The Little Orchestra Society THOMAS SCHERMAN, Music Director
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l (b~{ ozoog 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<lrinets. two bassoons, one contra bassoon, one cornet, one trombon(., one tuba and four tom-toms and four violas, four celli, and four double bas.,es. It comprtS(.'> five mo\ements, but o,mcc the first two are played without a break, and the last two hJ..ewisc. the whole fall<. mto three sections corresponding roughly, if only superficial!~, with the three movement'> of the classical concerto. Thus the first pair of movements contains a mctin Allegro preceded b; an Introduction in fanfare style; the middle movement IS a slow1sh nocturne. v.hose atmosphere 1s deftly set by the usc of the widely spaced. resonant chords charactcn.,tlc of Hmdem1th\ har monic style; and the closing pair of mo\cmcnts rna~ be regarded .ts a normal hvcl~ finale topped off by a faster coda, which latter excrci">es the soloist's agility without pause till just before the end. Josef Alexander Duo C oncertante for 1 rom bone, Stnng Orchestra, and PercussiOn (b. 1910) (World premiere) In spite of a long and distinguished htstory, going back to the days more than 500 years ago when 1ts forerunner the sackbut was a ma1nstay of mstrumental mus1c both indoors and out, the trombone has been shabbily tn.. ated in the m.ttter of c;olo worJ..s Apart from the inevitable Hindemith sonata, another one b; Alec Wilder, a ball.tde w1th piano by Frank Martm, a symphony for trombone and orchestra by Bloch, a rather humdrum concertina by Mdhaud, and a few other pieces, its chances m the limel1ght have largely been restricted to such brief moment'> of glor; as the m1ddle movement of Berlioz' Symphonie funebre et triomphale (itself hard! ; a repertOire work) and the mam theme of Sibelius' Seventh Symphony As With other neglected mstrumcnts, the emergence of a player of exceptional artistry was needed to st1mulate composers mto bnsker actiVIty. D av1s Shuman was such a pla;er, and his untimely death two years ago robbed the world of a fine musician and the trombone of a devoted c hampion. It was for Shuman that Josef Alexander wrote both his Trombone Sonata and the present Duo Concertante, wh1ch is receivmg its first performance this evemng. The composer has kmdly provided the followmg comments: "The work is in one movement with three sections (of a sort) marked by slight changes in tempo and mood. Despite these, however, the Duo Concertante was conceived as a whole wherein the musical ideas are continuously expanded and developed. To this expansion and development new ideas are added. 'The 'concertante' is really between the trombone and string orchestra which is com bined with the percussion (one performer). Although the latter has at times a complex and soloistic part it is integrated into the fabric of the strings. "I have long been fascinated by the color of the combination of brass and strings, and in this work have exploited the individual and combined characteristics of the trombone and string orchestra, blended with and heightened by the percussion." The composer, it may be added, has clearly felt the challenge of a solo instrument usuall1 thought of as somewhat d1gnified, even statuesque, in nature. Slow tempos are conspicuous here by the1r absence, except for five measures of Adagio at the very end. Moreover, the prevailing Allegro con sp1rito, Molto allegro, and Allegro deciso speeds of the three main sections are further enltvened by the frequent use of rapidly changing time-signatures, which create a light-footed, mercurial effect consistent with the crisp, neo-classical harmonic style of the music.