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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF MUSIC 2007-2008 SEASON FACULTY UNIVERSITY"~~Nt OF TORONTO WHERE GREAT MINDS MEET GREAT MUSIC ." .• Saturday, February 2, 2008 7:30 pm. MacMillan Theatre University of Toronto Faculty of Music presents UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROGRAM '-1 Leonore Overture No.3 Ludwig van Beethoven r L. Oliver Balaburski, graduate student conductor CO'ncer Igor Stravinsky Vivace Arioso: Andantino Rondo: Allegro Keith Reid, graduate student conductor Violin Concerto No.2 George Tsontakis Surges (Among Stars) Giochi ("Games") Cavatina (Heart) Just Go (Fast) Erika Raum, violin Ratti Armenian, conductor - INTERMISSION - Symphony No.1 in C minor, Op. 68 Johannes Brahms Un poco sostenuto - Allegro Andante sostenuto 45 Un poco allegretto e grazioso Adagio - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio Ratti Armenian, conductor THE FACULTY OF MUSIC GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF OUR SPONSORS mbna~ rIll Manulife Financial A.n affillltrf(Jrsen'ice The photographing, sound recording, or videotaping of this pertormance withoul the written permission of the Faculty of Music is strictly prohibited. We kindly request that you switch off your cellular phones, pagers, watch beepers, and any other electronic devices that could emit a potential~ unwelcomed sound Program Notes ,eonore Overture No.3, Op. 72 Concerto In D for String Orchestra LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) IGORSTRAVINSKY (1882-1971) Beethoven's only opera Fidelio (originally Stravinsky's first commission after becoming entitled Leonore) is about a heroic woman a U.S. citizen in 1945 was, ironically, (Leonore) who, disguised as a boy (Fidelio), from Europe: a work to celebrate the rescues her husband, a political prisoner, 20th anniversary of the Basel Chamber from execution. After the failure of its Orchestra. In 1946, while maintaining a premiere in 1805, Beethoven revised the hectic conducting and recording schedule opera twice more, and in the course of that led him across the U.S. and even to these alterations composed four different Havana, Stravinsky composed his first piece overtures. The overtures appeared in as an American: the Concerto in 0 for String this order: Leonore NO.2 (for the initial Orchestra (it was premiered in Switzerland in production); Leonore No.3 for the altered January 1947, conducted by Peter Sacher). production the following year; Leonore No. A late neo-classical work, this lightweight 1, Op. 138, for an unrealized production yet vibrant piece is cast in three movements. in 1807; and, finally, the Fidelio overture The first is a rhythmically obstinate Vivace proper for the definitive version of 1814. that dwells on the repetition of an insistent This last overture, in E major, is the tersest F-sharp. Giddiness is interspersed with and lightest in tone, and thus the most siower passages that seem to lethargically effective as a prelude to the opera's opening lurch forward, as if intoxicated. The second semi-comic moments. Leonore No.3, on movement, an Arioso marked Andantino, the other hand, although today considered features a sensuous melody supported by one of the greatest-and grandest-concert rich bass. Because the tune is frequently overtures ever written, is simply too weighty in interrupted, however, its Prokofievian lyricism this theatrical context. "The gigantic tone• and sincerity is put into question-could it be poem," wrote the critic Donald Tovey, "totally a parody of a balletic waltz? The concluding eclipsed the quiet opening scenes." Although Rondo (Allegro) opens with a rapid pulse the second production of Leonore was a on a repeated note that drives the frenetic dismal failure like the first, from its wreckage finale to a galloping close. Unifying the Beethoven salvaged a powerfUl independent piece harmonically is an obsession with the grating discord of the semitone that involves I instrumental work. Inspired by the heroic a different note from the D-major triad (0, ~I\JO.1'"\ limax3 includesof the lastin itsact,developmentthe Leonore sectionOverturethe F-sharp, A) in each movement: F-sharp/F• opera's famous off-stage trumpet flourish, the natural (first movement); A/B-flat (second); call of the watchman on the tower warning the and, D/C-sharp (third). jailor Pizarro that the Minister has arrived to Although conceived as a concert investigate his cruel treatment and unlawful work, Stravinsky's Concerto in 0 became detention of prisoners. The arrival of the well-known thanks to Jeromes Robbins's Minister also means that Pizarro will have ballet The Cage produced by New York City to abandon his plans to execute Leonore's Ballet in 1951. Robbins heard in this piece husband, Florestan. In the opera, Pizarro is not fluff but something "terribly driven arrested, the prisoners are set free, Florestan and compelled". Recalling the gruesome and Leonore are reunited, and the brave behaviour (from a human point of view) of the woman who saved her husband is praised. praying mantis, Robbins's dance depicts a The overture, with its buoyant themes and female of the insect species who, after flirting driving rhythms in the heroic key of C major, with a male, abruptly castrates and kills convincingly celebrates the triumph of justice him. Two other ballets were inspired by the over tyranny. same score and produced in Germany in the 1950s-both are bug-free. Violin Concerto No.2 work, an homage to the music and culture GEORGETSONTAKIS of France. Recently he has won the world's richest prize for a composer, the Charles Ives Premiered: 19th, 20th April, 2003. Steven Living, given by the American Academy of Arts Copes, Violin, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Letters. The three-year term of the Ives conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Living, during which the winner is required to" devote himself entirely to composition, will My first concerto was scored for a large span 2007 to 2010. orchestra where, in most instances, the forces provide for sonic blocks of granite alternately supporting and challenging the Symphony No.1 in C minor, Op. 68 soloist's message and sound. In No.1, JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) the violin soloist is set apart as kind of a thoughtful anti-hero. Beethoven wrote his First Symphony at the The Violin Concerto No.2, written for the age of 30 and within 13 years had composed St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and its dynamic all but his last, the Ninth. Brahms was set to concertmaster, Steven Copes, is another match this pace when, not yet 30, he drafted story altogether. In this work, the soloist the first movement of his First Symphony. But, is a member - albeit the most important, unsatisfied, he delayed the work's completion center-stage and influential member - of an until 1876, when he was 43. The work's long intricate musical tapestry formed by joining gestation owes much to Brahms's acute colorful, distinctly soloistic and individual sense of self-criticism (he regularly burned instrumental partners. The concept of his manuscripts). But he also knew his work "orchestral" is diminished in deference to the would inevitably be compared to that of the concept of "chamber." symphony's indisputable king-Beethoven. I wanted to harness and project the "You don't know what it is like always to kaleidoscopic sparkle of this "ensemble of hear that giant marching along behind me," soloists" without compromising the violin he lamented in a letter to the conductor soloist's position of prominence. While Hermann Levi. designed to create a cohesive architectural Brahms's apprehension, however, whole, there is less emphasis on a dramatic seems exaggerated. For, by the time he narrative-curve and more on just how colorful completed his First Symphony, he had already and creatively dramatic music can be. At the accumulated a great deal of experience same time, there would be little doubt that, in handling not only symphonic form but also its own specific way, this work is truly a violin orchestral colour: the First Piano Concerto; concerto. - George Tsontakis an orchestral version of the Haydn variations; George Tsontakis has been for some two early serenades that, despite their years one of the leading figures of the stylistic lightness, are symphonic in scope; "new romanticism." He studied with Roger and several vocal works with substantial Sessions at Juilliard, then continued studies orchestral accompaniment including the in Italy. He returned in 1981, when he was German Requiem. The critic Donald Tovey thirty, and almost immediately making observed that there was therefore "at least as his mark with a series of pieces that have much experience of orchestral writing behind attracted attention and won many awards. Brahms's first symphony as there was behind His String Quartet No.4, subtitled "Beneath Beethoven's third". Thy Tenderness of Heart," won the first prize Brahms's symphonic starting point is in the Friedheim Kennedy Center competition Beethoven. His orchestration is, however, in 1989. He has been a composer-in• considerably darker. It emphasizes the residence at the Aspen Music Festival since Rembrandtesque dark browns of the more 1976 and was named director of the Aspen sombre instruments like the viola and Contemporary Ensemble in 1991. favours the doubling of thirds of chords in low In 2005, he won the Grawemeyer Award, registers. As in Beethoven, rhythm is a driving widely recognized as the most prestigious force, particularly by means of syncopation composition prize internationally, for his and Brahms's favourite device, the hemiola, Violin Concerto No.2. Since then he has the subtle shifting from 3/4 to 6/8 metres composed a Naumburg-commissioned song that produces a fluid, rocking effect. An cycle for soprano Sari Gruber and tonight's avid student of counterpoint from the Renaissance through Bach to contemporary intermezzo. practice, Brahms's contrapuntal skill is The emotional holiday comes to an end unequalled in the 19th-century.