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BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC The Little Orchestra Society THOMAS SCHERMAN, Music Director
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION SERIES-SEASON 1968-69 Second Concert Sunday Afternoon, December 15, 1968 at 2:30P.M. HERBERT BARRETT, Manager ALVARO CASSUTO, Guest Conductor RUGGIERO RICCI, Violinist
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphony No. 34 inC major, K. 338 I Allegro vivace II Andante di molto III Allegro vivace PAUL HINDEMITH Kammermusik No. 4 for Violin and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 36, No.3 I Signal. Breite majestatische Halbe- 11 Sehr lebhaft III Nachtstiick. Massig schnelle Achtel IV Lebhafte Viertel- V So Schnell, wie moglich RUGGIERO RICCI, Soloist
INTERMISSION JOSEF ALEXANDER Duo Concertante for Trombone, String Orchestra, and Percussion (World premiere) JOHN GRAMM, Trombone WALLACE DEYERLE, Percussion JOLY BRAGA SANTOS Sinfonietta for String Orchestra (American premiere) I Adagi~Allegro II Adagio III Allegro ben marcato, rna non tropp~ Larg~Tempo I ROBERT SCHUMANN Overture, Scherzo, and Finale Op. 52 I Overture: Andante con mot~Allegro II Scherzo: Vivo Ill Finale: Allegro molto vivace
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM by BERNARD JACOBSON
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 34 in C maJor, K. 338 (17 5 6-1791 ) I Allegro Vlvace II Andante di molto III A /legro vivace Mozart's 34th Symphony was the last one he wrote m Salzburg. It was composed in August, 1780, and like its predecessor by a year-No. 33 m B flat major, K. 319-was ongmally performed v.1th only three movements. In the case of No 34, however, the composer's autograph core contams, between the first two movements, the beginning of a mmuet Th1s was subsequently deleted. But two years later, m VIenna, Mozart added newly composed minuets to both works. The one he inserted in No 34 IS believed to be the C maJOr minuet, K. 409 Nowadays the worh. is given in both forms The four movement "ers1on has the advantage of representing the composer's final thoughts. The three-movement versiOn, which will be heard tonight, has the complementary advantage of showing the symphony as it wa ongmally completed, v.ithout distraction from the appreciably richer style of the later mmuet. The manner of the music IS both spirited and gracious The use of the apparently "simple'' h.ey of C major IS deceptive, for frequent turns toward such darker tonalities as C minor and F minor provide not only emotional enrichment but also a unifymg factor from one movement to the next. Though the first mo"ement reflects m most es entials what was subsequently codified as "sonata form" (it should be remembered that the great composers never knew the) v. ere writing accordmg to the rules of that highly respectable medium, which were only a convenient ex post facto generalization latd down by 19th-century theori ts), It resembles the corresponding movements of the 31st (''Pans"), 33rd, and 35th ("Haffner") Sym phomcs m abandoning the traditional repeat of the exposition. Part of the purpose of this repeat v.as to dnve home in the listener's mind matenal that v.as to be developed later Smcc the de\>elopment section of the 34th· first movement doc not use material from the exposition, the device is not needed here. Indeed, the movement as a whole typifies Mozart's tendency towdrd clearly differentiated three-part structures m his first movements-a surprisingly large number of his development sections are concerned exclusively with new material. The Andante d1 motto (which means "moving at a flowing pace·· rather than specifically "slow") IS a graceful, song-hke movement, and the Finale a brilliant tarantella. The S} mphon} IS scored for pa1r of oboes, bassoons, horns, and trumpets; tympam: and stnngs Paul Hindem1th Kammermtolk o 4 for VIolin and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 36, No.3 (1895-1963) I SiRna/. Brette majestiitische Ha/be II Sehr lebhaft III Nacht.'itiick. Miissig schnelle Achtel lV Lebha/te Viertel- V So schne/1, wie moglich Hmdemith's six variously scored works entitled "Chamber Music" (as well as one called ''Little Chamber Music") exemplify his healthily practical, anti-ivory-tower atti tude to the function of the composer. Though the term "Gebrauchsmusik" applied to such compositions has lent itself to translations of varying degrees of unsatisfactoriness ranging from "practical music" and "music for u e" to, more unsympathetically, "utility music" Hindemith himself pOinted out that the word was used m Germany "only as a name for a tendency to av01d the highly individuali tic, superexpressive kind of writing we were so much acquainted with." For this supremely professional composer typified the 20th century's trend away from the previous era's romantic view of the Artist's role, back to the I 8th century concept of the creator-executant fulfilhng specific social needs "It is to be regretted," he said, "that in general so little relationship ex1sts between the producers and consumers of music A composer should write today onl~ 1f he knows for what purpose he is writmg. The days of composmg for the sake of composmg are perhaps gone fore¥er. On the other hand, the demand for mus1c IS so great that composer and consumer ought most em phatically to come at last to an understanding ...
Hindemith's mus1cal versatility, which embraced the ability to pia~ e¥ery Instrument in the orchestra, fitted h1m emmently for this role. He contributed sonatas to the repertoire of almost all the Instruments, and wrote a good man~ concerted works too In both categories, he concentrated on the Instrument's natural st~ le of expression, rather than attempting to extend Its scope by making extreme techmcal demands. Opus 36, which dates from 1925, contains four separate works, each entitled Kammer musik, but each wntten for different forces No I Is a concerto for piano and 12 solo instruments. 1'-:o. 2 for cello and I 0 solo Instruments. ~o 3 for violin and chamber orchestra, and 1'-:o. 4 for \iola (the instrument closest to Hmdemith's heart) and chamber orchestra. The reason for the slight discrepc:.nc~ bet\\-een the serial numbers of the ''Chamber Musics·· and their numbers within the opus lies in the prior existence of Kammermusik No. 1 for small orchestra, which Is No I of Opus 24. The Kammermtn-ik No. 4, Op. 36, No. 3, is scored for two piccolos. three cl
Ltke his four full-scale symphonies, the Ol errure, Scherzo. and Finale gi\es the lie to the old notion that .Schumann was equipped cope only with miniature form., His gift for lyricism and epigram certainly predisposed him in that direction. But artistll. earnest ness, clear-headed self-criticism, and devoted study ot Beethoven enabled h1m to turn with more than average success to larger schemes. The tonal scheme of the present work may be '>Omewhat two-dimensional in com parison with the infinitely varied perspectives of such grander classics a ... Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann's own protege Brahms. Nevertheless it makes perfect!) good sense on its own level. And the formal structure ot ec1ch mo..,cment is quite strong enough to support the expressive, stimulatingly dramatic, but never portentous cast of the music. The material of the opening slow introducion, for instance, is neatly worked into the mam body of the succeeding Allegro, and the well-proportioned concluding climax of I the Finale is built from an augmentation (or restatement in longer notes) of the move ment's main theme. The central Scherzo (originally ent;tled intermezzo) is typical of Schumann in its use of a contrasting rhythm for the recurring Tr10 section-the tempo remains the same, but the time-signature changes from 6 I R to 2 4 The home key of the entire work is E major (with E minor for the introduction)· the Scherzo is 1n the related key of C sharp minor, and the Trio is in that key's tome major, wnttcn at D flat. Originally composed in 1861 and extensively rev1scd four years later, the score calls f<>r two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trumpets, tympani; and strings. The Finale includes optional parts for three trombones-these will be included in this evening's performance. ALVARO CASSUTO Tomght's conductor, Alvaro Cassuto, IS the assistant to the Little Orchestra Society's Music Director, Thomas Scherman. He was born in Oporto, Portugal, of German-Italian parents and began stud_ymg the piano at the age of five. Several years later he turned to compositiOn. In 1947 he enrolled at the Ecole Franca1se de Lisbonne and after harmony and counterpoint ~tud1es at the l1sbon 'l'.ational Conservator) of Music he worked with Professor I:. G klus mann at the Hochschule fur Mus1k in Hamburg. A scholarshtp from the Gulbenk1an Foundation made It poss1ble for h1m to continue his conducting studies With Herbert von Karajan at the Stadt Konsen.atonum in Berlin. In Vienna, in 1965- under the tutelage of Professor Dr Gustav Koslik-he obtamed h1s diploma as Kappel meister with Dt~ttnction from the Conservator) in that city. The followmg year he was selected from 38 candidates to be one of the five act1ve participants m the InternatiOnal course for conductors In Hilversum. Holland. He has conducted orchestras in Mumch and Vienna and tS now the regular conductor for the National Broadcasting Orchestras of Lisbon and Oporto and serves tn the same capaCit) for the Gulbenk1an Orchestra of L1sbon. In .tddttJOn to his professiOnal appearances, Cassuto ts a composer of note: his Smfonw Breve Vo. 1 (the first Portuguese 12 tone work) has had ten performance throughout Europe. Hts In \1emvrwm Pedro de freaas Branco, for large orchestra was commtss1oned by the Nattonal Broadcasting to commemorate the I st anniversary of the death of de Freitas Branco-with whom Mr Cassuto had studied for three years. Added to h1s season wtth The ltttle Orchestra Soctety will be lectures on Portuguese music at New York l.Jmverstty, the Universtty of Los Angeles and also in Boston, Newark and M1am1
RUGGIERO RICCI Viollmst Over three decades have passed smce Ruggiero Rtcci successfull)' eros ed the treacher ous seas of a spectacular prodtgy career. He IS now an internatiOnal arttst m hts prime wah well over 2,000 concert triumphs behmd htm. He is, in the recent opinion of The New York Times. "an undtsputcd master." In each of hts sold-out seasons, Mr. RICCI appears cl' guest soloist w1th .1n tmpo~mg list of major Symphony orchestras and m re Cital m concert halls from Bo,ton to Buenos Atrcs and from Hong Kong to Helsinki. Within the space of a few months. ~1r R1cct recent!\ pl.ryed 46 concerts m Australia and filled Buenos Atn~' · famed Te,ttro Colon to SRO capactt) ten ttmes m a row. recent return engagements m West German) found the scheduled 20 concerts in cities there sold out a ve·tr m advance In countries behind the Iron Curt,tin. he \\-On such devoted admirers that the SO\iet Government invited him for three tours of Russta that proved fantasttc successes As a mus1cal ambass,tdor under U .S State Department sponsorship to remote p 1rts of the world, Mr Rtcci was bnl\oed m Bengali and carried through the streets of Accra. In the course of hts st.tggering number of engagements m the United States, en thusi.tsm is equ,tll\ overwhelmmg. The current season finds Mr. RtCCI on another cross countr) tour which will include engagements wtth the Amencan S) mphon) Orchestra. Leopold Stok.owskt, Mustc D1rector, and the I os Angeles Philharmomc, under the baton of Iubin Mehta, and lookmg forward to another extended tour of Europe. Mr Ricct may be heMd on a large number of recordings on the London and Decca labels. THOMAS SCHERMAN Thomas Scherman and The Little Orchestra Society are celebrating their 21st season of concerts. The programs for 1968-69 cover a wide range-from the gentle reverence of BenJamm Britten's Curlew River to the bnl11ant satire of Richard Strauss' Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Both of these will be unusual events. Although written by one of the out standmg modern composers, Curlew River has overtones of the ancient Gregorian. Through the mingling of old and new, of Britten's striking instrumentation and the deep voices of the monks, runs a strong dramatic story. Britten has designated that his parable be sung m a church and this season's production will be in the beautiful spaces of St. James Ep1scopal Church on Madison Avenue. It will be a benefit performance for the Interfaith Neighbors and The Little Orchestra Society Matchmg Fund. For two seasons, Mr. Scherman has taken Curlew River on tour throughout the country, mainly m uni versity towns. Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme 1s to have an mgemous production entire!) new to today's audiences. It will be given as ongmally done m 1912-the version that includes Strauss' and von Hofmannsthal's Ariadne auf Naxos. In addition to Curlew River and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme The Little Orchestra Society will continue its Young People's Concert series. FORTHCOMING CONCERTS IN THIS SERIES Tuesdm L1 entnt:. Jantwrr 21, 1969- 8:00p.m. The fir t Ne-w York. appc.trancc of the <;cnsational Russ1.1n p1amo;t Grigor~ Sokolov
Tuesdm E1·et1inr:. Fehruary 25. 1969-8:00 p.n:. Maunce Ravel's L 'E ~FAJ\.T LIlE-S SORTil EGLS C1eorgc Kleiminger·., ,md Joe Danon·s ARCHY & Ml HITABEL \\ 1th Jo<1nn,1 S1mon ,md Henr~ Morgan
Tuesd(/\ f 1 ening. \larch 11 . 196 9 ~ 8 00 p 111 Carlo., Ch Tuesday £:.1 emnr:. Apu/ 22, 1969-8:00 p.m. A new adaptation for C onccrt Performance ot Mollcrc- Hofmann'>th,d-Str,luss U :. BOLRCJrOIS c,rNTIL HOMMr with the ongmal '-'Cf'i!On of ARIADNE AUF NAXOS 'hlth Glad}s Kucht,l .. ALVARO CASSUTO, Assistant Conductor WILLARD STRAIGHT, Vocal preparation PETER DIMITRIADES, Concert Master GEORGE KOUTZEN, Personnel BERNARD JOY, Stage Manager RICHARD CASLER, Lighting HERBERT BARRETT, Manager THOMAS MATTHEWS, Associate Manager MARKS LEVfNE, Consultant The Little Orchestra Society 1860 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10023 PL 7-3460