to New York City, I received a phone call from Aaron Copland asking how my work was going, what was new. I told him about the Serenade and he expressed interest in hearing it, so we arranged a visit to my very mod- in an almost improvisatory way, formal decisions being reached in the writing, imposing est apartment on East 6th Street in Manhattan. There, on my ancient and decrepit Stein- themselves retroactively as it were, then affecting my further progress. (This is a com- way upright, I played through the piece as best I could with Aaron listening attentively and mon procedure in my music in which the direction and significance of things reveal

appreciatively. It was typical of him to take a keen interest in the work of emerging com- themselves slowly and in the process, not before, and order is a consequent, not an posers; he had a way of encouraging them by finding good things in their music. antecedent of the work.) The choice of instruments was likewise not hit upon at once The actual first performance of the Serenade took place at Yale, but another perfor- but responded to the demands of the material. At least one movement was sketched mance was simultaneously being prepared at the 92nd Street Y by a brilliant band of play- before the full complement of players was fixed. There are four movements (five if one ers expertly led by Werner Torkanowsky. The dress rehearsal in New York took place the wishes to count separately the Aria contained within the Capriccio). The order of the day before the Yale premiere. This was fortunate for me because I was able to hear my movements and their basic motion follow no conscious model, nor does the weight of music dispatched with sweep and clarity. The student performance was miserably pre- duration of the movements have much to do with classical precedent. Within these pared—a disaster, in fact—and had I heard it first I would have been deeply disheartened. movements the formal divisions are usually simple.

In the long history of this piece, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players have given Certain shapes inform the whole work. The number of such generating shapes is very the finest performances by far, both at Tanglewood and in Jordan Hall. They have also few. Certain features were carried out with some consistency: exact sequences or imita- recorded the Serenade (on the CRI label). I feel honored to have received their excel- tions avoided; all recurrences varied; motivic, phrase, and sectional lengths balanced in lent attentions. an asymmetrical way; no doubling of instruments (the surprising exceptions strengthen A last comment: on rereading my original program notes for the Serenade [reprinted the rule); any material may appear in any movement, subject to affective transformation; below], I am struck by how familiar they are, how consonant with the way I think about prevailing instrumental timbre is contrast, not blend, permitting clear separation of lines my music even today. and independent plateaus of action. The listener is frequently offered a choice as to —Yehudi Wyner which material is principal or secondary at any given moment. The resultant web in October 2001 which most parts may have equal weight banishes the idea of mere accompaniment. The Serenade for Seven Instruments was written in response to a commission by the These ideas are common in dodecaphonic composition, less common outside the sphere.

Friends of Music at Yale University and was first performed on Alumni Day, February These are some notions I had in mind as I wrote the piece. None of them is dogma,

1959. The title page bears a dedication to James Hoffman, a young American painter however, and may or may not operate in any other of my compositions. For if the aims who was mortally ill at the time and soon to die. The dedication was intended as a ges- and problems of each piece are a surprise, perhaps the solutions will be fresh as well. ture of devotion to a friend, a noble individual and eloquent artist. The titles Serenade —Y.W and Nocturne I and II refer to qualities of the night and reflect the darkness of his passing. Serenade is a lyric, poetic work, remarkable in no way for its structural devices. No Wolfgang Amade Mozart (1756-1791) used, preliminary plans the piece grew preconceived schemes were no formal imposed; String Quintet in C, K.515

After moving to Vienna in 1781, Mozart quickly became one of the better-known com- Born in France, Ludovic Morlot studied the violin in Lyon and in Montreal, Canada, posers of the day, particularly because of his own concerts in which he brilliantly per- with Vladimir In turned to conducting, where he worked Landsman. 1994 he becom- formed his own piano concertos, which were the armature of his career as a composer, ing a pupil of the late Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Con- performer, and impresario. By 1786, however, Mozart had begun to make the transition ductors in Hancock, Maine. In June 2000 he graduated in conducting from the Royal from piano concerto to opera for his offerings to the public, beginning with The Marriage Academy of Music, where he studied under Sir Colin Davis, George Hurst, and Colin of Figaro. Although Mozart had hoped Figaro would propel him to the top of the opera Metters, and participated in master classes given by Sir Charles Mackerras and Peter world as his concertos had done in the concert arena, its success in Vienna was only Eotvos. He went on to study with John Carewe at the Royal College of Music on a moderate. (Competition was fierce in the comparatively high-stakes, high-profile Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship. This past summer Mr. Morlot received the realm of the theater, where well established, more easily comprehended composers Seiji Ozawa Fellowship to study conducting at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he like Salieri were already entrenched.) The disappointing returns from Figaro was assistant conductor to Seiji Ozawa for the TMC production of Ravel's L'Heure Antonio seem to mark the beginnings of a downward decline of Mozart's professional fortunes, a espagnole, and where he conducted the world premiere of Robin de Raaff 's Piano Con- 1791. certo, the 2001 Fromm Commission piece, in the Festival of Contemporary Music. Mr. decline that reverses tentatively only in the months before his death in December Morlot's strong interest in contemporary music led him to conduct the Mainly New To alleviate some of the pressure of his diminished income, Mozart moved his family Concerts series at the Royal Academy of Music for two seasons, working with com- from an apartment in the center of town to a less expensive one further out in April

posers Colin Matthews and John Casken. In London he led concerts of the Chain and 1787. His life changed even more drastically when his father Leopold, long a bastion of New Perspectives ensembles. For the past two years he has worked as assistant conduc- support (however antagonistic the relationship became), died on May 28, 1787. In late tor to Mark Wigglesworth at the London Philharmonic and the BBC Orchestra of Wales 1786 Mozart wrote his Prague Symphony for a visit to the Bohemian capital that took during their Proms performances. He also assisted Sir Colin Davis during the London place in January 1787. He also wrote the D major string quartet, K.499, on commission Royal Schools production of Don Giovanni in spring 2001. This Mr. Morlot season from the publisher Hoffmeister. This was his first quartet since the six he completed in will serve as assistant conductor to Seiji Ozawa, Andr6 Previn, and Rafael Friihbeck de early 1785 and dedicated to Haydn. In the spring of 1787, after his return from Prague, Burgos for several Boston Symphony Orchestra programs. Mozart began the two string quintets, K.515 in C and K.516 in G minor. He entered the first into the catalog of his works on April 19 and the second on May 16. He also arranged an earlier serenade for winds, K.384, for string quintet (K.516b). Mozart's turn to the somewhat unusual genre of the string quintet (he had written only one previously) even though he lacked a specific commission for the pieces may Boston Symphony have had practical as well as artistic motivation, even if speculative on the composer's Broadcast Archives part. Earlier that year Mozart's friend Haydn had published his six Opus 50 string quartets the newly ascendant King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II, who was an dedicated to A12cd box set including over 15 hours of dedication of works featuring enthusiastic cellist. Perhaps Mozart had in mind a similar a music, featuring every BSO music director solo cello with pairs of violins and violas—the opening of the C major quintet certainly since Pierre Monteux, notes, and a gives the cello an important (but not too difficult) part. Mozart seems not to have had substantial commemorative the opportunity at that time to approach the King, perhaps because his father's death and booklet. the settlement of his estate intervened. Later, in 1789-90, Mozart began a cycle of string quartets for the King. The composer was able to complete three of the Prussian cycle (K.575, 589, and 590); he also returned to the string quintet in the year before his death.

Mozart's String Quintet in C, K.515, is his longest four-movement work, with the opening movement dominating. The overall conception and treatment of the ensemble

is almost symphonic. The first movement's opening cello arpeggio covers two octaves, subtly hinting at the work's overall scope. The arpeggio and the fragment of violin melody that follows sound against a pulsing harmonic accompaniment in the other parts; the texture might be that of an operatic duet. The fragmentation of the first theme con- trasts with the lyricism of later sections. The second-movement minuet is subdued in character, with a Trio nearly half the length of the movement. The Andante that follows features duets between violin and viola. The finale is one of Mozart's delightfully high- spirited and ingeniously developed rondos, with an opening theme that is overtly or sub- tly linked with nearly all of the melodic material of the movement. Throughout the piece Mozart achieves the same balance of expression and craft that characterizes such better- known masterworks as the Jupiter Symphony and the Haydn Quartets.

—Robert Kirzinger

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